Question:
Does
Food have Anything to do
with
Christianity?
“Some
professing Christians have strong convictions regarding
their food choices, while most people really have no convictions
at all. They
just make their food choices according to taste or familiarity
or possibly to lose weight. What
does the Bible say?”
Answer
As
we examine the Old Testament, we are aware that God gave
food regulations to Israel through Moses. This
became part of the Law of God (see particularly Leviticus
11). The nation
of Israel was to abstain from “unclean” foods but they
were permitted to consume “clean” foods. Of
course, this pertains to ritual holiness and unholiness. Some
people surmise that God may have made such choices because
of health dangers, but this is supposition. More
likely is the idea that these restrictions had to do with
God’s desire to make a difference between His people and
the surrounding pagan people on earth.
When
we come to the New Testament, these kosher laws were taken
away by God. The
Law-giver has the right to give laws and also has the right
to take those laws away. Mark
says that Jesus “declared all foods clean” (7:19). We
also recall how the Lord give Peter a vision while he was
in Joppa. The
Lord said to this apostle, “What God has cleansed, no longer
consider unholy” (Acts 10:9). Paul
also said that certain false teachers “advocate abstaining
from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared
in by those who believe and know the truth” (1 Timothy
4:3-4). Apparently
God removed foods from the realm of being ritually impure.
In
answer to the question, we must admit that people often
have one of two extreme views in regard to food. (This
seems to be the case in regard to many issues in life!) On
the one hand, some people feel obligated to perpetuate
the Mosaic restrictions, thus they refuse to eat “unclean” meats. Along
with this, there are some who believe that it is healthier
to be a vegetarian—consuming only plant foods. One
variation of this would be the lacto-vegetarians (they
also consume milk along with plant foods) and the ovo-vegetarians
(who add eggs to their diet). Some
go so far as to be fruitarians—for they only eat fruits! We
also recall that some religions impose food restrictions
on their followers. Seventh-day
Adventists, for example, encourage their members to not
only abstain from unclean meats, but they encourage them
to be strict vegetarians, according to the counsel of Ellen
G. White, their founder.
On
the other side of the spectrum, most Americans (as well
as others around the world) have no moral or spiritual
convictions regarding food. Some
professing Christians may believe it is sinful to be gluttonous
and become grossly overweight, but they would not attach
any moral significance to food itself. Rather,
most people—whether religious or irreligious—freely eat
whatever their taste or their customs dictate. They
are willing to die premature deaths because of their lust
for foods that are known to rob us of health.
It
is important for us to keep two points in mind. First,
God is the One who has given us our body and we must treat
this gift with great respect and care. Paul
commands, “Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice,
acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship” (Romans
12:1). The
apostle also asks, “Do you not know that your body is a
temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have
from God, and that you are not your own? For
you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God
in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Therefore,
the true Christian is to give his body to the Lord as a
living and holy sacrifice. His
physical body is a temple of the Holy Spirit and he is
to glorify God in his body. Furthermore,
Paul says, “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever
you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).
Second,
while the New Testament mentions foods fairly often, nearly
all of these references have to do with such questions
as whether one is bound to the Mosaic restrictions on unclean
meats, whether he should eat meats that come from animals
sacrificed to pagan gods, and like matters. None
of them directly deal with matters of nutrition, caloric
content, or other health issues. When
one cites a verse that says we should not at all restrict
what foods we eat and uses a verse that has reference to
kosher food laws and the like, he misuses the scriptures.
Since
we are to be interested in our health for the glory of
God, it is clear that we should be interested in the matter
of nutrition since this is so closely tied to health and
disease. We
should not simply eat what everyone else eats in this developed
country since most people make food choices based on taste
or familiarity—and not according to what is nutritiously
healthy. If
we are to glorify God in our body, we should do all we
can to enhance our health by what we eat. If
our body does not belong to us but to the Lord, we should
ask what God would want us to eat. If
our body is to be a living sacrifice, then we should choose
to offer to God the best sacrifice that we can give.
God
is interesting in our healthy lifestyle and part of this
will be His desire that we make good food choices that
will promote good physical health.
Richard Hollerman
Presently,
we are nearly completed with a booklet entitled, Helpful Hints on Health. We
hope to put this on the True
Discipleship website soon.
|
