The American Medical Association recently labeled obesity as a disease. I think of obesity as more of an addiction problem, which I guess can be a disease? (e.g. alcoholism), but I think of addiction as more of a mental disorder/issue. I'd like to state that I'm not well informed when it comes to medical terminology, but I think labeling obesity a disease could have negative impacts.
First, the lesser problem I foresee are people using the disease label as an excuse for why they are obese. The major problem I foresee is more complex and it involves shifting the obesity problem to professionals who are not prepared to address it appropriately. There seems that there will be three groups more responsible for the obesity problem now that obesity is considered a disease: medical professionals, pharmaceutical companies, and healthcare companies.
I am very skeptical of pharmaceutical and healthcare companies. I generally trust medical professionals are well-intentioned, but I do not think they are well educated in nutritional and exercise science. I think most people will agree that prevention is the answer to the obesity problem, which involves educating people about nutrition and exercise (especially young adults/teenagers). The worst scenario is the medical industry looking to address obesity too heavily with non-preventative methods such as drugs or surgery. Unfortunately, I believe that this will likely occur to some degree as there is a lot of money to be made with non-preventive methods. With obesity being a disease, healthcare companies will be responsible, which will further increase the cost of healthcare for individuals and the government. Higher taxes will be needed, so it will end up being an added burden to the general public.
The only thing that may happen that I support is an increase in healthcare cost for overweight or obese people (just how smokers pay more). This increase in cost should be a great incentive for people to take responsibility for their weight. I think this probably could be done without labeling obesity a disease. I hope that preventative programs will be further developed. Maybe we could better educate our medical professionals about nutritional and exercise science, or we could encourage obese people to see dietitians or trainers through healthcare programs rather than developing diet drugs or surgically putting in lap bands.
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Open Theism revisited
I wrote about this topic about a year and a half ago here. I somewhat sided in opposition to open theism I think (the side of more pre-determinism). It wasn't the side that really felt right, but logically it made more sense (a bit complicated, but logical). After reading a review of God of the Possible (Greg Boyd) by Jeremy Jernigan, I am reconsidering my view.
My rambling thoughts on the topic (which may be repeated thoughts from the review):
There are many examples of God regretting or changing his mind throughout the Bible. I'm sure these passages have been explained in some way to fit into pre-determinist view, but they are not that straightforward. I've probably read about them, but cannot recall the explanations atm. Why think of these complicated explanations when we can just take the passages at their word?
Also, pre-determinism is mentally exhausting for me. It can make sense to me, but I have to sit in a quiet room w/o distractions for a little while before I have the logic in order. If I don't do this, then I often find myself taking a very superficial view of the topic, which is very damaging. I'll have a difficult time thinking that prayer is important and a difficult time really challenging myself to do things outside of my comfort zone. If God had pre-determined me to do those things, then he would have given me more initiative. I know that is wrong, but that is often where my thought process goes. Anyway, I have always thought that if I believed a theology that put more responsibility on my free will, then I would be more transformed in my everyday activity.
It seems that many Christians quickly react negatively to the future being open or undetermined (even from God's view). I think this is a very good explanation of the idea:
"We might imagine God as something like an infinitely intelligent chess player. I am told that the average novice chess player can think ahead three or four possible moves. If I do A, for example, my opponent may do B, C, or D. I could then do E, F, or G, to which he may respond with H, I, or J. By contrast, some world-class chess masters can anticipate up to thirty combinations of moves. Now consider that God’s perfect knowledge would allow him to anticipate every possible move and every possible combination of moves, together with every possible response he might make to each of them, for every possible agent throughout history. And he would be able to do this from eternity past. Isn’t a God who is able to know perfectly these possibilities wiser than a God who simply foreknows or predetermines one story line that the future will follow?"
