daily java

Daily Java:

Now the Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some will turn away from the true faith; they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. These people are hypocrites and liars, and their consciences are dead. They will say it is wrong to be married and wrong to eat certain foods. But God created those foods to be eaten with thanks by faithful people who know the truth. Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks. For we know it is made acceptable by the word of God and prayer. (1 Timothy 4:1-5)

It is easy for people to confuse preferences for theology. They want something and before long it becomes, as far as they are concerned, the will of God.

For instance, a person does not like meat. And since they do not like meat, they really do not like to see others eating meat, either. So they begin to think about it and come up with a doctrine on meat. I do not like meat, I am in the image of God, therefore God does not lie meat either.

It is a silly argument for the most part because it can be applied to almost any part of life

When it comes down to it, God does not care what we eat. The Bible does say that if somebody feels that they are sinning by eating or drinking something, and we insist that they :liberate” themselves by eating or drinking it, and sinning in doing so, we sin. The Bible does say that if we think something is sin, to us it is sin.

That doesn’t, however, mean that it is sin to everyone else. But it is easy to apply your preferences to the Bible and try to make a point for them.

But the plain truth is: the Bible doesn’t care what you eat or drink. In fact, the Bible speaks more of gluttony, or eating and drinking too much, than substance – what you eat or drink.

After all, Jesus ate and drank. He ate at people’s houses and refused to follow the ritual diet of the legalists and he was free in his drinking of wine. He was enough so that he was called “a glutton and a drunkard” (Matthew 11:19) by those who tried to make him look bad.

There is nothing wrong with food. And there is nothing wrong with alcohol. It is the misuse of either that is wrong. Jesus himself never sinned (1 Peter 2:22). Yet Jesus drank wine. In fact, in John 2, he made between 120 and 180 gallons of wine for a part, depending on how you measure the jars used.

As I said, it is easy to try to use the Bible to prove what you want. And it is easy to use Jesus to try to prove a point. People who do not like fossil fuels claim Jesus would drive an electric car. People who do not like meat claim Jesus would eat on vegetables, in spite of several places where he ate meat.

People who do not like things try their best to use Jesus to support their stuff. But the problem was, Jesus didn’t do that in his day and he doesn’t do it today.

In his day, Jesus went his own way and refused to follow conventional thinking. He refused to be popular on others’ terms. He came, he said, to carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will (John 5:30), not to pander to people’s political or personal philosophies and preferences.