Such a question today came from a caller wanting to know if God will turn His back on us when we sin. This caller stated that his Bible teacher said that God does turn His back, and won't acknowledge us while we are sinning. The caller didn't agree, as he remembered Jonah and the Whale. Jonah turned his back on God, but God didn't give up. King David--well, what can we say? He was involved in all sorts of unscrupulous activities, yet God loved him. Shall we remember Peter, who denied knowing Jesus, yet Jesus never ignored Peter? So, of course, the caller received confirmation from the scripture first, and the broadcast second, that no, God does not turn His back on us when we get tripped up in our sin. The 2nd question, I can relate to. Should he question the Bible Teacher that was teaching this? Too often I have found myself wrapped up in the "leader knows all" cult. Or maybe it was the "preacher knows all" or the "teacher knows all"... you know what I mean. If anyone--especially a lady, were to question the Bible Teacher, we'd pretty much be rode out on the proverbial rail. Maybe this doesn't happen in all cultures, but it happened in mine more often than not.
Sadly, the teaching of God having his back turned on us when we sin is a common teaching. If that were true, I guess God pretty much has ignored His creation since the dawn of time. There's always someone sinning somewhere. Doesn't God get dizzy, spinning around? If God didn't hear the prayers of sinners, how does anyone ever receive His life? Silly teaching, yet it abounds.
The final caller got my attention as well. He wanted to know which foods (animals=meat) that God sanctified. Honestly, I was expecting the whole sabbath day argument to spring from this, but that wasn't to be the case. He referenced the verse I Timothy 4:4 and 5. He felt that lots of Christians used this verse to justify that they may eat anything. There was a valid point, sort of. His point was that our bodies no longer belong to us, they belong to God, and that we should seek God's guidance on what to eat. Possibly. God made our bodies, so of course He would know what was the better food source for us. The metaphor was used of a car manufacture. The manufacturer made the car, and would know that it runs using gasoline, not vegetable oil. Would we, upon buying the car, give the argument, "It's my car, I'll put in anything I want! If I want to use vegetable oil instead of gasoline, that's my business!" Yet, so many people use that same argument with our bodies.
No argument--lots of people do abuse their bodies with the foods that are put in or withheld from our bodies. This guy just wanted to know which animals were best for food.
I suppose, there's no set list. Now, I know there was the entire list in the old covenant about which animals chewed their cuds, had the cloven hooves... that sort of thing. We now live under Grace. We are indeed free to eat any food we want, be it vegetable or animal. However, we will have consequences, be they good or bad, to our bodies. Do we really need God to send a scripture saying not to eat at Fast Foods every day? Wouldn't common sense sort of tell us that? Also, with so many health issues, some people may be fine eating squirrel, some may not. So, there is no right or wrong list as far as which animals God set aside for food. All things in moderation. Preferably, I'd rather have a good tossed salad. However, I won't begrudge my brother or sister if they'd like steak. One way or another, through healthy living or silly living, we will leave these temporary bodies behind. Then it won't matter what we ate or drank..
What about you? Are you ready to leave this fleshly temple behind?
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