"Food porn". That's what the Center for Science in the Public Interest called Hardee's Thickburger. And honestly, how can you argue with them. If pornography allows human beings to fulfill the excesses of sexual lust, the Thickburger tempts us to cross the line on gluttony. Think about it... The Thickburger comes in at a gut-busting 1,420 calories! Not long after the Thickburger's debut in 2003, Hardee's figured out a way to push a salad over the top. I can hardly imagine a chicken salad that has 1,100 calories, not to mention 83 fat grams. The latest entry to its "let's see how fat we can make our customers" line is Hardee's 920 calorie breakfast burrito with 60 fat grams.

OK, here we go. If I make you mad in writing this, you'll get over it. It's about time that we said something about the gluttony epidemic in our churches. We're real good at decrying the evils of drunkenness, tobacco addiction, or illicit drug abuse. We talk about the damage those things do to our bodies, and we should keep talking. But it's about time we started talking about what overeating does to our bodies. Unfortunately, it's hard for many pastors to do this, because many times they are long-time gluttons themselves. I'm sure there's more than a handful who've had their share of Thickburgers--maybe even on a Sunday when they've just finished exhorting their congregants to exercise self-control! There's a word for that: "hypocrisy."

Here's a novel thought... We talk about being salt and light in our world, how about us providing an example for the third of our U.S. population who are overweight. If you are a pastor and you are reading this blog, I challenge you to do something about your health, your congregation's health, our nation's health. No more "food porn!"