Here is a short statement or sketch on something that I hope to develop some more in the near future. I speak of the comparatively new and alarming trend in Christian circles toward the demonization of certain basic foods.
I am not speaking of those who have genuine allergies, but rather to a larger, culture-wide despising of things that God gave to us, having first pronounced them good. I am speaking (to take just two examples) of whole milk straight out of cows, and gluten straight out of a wheat field. To make my point clearer — yay, fat! yay, gluten!
Someone with a genuine allergy takes it as a hard providence that he cannot drink milk anymore. He really is lactose intolerant, and it tears him up every time he thinks of how much he used to enjoy a mounded bowl of cookies and cream. But when someone else reacts to milk in an ick, poo! fashion, the problem is something else altogether. For many people in this latter category, the language of allergies, or faux-medicine from some guru, or “Bible diets,” can provide useful temporary cover, at least until more Christians can be persuaded to join them in their gnostic orcification of the good stuff.
And don’t write me an earnest letter claiming that all the good stuff is inserted by our factories. The devil isn’t that generous. Food phobias have a long and rooted history in American Christianity, and they are in the middle of a strong comeback. Neither should anyone write me a letter claiming that I have said there is no such thing as a genuine food allergy. There certainly is, just as there are people in the world with a missing leg. My point, and I am seeking to make it carefully here, is that people with two legs are not restricted to one leg, and that it is better to have two. And it is not to the point to say that I am making light of the tragedy of having just one leg. No, I am actually trying to point out another tragedy of two-legged people hopping around unnecessarily — all because they read a book that seemed quite persuasive.
I am not going to make my case for it here, but simply state the conclusion, let that settle in, and try to argue for it later. A large part of the reason that Christians are pulling away from certain foods with loathing is the result of father hunger. When you learn the meaning of fatherhood, you have learned the goodness of provision.