Featured The Sin of the Consumption of Blood

I've always said what scripture says: "Saved unto good works"

Eph 2:8 For by favour you have been saved, through belief, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of Elohim,
Eph 2:9 it is not by works, so that no one should boast.
Eph 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Messiah יהושע unto good works, which Elohim prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. ​

 

OK, this seems very simple to me given a careful, literal reading of (Acts 15).

The debate is what Old Testament commandments of the Law are still in force now that we have the Gospel and I assume the scriptures of the New Testament (John 16:13)?

The answer to gentile believers is simple in Acts 15:23-29 : You are under the following Old Testament commands

1. Do not eat food sacrificed to idols. This one is very important in that many, many Christians over the course of the Age have lost their lives in martyrdom rather than violate this one commandment. It tells us how serious all of these commands are. Also we are not to search out if the meat was sacrificed to idols if invited to a dinner (1 Corinthians 10:27-30).

2. Do not eat blood. In butchery this would almost certainly not be a kosher diet, but instead a simple hanging of the headless carcass of the dead animal upside down so as to drain all the blood. This is common practice for American butchers.

3. Do not eat the meat of strangled animals. Unlikely to ever be an issue unless you are a hunter who likes snares.

4. Obey the sexual commands of the Old Testament.

This is why I assume nothing but the New Testament and these commands have transferred to the New Testament for me to obey.

 

It depends on your definition of grace. If it is translated as favor, then yes, works do gain you favor. It is what merits the blessings or cursings according to Deu 28. Works are also the terms of the covenant, so if you are walking in obedience, then yes, you have the favor of the King. If you walk in disobedience you fall out of favor (good graces) and warrant the King's punishment.

Salvation is a free gift to all those who join the covenant by Faith (belief + works). Works of man (oral laws) are not of belief, however, and cannot save. Grace cannot be divorced from written works because they go hand in hand. Same for belief. 1 John clearly lays this out.

 

Assumption is the mother of all folly. The new testament wasn't there to give any new commands or take any away. It was given as a testament of Yeshua, the living word (living torah, commands).

Anyone in covenant has to obey the same laws as Israel did. Sabbath is, and always will be, the 7th day of the week. Eating pork, shrimp, etc is still wrong and bad for you. Committing incest is still wrong, etc.

Obey every word, not just the ones the apostate churches tell you.

 

What is grace? The catechisms many of us learned as children give us the answer: “Grace is the unmerited favor of God.” The first thing that we understand about grace is what it’s not—it’s not something we merit. In fact, if that is all we ever understand about grace, I’m sure God will rejoice that we know His grace is unmerited. So, here’s our working definition of grace—it is unmerit.
Paul’s epistle to the Romans sheds light on what we mean when we say that grace is unmerit. In 1:18–3:20, the Apostle explains that on the final day, for the first time in our lives, we will be judged in total perfection, in total fairness, in absolute righteousness. Thus, every mouth will be stopped when we stand before the tribunal of God. This should provoke fear in the hearts of fallen people, as condemnation is the only possible sentence for sinful men and women: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (3:23).
But those who trust in Christ Jesus have hope, for if we are in Him by faith, we have been “justified freely by His grace.” Note that justification is accomplished not by obligation, but freely through grace on account of the redemption purchased by Jesus alone. There’s no room for boasting, for we are justified not by our works but by grace alone through faith alone. Paul goes on to cite Abraham as the preeminent example of one who was justified by faith alone and therefore free from God’s sentence of condemnation. If the basis for Abraham’s salvation, his justification, was something that Abraham did—some good deed, some meritorious service that he performed, some obligation that he performed—if it were on the basis of works, Paul says, he would have had something about which to boast. But Abraham had no such merit. All he had was faith, and that faith itself was a gift: “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” (4:3; see Eph. 2:8–10).
Romans 4:4–8 is a key passage here:
Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
That’s grace. Paul couldn’t say it any other way. To him who works, it’s debt; if you merit something, it means that someone is obligated to pay you. If I hire you as an employee and promise to pay you one hundred dollars if you work eight hours, I must pay you for working the eight hours. I’m not doing you a favor or giving you grace. You’ve earned your pay. You’ve fulfilled the contract, and I’m morally obliged to give you your wages.
With respect to the Lord, we are debtors who cannot pay.

What Is Grace? by R.C. Sproul

 

No one is saying we have to repay anything, especially not myself or my faith tradition. All I am saying is that grace flows from those things that we are told to do in the Scriptures. That's all. The grace(s) we receive build us up unto God.

You are so blinded by the disdain that you have for orthodox teaching that you simply cannot see that and I am sad for you.

 

No, you have false concept of grace. And once again you bear false witness against us. Shame! Shame! Shame!

 

Grace is unmerited. Your church adds merits, which means it teaches no grace at all.

 

No false concept. Mine is biblical. Yours is based on flawed tradition.

The Bible trumps your tradition...always.

Grace is unmerited.

 

Dietary laws are definitely about Judaism. They also commanded to abstain from meat offered to idols, and we're told elsewhere there is no sin in eating that meat.

But what's your point? Who's eating blood, and why are you making an issue of it?

 

Please do not kid yourself about this. Just draining the meat does not make it kosher. The whole process must be done under the supervision of a Rabbi certified in the slaughtering process, with the meat being soaked in a salt solution and then wrapped in salt for a specified period of time. Even though you might not see any blood, it is there and the meat that you buy at your local grocery store or at a fast food restaurant is not "kosher" in any shape, manner, or form.

How do I know this? As a trucker, I used to haul kosher meat direct from the kosher slaughterhouse and I talked to the Rabbis about the process and witnessed the whole operation myself.

 

In your opinion it's wrong just as many of the mitzvouth are "wrong" (NO PICTURES) because they condemn you so - they are wrong in order to justify your lawlessness.

HankD

 

If it has a Kosher stamp on it then yes, you are right. It all has to be done according to oral law. But if you want to eat according to scripture, all of that is unnecessary. Salt was a precious commodity back then and wasn't used in this manner until later.

 

The passage you quote is regarding mature Christians abstaining so that weak-faith Christians are not given a cause to doubt. If I were around you and found that you struggled with grasping God's freedom to eat or drink, I would abstain so as not to cause you strife.

 

No perversion. I just don't follow Judaisers, which Paul called anathema in Galatians.

However, I have never drawn a draught of blood from the keg and had a pint, so I got that going for me...which is nice.

 

Out of curiosity for the legalists on this thread...is receiving a blood infusion during surgery considered drinking blood? Is that a mortal sin?