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Idol Food

The problem of eating food offered to idols must have been a major concern of  the Apostle Paul because he devotes various verses of  three chapters in his letter to the Corinthians to deal with this issue (see 1 Corinthians 8-10).

So what? How does that concern us? Perhaps we should just skip over those verses since we don’t have idol worship anyway.

Also the Jerusalem Council warned against this problem in their letters to the Gentile believers (Acts 15:23-24).  Not only that but two churches …. Pergamos and Thyatira …. are rebuked by Jesus for eating “food sacrificed to idols” (Revelation 2:14,20)

Perhaps we need to understand what was happening in the 1st century pagan world and why the Jewish Council, Paul and Jesus were so concerned with this problem.

When food was brought to the pagan temple as a sacrifice to the god’s …. only a small portion of it was actually burned on the altar. The majority of the offered food survived to be either sold by the priest in the marketplace or eaten by the worshiper in a dining room located in the temple. These dinners then became a type of worship and cultic rituals.  Christians were forbidden to join in these meals because their participation involved a level of intimacy with a pagan god that made the Christian guilty of idolatry.

In our real life world we Christians live with idols. Of course these idols are not wood or stone but idols of the mind. Any form of temptation, desire, or even lust which draws us away from the Lord, is a type of idol worship. Disappointments, failures and sickness .… might leave us bewildered and adrift from our foundation of faith.

I have come to recognize this in my own life. If I can deal with my idols, then I can better equip myself to overcome them. Through prayer and worship, I have a chance to overcome the need for the “meat” of idol worship.

It is the beauty of Christian fellowship which also helps to sustain and strengthen me.

We gather with other Christians, not to eat the meat offered to idols, but to feast on the bounty of good things given by God to those who love Him. Therefore I count on my community of faith, the Church, as we help to sustain each other.

“So whatever you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God.”  (1 Corinthians 10:31).

No idol meat for us!

—Barbara Hyland, guest writer