Hmm, there are so many cool quotes/ideas in that review. I should read the book. Maybe an idea I would restate and/or add to is that God knows many things will happen in the future and there are some other things (possibly only minor things) that he might not really know what will happen. He gave us this freedom and responsibility in a very similar way to how he gave us the option to have faith in Him. In a similar way to how he gave us dominion over the world, but he oversees us and the greater picture. Throwing those comparisons out there, but probably need to reflect on them a bit more.
My rambling thoughts on the topic (which may be repeated thoughts from the review):
There are many examples of God regretting or changing his mind throughout the Bible. I'm sure these passages have been explained in some way to fit into pre-determinist view, but they are not that straightforward. I've probably read about them, but cannot recall the explanations atm. Why think of these complicated explanations when we can just take the passages at their word?
Also, pre-determinism is mentally exhausting for me. It can make sense to me, but I have to sit in a quiet room w/o distractions for a little while before I have the logic in order. If I don't do this, then I often find myself taking a very superficial view of the topic, which is very damaging. I'll have a difficult time thinking that prayer is important and a difficult time really challenging myself to do things outside of my comfort zone. If God had pre-determined me to do those things, then he would have given me more initiative. I know that is wrong, but that is often where my thought process goes. Anyway, I have always thought that if I believed a theology that put more responsibility on my free will, then I would be more transformed in my everyday activity.
It seems that many Christians quickly react negatively to the future being open or undetermined (even from God's view). I think this is a very good explanation of the idea:
"We might imagine God as something like an infinitely intelligent chess player. I am told that the average novice chess player can think ahead three or four possible moves. If I do A, for example, my opponent may do B, C, or D. I could then do E, F, or G, to which he may respond with H, I, or J. By contrast, some world-class chess masters can anticipate up to thirty combinations of moves. Now consider that God’s perfect knowledge would allow him to anticipate every possible move and every possible combination of moves, together with every possible response he might make to each of them, for every possible agent throughout history. And he would be able to do this from eternity past. Isn’t a God who is able to know perfectly these possibilities wiser than a God who simply foreknows or predetermines one story line that the future will follow?"
Hmm, there are so many cool quotes/ideas in that review. I should read the book. Maybe an idea I would restate and/or add to is that God knows many things will happen in the future and there are some other things (possibly only minor things) that he might not really know what will happen. He gave us this freedom and responsibility in a very similar way to how he gave us the option to have faith in Him. In a similar way to how he gave us dominion over the world, but he oversees us and the greater picture. Throwing those comparisons out there, but probably need to reflect on them a bit more.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
"Thinking Biblically?"
This post communicates an idea I've had for awhile after having or hearing theological discussions. I also often wonder what we are doing in today's culture that appears 'biblical' to us, but will be all too obvious to future generations that we were way off. Encourages me interpret with an open mind and listen to all perspectives, and realize that I could be terribly wrong about most of my current interpretations.
"So do we give up on “thinking Biblically” altogether? Certainly not. But we must approach our own conversations with the constant awareness that we might be wrong. That we don’t have all the answers. That someday, five hundred or a hundred or thirty years from now our brothers and sisters may look back and wonder how we could have missed the point. We must be open minded, willing to read its pages over and over again and change our minds as our hearts are opened to the truth."
http://redemptionpictures.com/2013/03/05/thinking-biblically/
"So do we give up on “thinking Biblically” altogether? Certainly not. But we must approach our own conversations with the constant awareness that we might be wrong. That we don’t have all the answers. That someday, five hundred or a hundred or thirty years from now our brothers and sisters may look back and wonder how we could have missed the point. We must be open minded, willing to read its pages over and over again and change our minds as our hearts are opened to the truth."
http://redemptionpictures.com/2013/03/05/thinking-biblically/
Friday, February 1, 2013
Racial Political Correctness
"...everyone wants to celebrate diversity as long as you don't point out people are different..." - Colin Quinn
http://espn.go.com/page2/s/questions/quinn.html
http://espn.go.com/page2/s/questions/quinn.html
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