Eating Food Sacrificed to Idols
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2575724/Parents-fury-pork-sausages-banned-school-menu-replaced-halal-meat.html
We have guidance in the Bible for circumstances such as this and Paul sums it up nicely.
1 Corinthians 8:1-13New Living Translation (NLT)
Food Sacrificed to Idols
8 Now regarding your question about food that has been offered to idols. Yes, we know that “we all have knowledge” about this issue. But while knowledge makes us feel important, it is love that strengthens the church. 2 Anyone who claims to know all the answers doesn’t really know very much. 3 But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes.[a]
4 So, what about eating meat that has been offered to idols? Well, we all know that an idol is not really a god and that there is only one God. 5 There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many lords. 6 But for us,
There is one God, the Father,
by whom all things were created,
and for whom we live.
And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ,
through whom all things were created,
and through whom we live.
9 But you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause others with a weaker conscience to stumble. 10 For if others see you—with your “superior knowledge”—eating in the temple of an idol, won’t they be encouraged to violate their conscience by eating food that has been offered to an idol? 11 So because of your superior knowledge, a weak believer[b] for whom Christ died will be destroyed. 12 And when you sin against other believers[c] by encouraging them to do something they believe is wrong, you are sinning against Christ. 13 So if what I eat causes another believer to sin, I will never eat meat again as long as I live—for I don’t want to cause another believer to stumble.
Such is the arrogance of those that care naught about offending Christians, and in doing so leading astray Christian children, and Sikhs as they are forbidden from eating Halal slaughtered meat.
Time to ban Halal where it's sneaked in without telling anyone?
Would the same then apply to kosher food?
ReplyDeleteI've never regarded kosher or halal food as having been sacrificed to idols.
Hi Steve, I suppose this revolves around the term 'sacrificed to idols'. If I slaughtered a sheep, and then my Muslim neighbour slaughtered a sheep according to Halal processes then he would be able to eat the meat of the sheep he slaughtered but would refrain from touching mine as he would consider it haram.
ReplyDeleteIn the Bible Paul says that there really is no difference between meat for the believer whichever way it is slaughtered. However the Muslim will believe that slaughtering whilst uttering 'Bismillah Allahu Akbar' in some way changes the meat from haram to halal. To me this has to be a spiritual dimension or act which could lead young Christians or those with a weak conscience away from faith. What other reason could there be for Paul's warning in 1 Co 8?
I look upon the act of halal slaughter as a spiritual and religious act and so would extend to it the phrase 'sacrificed to idols' as I certainly don't equate the God of Abraham with the deity of Islam.
So when it comes to Kosher or Schecita slaughter I don't have the same religious issues, as the link to me is the God of Abraham.
However, I do have general issues with slaughtering of animals for food production. In the West we have it done on an industrial scale where I believe animal welfare is well below what I'm willing to accept. And in the religious slaughter I also believe animal welfare is well down on the list due to ignorance and insensitivity. That's why I don't eat meat any more.
Coming back to the original issue there's also the fact that as consumers in the West we are not given the choice to decide whether to eat or not to eat such food as the information is withheld from us. I know this also happens with Kosher as the cuts of meat not deemed suitable are introduced into the 'unlabelled' food chain as well.
To many people, both Muslim and non-Muslim there are real differences between halal and non-halal produce. We would never dream of passing off haram cuts of meat as halal (and kosher) and I believe that this sensitivity should work the other was as well.