Category: Digging in Deeper

Digging in Deeper: 1 Corinthians 10:25-29

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“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.”  If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience.  But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience–I do not mean your conscience, but his.  For why should my liberty be determined by someone else’s conscience?”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Here are Paul’s final thoughts on the issue of eating meat that came from a pagan sacrifice: Eating it doesn’t matter.  If you want to eat it, go ahead.  If you don’t, don’t worry about it.  It’s meat.  Making a mountain out of this molehill is a worthless effort.   Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: 1 Corinthians 10:20

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“No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God.  I do not want you to be participants with demons.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Wait, I thought Paul’s conclusion was that eating the meat that came from a sacrifice at one of the local pagan temples was not morally problematic?  Now it’s demonic?  What??

We actually get more clarity on Paul’s final position a couple of verses from now and there is no contradiction.  I’ll deal with that in a subsequent post.  What is worth reflecting on here is not Paul’s main point, but some of the broader implications for what he has said.  Most notably, that the pagan sacrifices were demonic.   Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Ecclesiastes 10:20

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“Even in your thoughts, do not curse the king, nor in your bedroom curse the rich, for a bird of the air will carry your voice, or some winged creature tell the matter.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Ever wonder where the phrase “a little bird told me” came from?

All day long we see people and have thoughts about them.  We can’t help it.  They come to us almost before we even realize what is happening.  These snap judgments may be kind and charitable, but they also may not be.  In fact, for most of us, they’re not more often than they are.   Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: Ecclesiastes 7:10

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“Say not, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’  For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Have you ever longed for the “good old days”?  Why?  What about them did you desire?  Simpler times?  Different social interactions?  Fewer burdens?  No social media?

I have come to the conclusion that one of the major false gods of our culture is called Nostalgia.  The thing about Nostalgia, though, is that he is subtle.  No one realizes they are worshiping him at first, and even if you were to point it out to them, they’d just respond, “No, I’m not.  I’m just reminiscing about the way things were.”

And yet, this is what the worship of Nostalgia looks like.  We come to his altar and offer sacrifices of time and memory.  We offer cynicism about the current state of the world.  We offer judgments of people who are younger than we are.  In return, he gives us warm feelings about the past that are a comforting salve for the pressures of the present.   Read the rest…

Digging in Deeper: 1 Corinthians 8:9

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“But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

When it came to the issue of eating or not eating meat that had been offered as a sacrifice to an idol, Paul’s position was that because idols were nothing, eating the meat was not in any way morally problematic in and of itself.  In other words, the act was not sinful.

But…for some folks in the church, the idea of eating such meat was really problematic for them and for their conscience.  Some Gentile background folks who had grown up as pagans and who were really into idolatry before following Jesus could not eat the meat without being tempted back into their old life.  Similarly, many of the Jewish background believers couldn’t eat it without feeling like they were sinning against God by participating even indirectly in an act of idolatry.   Read the rest…