ROMANS 14 (NLT)
From: Bible Gateway
New Living Translation
14 Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong.
2 For instance, one person believes it’s all right to eat anything. But another believer with a sensitive conscience will eat only vegetables. 3 Those who feel free to eat anything must not look down on those who don’t. And those who don’t eat certain foods must not condemn those who do, for God has accepted them.
4 Who are you to condemn someone else’s servants? Their own master will judge whether they stand or fall. And with the Lord’s help, they will stand and receive his approval.
10 So why do you condemn another believer. Why do you look down on another believer? Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11 For the Scriptures say,
“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bend to me,
and every tongue will declare allegiance to God.b]" data-mce-style="line-height: 0;">[b]’”
‘every knee will bend to me,
and every tongue will declare allegiance to God.b]" data-mce-style="line-height: 0;">[b]’”
12 Yes, each of us will give a personal account to God. 13 So let’s stop condemning each other. Decide instead to live in such a way that you will not cause another believer to stumble and fall.
20 Don’t tear apart the work of God over what you eat. Remember, all foods are acceptable, but it is wrong to eat something if it makes another person stumble. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything else if it might cause another believer to stumble.c]" data-mce-style="line-height: 0;">[c] 22 You may believe there’s nothing wrong with what you are doing, but keep it between yourself and God. Blessed are those who don’t feel guilty for doing something they have decided is right. 23 But if you have doubts about whether or not you should eat something, you are sinning if you go ahead and do it. For you are not following your convictions. If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.
Submitted by SHT
16 comments:
AMEN!
He is exactly right! Let start counting down till the legalists throw a fit.
This is very PLAIN-TRUTH One has to question if High-School-Dropout HWA could even read!?
I've experienced new people using this a a club against established members. If someone disagrees with their pet opinion, they rush to a the minister, complaining of being 'offended.' Or they are verbally abusive, banking on members not responding out of fear of 'offending' a new person.
Some of these 'babes in Christ' are absolute bastards.
I have to agree with this and am chagrined that I did the exact opposite for so many years. Had some Jimmy Dean sausage for breakfast. I just don't care anymore what any supposed holy book says about anything. I live my life by common sense and humanist caring and ethics. I tried to read the Bhagavad Gita to learn a bit about that religion. Threw it in the trash after a few confusing pages. I should have done the same with the Bible way, way back there.
Paul's teaching is that this is regarding food offered to idols and praying to pagan gods on certain days. Also some Gentiles are vegetarians. In this context, it is very relevant to countries like China, India and South East Asia where these practices are common to Buddhists, Hindus and ancestral worship.
It has nothing to do with clean and unclean meats and God's weekly Sabbath and Holy Days.
God's revelation is consistent and does not change. If in doubt, just observe nature (Rom 1:20).
Anon 644 -- Yes, it was about the possibility of meat on sale in the markets that may have been offered to idols, caveat emptor! The "days" mentioned are likely to be days on the Roman calendar when such sacrifices took place. Some Pharisees in the diaspora were excessively strict about this, as meat purchased near those days would more likely to have been offered to idols.
Hindus and most Buddhists wouldn't be offering meat, only vegetables! The prohibition (as in Acts 15) applies to meat.
it's been clear from the start that SHT didn't know what he was talking about...this latest offering should remove all doubt, if anybody had any.
it's really sad.
I’ve got tickets to a major league baseball game on Friday night. Per Romans (and Galatians!), I’ll be rejoicing and thankful to both God and my customer who gave them to me for the awesome blessing of being able to enjoy the game!
BB
I don't do religion so I spent 1 minute on this posting.
A quick text analysis suggests to me that this Paul person is adressing a very specific group, I believe he calls it church, about some local issues that seemed to matter at the time, or perhaps even divide that group, within a specific context.
It seems the writer of the piece, SHT, is taking the words completely out of context in some sort of effort to lend universal context or perhaps even build a world religion out of this letter to this group.
Kind of like I am reading his mothers letters to his father in the jungle during WWII Pacific Theater (or Korea) admonishing to wash his socks and I am then completely out of context building a religion on some universal principle to always keep socks clean.
And Mr Paul here is writing to a specific group living in a jungle of religious confusing and he is trying to get them to at least be civil about some differences.
Somewhere recently, perhaps on this blog, I read that the bible writers were emphasizing pretty new philosophical understanding, not the "everyone knows, sabbath, clean meat etc bla bla yawn same old same old). Today this message could be reversed for emphasis.
Perhaps it even was this Kitchen person saying this. I liked that comment. I like a twist of interpretation that is logical but not deliberately deceiving.
nck
Anon6:44PM wrote:
"...If in doubt, just observe nature (Rom 1:20)."
*Observes nature, sees that the fossil record, biology, DNA, linguistics, archaeology, et cetera, unanimously upholds evolution and contradicts not just creationism, but also the flood, the patriarchs, a Hebrew enslavement and exodus and wandering, the conquest of Canaan, a united monarchy, a glorious Solomonic empire, et cetera...*
"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! ONLY observe nature when I TELL YOU to observe nature! IGNORE NATURE the rest of the time!!!"
so did the people back then who offered sacrifices to idols admit that those idols didn't actually eat it? I thought maybe the priests would secretly scoff it down. What about all the sacrifices offered to Yahweh in the OT? Did he eat it, or did that meat get sold, or did the priests eat it?
Byker Bob,
Enjoy the game. If I were out there, and if we were friends š I'd go with you.
I have no problem with going to a game on a Friday night, but even if I did, it's none of my damn business what anyone else does on the sabbath.
Kevin
BB
Going to a baseball game on the Sabbath is breaking the sabbath. Be warned.
Obviously, we disagree on the meanings of the Sinai and Calvary covenants. ;-)
BB
12:00pm, do you have an exact scripture stating that?
Kevin McMillen
Kevinmcmillen64@gmail.com
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