Originally Posted by
johnsomebody
Wow, this is really a great heartfelt and honest post, and you express yourself very well. I'm really glad I came across it.
Plus I understand your uncertainty about this issue, since I've dealt with the similar issues for decades as a Christian. But it's not been about gear (which I've only used a few times) but about pretty much EVERYTHING. And I realize that that's just part of following Christ –not having the perfect answer for "is this right or is this wrong" for ALL the things that one encounters in life. But believing in Christ means having him as "Lord", which means that he has the final say, and that's between him and me personally. He's the one I want to listen to as to if something is good or bad, right or wrong, go this way or that way, and everyone else can take a flying leap. Not that I don't appreciate advice at times, but what is "sin" or not is decided by him, not someone else.
Here's what helps me with an issue like gear, where Jesus spells it out, it seems to me, very clearly: Jesus' own words from Mark ch7...
"Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.”
He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them.
For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.
All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
And "defile" means "to separate from God by making a person 'unclean'".
So think about it: Jesus, it seems to me, is making it very clear that gear or whatever going into a person cannot possibly cut that person off from God. It's what's in one's heart, not whatever chemicals may or may not be in one's body, that threaten one's standing with God.
The only "threat" I see from the whole bodybuilding "lifestyle" is it can mean obsessing too much about externals while ignoring the envy, hate, greed, arrogance (to name a few from Christ's list) in one's own heart.
But it's hardly bodybuilders alone who do that.