Have You Heard God Calling You....?

The Narrow Way · May 31, 2021

I believe God is calling ALL to COME and FOLLOW Him. Sadly, many want to BE CALLED "followers of Christ" or "CHRISTIANS" but they don't want to DO the things God has CALLED us to do. So many times when people read things in the Old Testament that God told His people to do, they will say, "Oh! That was for the JEWS, not for Christians today." I'm convinced that that is just a convenient way for many to try to ignore what God is telling them to do TODAY.

Think about it

. When God gave Moses the Clean & Unclean list of meats they could and could not eat... WHO did that apply to?

“I am the Lord thy God, which have separated you from other people. Ye shall therefore put difference between clean beasts and unclean, and between unclean fowls and clean: and ye shall not make your souls abominable by beast, or by fowl, or by any manner of living thing, ... which I have separated from you as unclean.” Leviticus 20:24, 25.

There were NO JEWS then....this wasn't written for THE JEWS. It was written for those who God had SEPARATED from the WORLD. Has God called you to separate from the World? Isn't that what being a Christian is all about ~ Following Jesus and Separating from the World?

The reason God gave these Health Laws to His People back then was because He wanted them to be HEALTHY

. And it's for that SAME REASON that He gives those SAME HEALTH LAWS to those who CLAIM to be His Followers TODAY.

If those claiming to be Christians today would live by the Health Laws God has given us, there would be very few sick and dying amongst us.

Carl Emerson · May 31, 2021

The passage you refer to was what God required Moses to deliver to the 'Sons of Israel'
Can you explain why this does not mean Jews please.
I thought Jews descended from the 12 sons and hence the 12 tribes long before Moses.

Saint Steven · May 31, 2021

Carl Emerson said:
The passage you refer to was what God required Moses to deliver to the 'Sons of Israel'
Can you explain why this does not mean Jews please.
I thought Jews descended from the 12 sons and hence the 12 tribes long before Moses.

That's a good point.
We should also consider the vision Peter had before meeting with Cornelius.
Note verses 13-15.

Acts 10:9-16 NIV
Peter’s Vision
9 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. 13 Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

Saint Steven · May 31, 2021

@Carl Emerson --- also, Christ's own words on the subject in all three synoptic gospels.

Matthew 15:11
What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”
Mark 7:15
Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.”
Mark 7:20
He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them.

Saint Steven · May 31, 2021

And the entirety of Romans chapter fourteen which contains this.

Romans 14:19-21 NIV

Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.

OldWiseGuy · May 31, 2021

Saint Steven said:
And the entirety of Romans chapter fourteen which contains this.

Romans 14:19-21 NIV

Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20 Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.

Do you think that "all" food eaten across the globe is "clean"? People eat some strange things.

Saint Steven · May 31, 2021

OldWiseGuy said:
Do you think that "all" food eaten across the globe is "clean"? People eat some strange things.

Certainly some culture shock for those of us not used to it. - lol

And there is some wisdom in being informed about what you eat. But our bodies are pretty tolerant of most of what we can eat.

As to whether it is "clean" or not, that has to do with OT law. We recognize the opposite today as kosher. And from that perspective a cheeseburger is "unclean". Would you eat such a thing? (I would) - lol

GOD Shines Forth! · May 31, 2021

OldWiseGuy said:
Do you think that "all" food eaten across the globe is "clean"? People eat some strange things.

Did you HAVE to?

OldWiseGuy · May 31, 2021

Saint Steven said:
Certainly some culture shock for those of us not used to it. - lol

And there is some wisdom in being informed about what you eat. But our bodies are pretty tolerant of most of what we can eat.

As to whether it is "clean" or not, that has to do with OT law. We recognize the opposite today as kosher. And from that perspective a cheeseburger is "unclean". Would you eat such a thing? (I would) - lol

Kosher is a Jewish thing today. In the OT only animals being sacrificed had to be killed in a certain way by the Levites. Common people only needed to 'bleed out' the animals they killed for food, and refrain from eating the fat. We do the same today. Animals are thoroughly bled out so blood doesn't remain to corrupt the meat. Products are made from the blood, but I wouldn't eat them. I pretty much follow the OT guidelines.

