Milk and Meat

It all depends on how small the meat is cut up. The meat I feed my 14 month old is a lot different than the meat I feed myself, in size, texture and chewability (since he only has 8 teeth). I think the misperception is once you are "off" milk, you move right on to the 16 ounce T-bone, which is not the case. While my wife is a newer Christian (6 years), she is not ready to feed herself along with the "big boys" yet. It still has to be cut up and examined before given to her. The learning (and growing) curve is different with everyone...in physical nature, and spiritual.

 

Great post and to add sometimes you have to chew the meat for the baby then put the chewed meat in their mouth.

Also, a good glass of milk goes well with a meal no matter how old you get. You don't remove milk from your diet, you add meat.

 

A couple questions that have baffled me on the milk/meat issue:

What precisely is considered to be "milk," and what precisely is "meat"?

Who determines what is "milk" and what is "meat"?

Is there some kind of boundary line, i.e., up to this certain point X is "milk," but beyond that point X is "meat"?

Hopefully some of my BB friends can help me answer these questions.

 

I always thought the "milk" was the fundamentals of the faith...and the "texture" increased from there as one grew in their faith. You have to remember that from milk comes yogurt (thicker) and cottage cheese (even thicker). You THEN move on to the "meat". As LeBuick pointed out, though, even us carnivores can still use a good tall glass of cold milk quite often to make sure the meat goes down!

 

Heb 5:12
For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Heb 5:13
For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Heb 5:14
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

This should answer the question for you.

 

So, infant = milk and adult = meat. This leaves a lot of room in between. Do we go from spiritual infant to spiritual adult immediately?

 

Hmmm... milk and meat is a very interesting topic...

1. Does an adult only eat meat?
2. Does an infant only drink milk?

What is milk?
Think of an infant who sucks milk from a bottle or such. Is the infant drinking the milk because he loves it like I would a heaping bowl full of double chocolate fudge brownie ice cream with hot fudge, carmel, nuts, Oreo's, chocolate chips, Reese's Cups, cookie dough, cheese cake, fudge chunks, ketchup, etc... (all fat free and low in sugar of course). Maybe. But most infants are drinking milk just to stay alive. Milk must be the fundamentals of "being saved" that keep a Christian "alive."

Meat must be anything else:
Geneologies, history, geography, where Cain got his wife, the father of Moses, how Jonah lived in the whale/great fish/big water thingey, interpretation of Song of Solomon, verses that "preach against wine/strong drink," verses that suggest/allow wine, verses that sound Calvinistic, verses that sound "free-will"-ish, why the rod of Aaron budded, whether or not man could have drowned himself before he sinned, how Satan fell when he was in heaven, who the sons of God and the daughters of men were, how mighty David's mighty men were, whether or not Moses preferred Coke or Pepsi, how many hours it took Moses to build the ark, who the lewd fellows of the baser sort in Act 17:5 were, what an apple of gold in a picture of silver looks like, how much trans fat was in manna, how many fingers and toes the six-fingered, six-toed giant of II Samuel 21:20 had, and many others... :thumbs:

 

As I suppose Jeep Dragon was trying to say, I still have questions on the milk/meat issue.

Since prophecy wasn't mentioned in the Hebrew passage that lists some/all of the "milk" topics, is it therefore "meat"? Or would simply some aspects of it be meat and some aspects of it be milk? If so, who decides which aspects of it are in which category?

I could ask the same about the topic of the church as well. Which aspects of it are milk and which are meat? Who decides which is which?

These are just two examples. There are others as well.

 

You are still not understanding the passage in question.

We get the milk/meat metaphors from only one place that I know of.

Heb 5:12
For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Heb 5:13
For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Heb 5:14
But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

Don't try to establish a line where one does not exist.

Milk=the first principles of the oracles of God. These would be the basic doctrines of God. Who He is and who we are. Who Christ is and our need of Him. etc...

Meat= the weightier things of righteousness and holiness. These are they who are able to TEACH!. These be they who by reason of USE have EXCERCISED their spiritual sense and can discern (or tell the difference) between good and evil. You say, "Good and evil what?" Doctrine. i.e. the NEXT principles of God as opposed to the FIRST principles of God.

IOW; milk is for they who are not mature enough to teach. It is as simple as that. And THAT is all Paul is teaching by using these metaphors.

 

AMEN!

When Jesus said narrow he meant it.

 

Love you Brother.