There are many things that I love: sweets, being with family, Naruto, wild animals...the list goes on. And I can so easily express my love for these things without much regard to personal opinion. For example, many of my friends think I'm crazy to want to work in rehabilitation for wild tigers. But I am so passionate about this subject and try to teach others about the need for conservation support that someone too may share the same love for these species as I do.
But when it comes to expressing my love for the Savior...I get tense. I am normally surrounded by so many different kinds of people. From varying races, backgrounds to spiritual beliefs, the playing field is enormous. As a Christian, I know my duty is to spread the word of Christ to the masses. But when facing so many different types of people, my mind wonders "what will they think? what will they say? how will they respond to a 'Christian' conversation". This is a major battle in my life. I try to use any avenue I can to discuss the Lord, whether it be connecting the weather to God or talks of the best holidays and Christmas. But when I am speaking to an unbeliever, I notice their voice changes, they become tense and turned off all together by the thought of such discussion.
Despite how others feel, I LOVE THE LORD! And I want to tell the world about it. I want others to too feel the joy I feel on a daily basis. Matthew 10.33 states "But whoever denies me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven." How do I reach others when I am so afraid of hurting feelings, turning others off or making someone tense? It is a challenge. Although the problem has not been solved yet, I try to reach people where they are at. For example, I work with a lesbian at my job. She is such a sweet and caring person but conversations about religion haven't gone so well. So I to express some topics that she can relate to. For example, I don't eat pork. She may view this as just another constrain religion puts on people's lives. But I explain to her that I love God and so I don't eat a meat that he deems unclean just as she does not cook food that her girlfriend does not like to eat. When you love someone, you try to please them. Maybe this tactic will prove to be successful, maybe it will fail. But it remains a prayer request of mine. Do you struggle with spreading the Word of God? Maybe this tactic will help or maybe you have a suggestion. It would be great to hear!
Blessings
As Christians we can indeed eat pork. The prohibition against "unclean" food ended in the new testament with the arrival of our savior JC. We no longer follow the law of the old testament.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comment. I'd like to ask though, if we do not keep the any of the laws from the Old Testament, does this include the Ten Commandments? And where is it stated that we no longer keep these commands?
ReplyDelete“Do not call anything impure that God has made clean” (Acts 10:15). When Jesus died on the cross, He fulfilled the Old Testament law (Romans 10:4; Galatians 3:24-26; Ephesians 2:15). This includes the laws regarding clean and unclean foods.
ReplyDeleteActs 10.15 regards a vision seen by Peter who refused to preach to the gentiles. God used this vision of clean and unclean meats to tell him to preach to the Jews (clean) and the gentiles (unclean). It wasn't to tell him unclean meats are now clean. He "made clean" the gentiles. Leviticus 18.23 tells us sex with animals is a sin (Nor shall you mate with any animal, to defile yourself with it. Nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is perversion). This is an Old Testament law. Is this no longer considered sin because Jesus fulfilled it at the cross?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if your questions about whether mating with animals is a sin is sarcastic or not- But if not, of course it is a sin! The New Testament did not abolish sins of the past. It abolished the LAW of the past and all of the ceremony and traditions that came along with it. For instance. The Old Testament practice of offering up animal sacrifices to God when we sinned is done away with. Nowadays when we sin we confess and repent of our sins.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the topic at hand. Jesus states that our focus should not be on what kind of food we can eat when ALL food will pass thru as a waste. Our focus should be on more substantive issues such as what is in out hearts and mind and whether the lives we lead depict the fruits of the spirit:
As Paul states in Romans 14:14, foods are not unclean in and of themselves. While God has given rules concerning food in the past, they were laws intended to serve a particular purpose at a particular time, not moral absolutes. The laws given to the Israelites concerning food were in force during the time of the Old Covenant, not before and not after.
ReplyDeletePeople often view Paul's teaching on foods as contradictory to Jesus' teaching, particularly Jesus' statement that he was not coming to abolish the law (see Jesus did/did not abolish the law). Yet Jesus himself pointed out that the ceremonial aspects of the law were only ceremonial in Matthew 15:10-20:
Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand. What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.'"
ReplyDelete"Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them. "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.'"
Jesus did not teach his disciples to break the Law, for since he had not yet died and been resurrected, the Law was still in effect. However, he did tell his disciples that his death and resurrection was the beginning of a new covenant (Lk 22:20). This new covenant removed the distinctions between clean and unclean that were made in the Law, as a vision from God demonstrated to Peter in Acts 10:9-16:
ReplyDeleteI apologize if I offended. My question was not meant to be sarcastic. It was to address your original statement "We no longer follow the law of the old testament." There are many laws of the old testament and that includes forbiddance to have sex with animals, to eat pork and the Ten Commandments all together. All of these laws are in the Old Testament. It seems your arguments states that some of these other Old Testament laws are still put in place (no sex with animals, Ten Commandments)...but no eating of unclean animals is no longer required. It is true that the Lord gave Peter a vision using clean and unclean meats. And it is true that Jesus said what enters a man and passes through him and eating with unwashed hands does not make a man unclean. But when the Lord deems an animal unclean, whether it be sin to eat or not, I stray away. The Bible says that God will not with hold any good thing from those who walk upright (psalm84.11). Many different studies have shown that pork isn't very good for us. It carries very high toxins and fat and many other dangerous things for our bodies. If God wants what's best for us and once deemed such a meat "unclean", I have decided to stay away from it. This is not to say "eating pork is a sin", I am not justified in saying that. But the reason I raised it as a point in discussion was to spark talks about the Lord with a non-believer. I would advise other Christians not to eat pork but it is definitely a subject that should be prayed on. Thank you for your comments and shared wisdom on this topic!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome. Thank you as well!
ReplyDelete