idols
In the early church, a man invites you to dine with him at the table of our Lord
Serapis, Serapis was the God to whom he had sacrificed. Flesh offered to idols consisted of those parts of the animals offered in heathen sacrifices which remained over after the priests had their share, and were either eaten in the temple, or given to the magistrates and others, or eaten at home in connection with sacrificial feasts. What they did not need they sold to the shops and the flesh markets and purchased by poor or miserly persons. The problem to the Christian was, could he partake of such a feast at all?. This was a very practical matter because the Christian might easily come to eat such meat, either invited to a feast by heathen or by buying in the market, and thereby offense would be given to the weak brother. It was not a sin because the meat meant nothing, but to not offend those who saw it as idolotry, it was better to abstain. Those with a freer spirit might make light of it and forget to spare the weak.
The greatest idol today is the love of money. Lukewarm pastors who teach their flock the prosperity doctrine and that gain is godliness have inticed the church to serve both masters.
Whatever the Gentiles do, the distinctive testimony of the Jews is to be that they worship the living God, not idols. For a Jew to use a statue or a charm in religious practices is to fly in the face of the lessons of the whole history of the Jews. "Turn not unto idols, nor make yourself molten gods: I am the Lord your God. You shall make for yourselves no idols and erect no graven image or pillar, and you shall not set any image of stone in your land, to bow down to it; for I am the Lord your God."
[296, 378, Leviticus, BD]
Issue Oriented Discussion Newsletter
Index | Search This Site | Aristide.Org | The Latter Rain | Babylon the Great | The Kingdom | The Nicolaitans | Jezebel
The Baptism With the Holy Ghost | The Grand Delusion | World Trade Org | Liberation Theology | Jay Atkinson | Alphabetical Index