OldWiseGuy · May 31, 2021

GOD Shines Forth! said:
Did you HAVE to?

I thought the point had to be made, yes.

Saint Steven · May 31, 2021

OldWiseGuy said:
Kosher is a Jewish thing today. In the OT only animals being sacrificed had to be killed in a certain way by the Levites. Common people only needed to 'bleed out' the animals they killed for food, and refrain from eating the fat. We do the same today. Animals are thoroughly bled out so blood doesn't remain to corrupt the meat. Products are made from the blood, but I wouldn't eat them. I pretty much follow the OT guidelines.

Our food handling laws pretty much follow those guidelines. And should. But...

Does that mean no bacon cheeseburgers for you? No pork chops? No pork ribs? No using the same cookware for milk and meat? Where do you draw the line?

OldWiseGuy · May 31, 2021

Saint Steven said:
Our food handling laws pretty much follow those guidelines. And should. But...

Does that mean no bacon cheeseburgers for you? No pork chops? No pork ribs? No using the same cookware for milk and meat? Where do you draw the line?

I regard those OT laws as physical health rules that are still valid today. I will cop to an occasional pepperoni pizza however.

Macchiato · May 31, 2021

OldWiseGuy said:
Do you think that "all" food eaten across the globe is "clean"? People eat some strange things.

This horrifies me but as one user showed were under a new covenant what God has made clean is clean.

OldWiseGuy · May 31, 2021

Macchiato said:
This horrifies me but as one user showed were under a new covenant what God has made clean is clean.

The sheet with all the creepy crawlies represented the gentiles that God had 'made clean', as Peter explains in Acts 10,

27 And as he talked with him, he went in, and found many (Gentiles, represented by the creatures on the sheet) that were come together.

28 And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man (not foods) common or unclean

Saint Steven · May 31, 2021

OldWiseGuy said:
The sheet with all the creepy crawlies represented the gentiles that God had 'made clean', as Peter explains in Acts 10,

27 And as he talked with him, he went in, and found many (Gentiles, represented by the creatures on the sheet) that were come together.

28 And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man (not foods) common or unclean

While that is true, there is more going on in that vision. In verse 13 God commanded Peter to "kill and eat." And in Acts chapter fifteen we see the Jerusalem Council discussing this whole topic. Do you recall the outcome of that meeting?

Acts 10:9-16 NIV
Peter’s Vision
9 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. 13 Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”
14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”
15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven.

GOD Shines Forth! · May 31, 2021

Of course, Paul kiboshes this logic in several places:

"I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean."—Romans 14:14

The concession is made for the weaker brother, whereas the scruples in the OP are suggested as somehow stronger.

"Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. For “the earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof.”—1 Cor. 10

Again, concessions to this liberty are made for the weaker brother.

"If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations—“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh."—Colossians 2

Etc.

Saint Steven · May 31, 2021

GOD Shines Forth! said:
The concession is made for the weaker brother, whereas the scruples in the OP are suggested as somehow stronger.

I think you have that backwards, in reference to Romans chapter fourteen. The one with dietary restrictions is considered weak in faith.

Romans 14:1-4 NIV
The Weak and the Strong
Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. 2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

GospelS · May 31, 2021

People don't understand the spiritual implications of what they consume. We become like what we eat/see/do, to some degree, it's true. Compare the spiritual evil forces from locations/nations that consume a lot of unclean meat to those that don't or maybe less.

Saint Steven · May 31, 2021

GospelS said:
People don't understand the spiritual implications of what they consume. We become like what we eat/see/do, to some degree, it's true. Compare the spiritual evil forces from locations/nations that consume a lot of unclean meat to those that don't or maybe less.

What "nations" (plural) are you talking about?
I don't think that even the nation of Israel is completely kosher.

Furthermore, the NT scriptures make it clear that we are no longer under the law.

Galatians 3:23-25 NIV
Before the coming of this faith," we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

Saint Steven · May 31, 2021

I like the topic question, but it hasn't really been addressed here.

Have You Heard God Calling You....?

Have You Heard God Calling You....?

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