So what about meat offered to idols?

Hello,
My pastor taught us that we must pray before each meal so whoever might have sacraficed the food to idols before us would not be in effect. We also discussed this afterwards. And someone told us that there was a man living here who packaged meat. Every time he did he would pray to allah and offer the meat to him. Could this be a modern day sacrifice of meat to idols?

HCL

 

Preach the Word said:

Can you really eat it?

Sure. Can you really find it? I mean, it's not like there are people lined up these days to sacrifice chickens to Asclepius, or whatever.

 

Yup. Especially those that realized that "meat and drink are not the kingdom of God."

 

LOL! Ahhh..but how do you know it's not been offered up to idols?

Better continue praying over that meal before you eat it.....just in case.

 

Since idols have no effect on the followers of the God of Abraham, neither does the meat offerred to the idols. If one is uncomfortable, one need not eat it. With Jesus, he frequently ate and drank with idolaters, harlots, thieves, and the like. That's what made him different, and that's what made the temple officials upset.

 

I don't think I would.

Depends on who I would offend.

 

I've been waiting for that one, Saggy. See, Preach's question was "can" and "could" they eat it.

The answer, of course, is yes.

"Should" they eat it? Now, that's a whole different ball of wax....

 

In 1Cor. Paul said they could eat it, as long as they didn't know it was offererd to idols, and that becasue eating it and knowing might cause someone else to stumble, not becasue it cause the eater to stumble/sin. So I think it is left to personal choice. Because as Paul said, what is an idol, nothing.

 

It would depend on how it was cooked. Anything more than medium rare is vitually unpalatable.

 

Honestly, I don't have a personal problem eating meat offered to idols. If I am hungry, it is time to eat.

Again, depends on the offensive. Depends on who I care I offend or not offend.

Same with alcohol. I don't have a problem with drinking. But it depends on who I wish to offend.

 

My apologies, Pastor Larry and RSR; ever since my wife took that biology class and told me about tapeworms, I haven't been able to eat anything less than medium well.

 

Nothing less trhen well done in this house, have no desire for worms, or e-coli. And when a resturant doesn't know the difference between well and raw thay do it over again, I've sent back more then one steak.

 

suzanne said:

Ahhh..but how do you know it's not been offered up to idols?

I don't . . . but therefore, according to Paul, I am permitted to eat it no questions asked (1 Cor. 10:25-26).

On the other hand, if the local Loblaws sold Asclepius <tm> brand Genuine Pagan Sacrificed Chicken Wings, conscience would obligate me to buy the competition's products (1 Cor. 10:28).

 

The thing that I find most interesting about Paul's arguments in 1 Cor. 10 is that he uses the same Old Testament proof-text for both sides of the coin - Deut. 10:14.

Why may the Christian eat sacrificed meat with a clear conscience? Because in reality there are no false gods to sacrifice to; "the earth is the Lord's, and all its fullness." Ultimately everything belongs to the one true God.

On the other hand, why may he not eat what he knows has been sacrificed to a false God? Because "the earth is the Lord's, and all its fulness." I get the idea Paul is saying that to eat with the knowledge that the meat had been sacrificed to a pagan god was tantamount to accepting stolen goods.

 

Yes, they can. When Paul is teaching specifically about the question of eating meat sacrificed to idols, he says it can be eaten with no questions asked.

Good hermeneutics allows the clearer passages to interpret the less clear, and you can't get more clear than "Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions for conscience' sake" (1 Cor. 10:25). Paul gives qualified permission to eat the meat.

To deal with the specific passages you cited:

Revelation 2:14

It does not say "do not eat meat sacrificed to idols." It says this is something that Balak encouraged the Israelites to do "to put a stumbling block before" them. It is typical of his wickedness and must be understood in its historical context.

Acts 15:29

Spoken in context of "what must I do to be saved?" James was writing to the church at Antioch to tell them they didn't have to follow the Jewish Law to be saved (cf. 15:5), but nonetheless gives them a few simple rules: not to eat what has been sacrificed to idols, from blood, from strangled, meat, and sexual immorality. Remember, we are dealing with a specific controversy between Jew and Gentile here. These restrictions were probably put in place so as not to offend the local Jews needlessly. Paul also warns the Corinthian Christians not to offend the Jews (1 Cor. 10:32), but he does so in the context of permitting the eating of meat.

Ditto Acts 15:20.

1 Corinthians 10:20

Paul here is speaking of idolatry in general and telling them not to have anything to do with the practice. Verses 10:23ff constitute a discussion of a specific issue related to idolatry: what about the meat? It was probably next to impossible to find meat in the market that had not been sacrificed to idols, and so rather than advocate vegetarianism, Paul instead says the meat can be eaten with a clear conscience if no questions are asked (10:25).

[ November 04, 2002, 04:05 PM: Message edited by: Ransom ]