Merciful Munching: Why Diets Don't Work, but the Grace of God Does

By A LeRoy

Eat to Your Heart's Content, for This Is Godly!
Ever felt guilty about how much you eat? Or what you eat? Or when you eat? Let this book dispel your guilt!
A former journalist and religion correspondent, the author describes his own recovery from an eating disorder and, using principles from the Bible and great thinkers, shows why diets and "low-fat" foods are a path to condemnation and doomed to fail. Instead, he invites you to embrace your God-given right to dine in joy and freedom.
This book requires nothing of you—there are no affirmations to recite, no boring exercises, no burdens of any kind. Rather, let it gently take you by the hand and lead you to freedom!

"A majestic flow of words."
Amy's Bookshelf Reviews

"Abdiel LeRoy shares that bliss of freedom of conscience in everything we do. He is one of our treasured spiritual guides—a man who cares deeply about setting us free from the unnecessary restrictions imposed on us, as well as those that are self-imposed! Read this book and breathe freedom. Highly Recommended."
Grady Harp, San Francisco Review of Books

• Language: English
• Publisher: Unparagoned
• Release date: May 30, 2020

Book preview

Merciful Munching

Merciful Munching

Why Diets Don’t Work, but the Grace of God Does (A Primer to The Gourmet Gospel Series)

A. Le Roy

Unparagoned

Copyright 2018  A. LeRoy

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License Notes

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This book is copyright material and registered with the U.S. Library of Congress. It must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, resold, licensed, or publicly performed except as permitted in writing by the author. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text is an infringement of the author's rights. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient.

Contents

Books in The Gourmet Gospel Series

Merciful Munching

Preface

Introduction

The Gourmet Gospel

Down With Diets!

Food, Glorious Food!

A Better Eden (Sample)

I—The Return to Eden

Law Is Our Enemy

II—No Law = No Sin!

Death to the Decalogue!

Faith = Righteousness

Ignorance is Bliss?

Books in The Gourmet Gospel Series

From the Author

Books by A. LeRoy

Epic Poems

Fiction

Poetry Collections

Non-Fiction

Bibliography

Notes

Books in The Gourmet Gospel Series

1

A BETTER EDEN

Where Sin Is Neither Possible nor Perceived

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2

IT WAS FOR FREEDOM

Our God-Given Liberty

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3

FOES TO GRACE

Satan in the Court of Heaven,

His Servants in the Corridors of Earth

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THE GOURMET GOSPEL COLLECTION:

A Better Eden, It Was for Freedom, Foes to Grace

Merciful Munching

Why Diets Don’t Work, but the Grace of God Does

Preface

The Oxford English Dictionary defines Grace as 'the free and unmerited favour of God'. The implications of this simple phrase are unfathomably wonderful and illuminating, with the power to transform lives and even all of humanity. Yet the human race has barely begun to grasp its import, and our churches certainly haven't helped!

Setting itself up in opposition to Grace, is Law, for which I will use a capital L (except in quotes). I do not mean man-made acts of legislation, though these can be vicious enough, but a general polarization of life into ‘right’ and ‘wrong’.

In conceiving this Gourmet Gospel series as a champion of Grace and a dispeller of Law, I am compelled by the desire to set others free, especially when it comes to judgments and prohibitions about eating. Diets, in particular, are a type of Law, and as the Law makes sin increase, ¹—to quote the apostle Paul, as I will often do throughout this series—they inevitably produce the opposite result to that intended! Instead, I would set before you a path to guilt-free eating and, if weight-loss is your goal, a peaceful journey to it.

Though my thesis is largely derived from the Bible, you don't have to consider yourself a Christian to benefit. In any case, my conclusions are often at odds with most preaching you'll hear in churches. I embrace that wondrous tautology—again quoting Paul—that It was for freedom that Christ has set us free. ² I would show that that freedom can be tasted both literally and metaphorically!

For now, bear in mind that it is impossible to overeat. In the Grace of God, there exists no dividing line between too much and too little, no threshold to cross into too anything! Though we can eat to discomfort, in our true nature none of us chooses to be uncomfortable. Also consider that the stomach is a flexible thing, able to expand or contract according to its contents. Can we not endow our consciences with the same flexibility?

Before I proceed, a note about my use of the pronoun he throughout to describe a generalized third person, implying of course that it stands for he or she. I do so for economy of language and assure the reader the male pronoun is used to describe the villains of this piece just as much as the heroes!

Enjoy, or rather, bon appetit!

Abdiel LeRoy

Introduction

I have known what it is to live under Law's tyranny, to be a sponge for every facile commandment. There