The Israelites were commanded to abstain from eating flesh that contained blood. - Gen. 9:4 - They were a total abstinence from eating certain animals, birds, all living creatures that move in water and every creature that crawls on the ground. - Lev. 11:1-47 -
The apostle Paul taught that Christian lives by the laws of love and freedom and that he and she should voluntarily abstain from clean food that offered or sacrificed to idols, lest it cause a weaker brother or sister in Christ to stumble.
If a person faith is not strong enough, welcome him all the same without starting an argument. People range from those who believe they may eat any sort of meat to those whose faith is so weak they dare not eat anything except vegetables. Meat-eaters must not despise the scrupulous. On the other hand, the scrupulous must not condemn those who feel free to eat anything they choose since God has welcomed them. It is not for you to condemned someone else's servant: whether he stands or falls it is his own master's business; he will stand, you may be sure because the Lord has power to make him stand. If one man keeps certain days as holier than others and another considers all days to be equally holy, each must be left free to hold his own opinion. The one who observes special days does so in honour of the Lord. The one who eats meat also does so that too in honour of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God: but then the man who abstains does that too in honour of the Lord and so he also gives God thanks.
The life and death of each of us, has its influence on others; if we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord, so that alive or dead we belong to the Lord. This explains why Christ both died and came to life, it was so that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. This is also why you should never pass judgement on a brother or treat him with contempt, as some of you have done. We shall all have to stand before the judgement seat of God; as scripture says: By my life - it is the Lord who speaks - every knee shall bend before me, and every tongue shall praise God, therefore, that each of us must give an account of himself.
Far from passing judgement on each other, therefore, you should make up your mind never to be the cause of your brother tripping or failing. Now I am perfectly well aware, of course, and I speak for the Lord Jesus, that no food is unclean in itself; however, if someone thinks that a particular food is unclean, then it is unclean for him. And indeed, if your attitude to food is upsetting your brother, then you are hardly being guided by charity. You are certainly not free to eat what you like if that means the downfall of someone for whom Christ died.
In short, you must not compromise your privilege because the kingdom of God does not mean eating or drinking this or that, it means righteousness and peace and joy brought by the Holy Spirit. If you serve Christ in this way you will please God and be respected by men. So let us adopt any custom that leads to peace and our mutual improvement; do not wreck God work over a question of food. Of course all food is clean but it becomes evil if by eating it you make somebody else fall away. In such cases the best course is to abstain from meat and wine and anything else that would make your brother trip or fall or weaken in anyway.
Hold on to your own belief, as between yourself and God - and consider the man fortunate who can make his decision without going against his conscience. But anybody who eats in a state of doubt is condemned because he is not in good faith; and every act done in bad faith is a sin. - Rom. 14:1-23 -
Now about food sacrificed to idols. 'We all have knowledge'; yes, that is so, but knowledge gives self-importance - it is love that makes the building grow. A man may imagine he understands something but still not understand anything in the way that he ought to. But any man who loves God is known by him. Well the, about eating food sacrificed to idols: we know that idols do not really exist in the world and that there is no god but the One. And even if there were things called gods, either in the sky or on earth - where there certainly seem to be 'gods' and 'lords' in plenty - still for us there is one God, the Father, from whom all things come and for whom we exist; and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things come and through whom we exist.
Some people, however, do not have this knowledge. There are some who have been so long used to idols that they eat this food as though it really had been sacrificed to the idol and their conscience, being weak, is defiled by it. Food, of course, cannot bring us in touch with God: we lose nothing if we refuse to eat, we gain nothing if we eat. Only be careful that you do not make use of this freedom in a way that proves a pitfall for the weak. Suppose someone sees you, a man who understands, eating in some temple of an idol; his own conscience, even if it is weak, may encourage him to eat food which has been offered to idols. In this way your knowledge could become the ruin of someone weak, of a brother for whom Christ died. By sinning in this way against your brothers and injuring their weak consciences, it would be Christ against whom you sinned. That is why, since food can be the occasion of my brother's downfall, I shall never eat meat again in case I am the cause of a brother's downfall. - 1Cor. 8:1-13 -
Apostle Paul also exhorted the believers to 'abstain from sexual immorality' and they were to 'abstain from every form of evil' too. The Christian is called to live a life of unselfish and sacrificial love. Abstinence should always seek to glorify God and to build up fellow believers.
What God wants is for you all to be holy. He wants you to keep away from fornication and each one of you to know how to use the body that belongs to him in a way that is holy and honourable, not giving way to selfish lust like the pagans who do not know God. - 1Thess. 4:3-5 -
Never try to suppress the Spirit or treat the gift of prophesy with contempt; think before you do anything - hold on to what is good and avoid every form of evil. - 1Thess. 5:19-22 -
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Sunday, May 24, 2009
I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!
I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.
HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -
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