What God Has Cleansed…

[The One]

In Acts 10:9-16 Peter sees a vision in the sky of a sheet lowered to the ground with all kinds of four footed animals,crawling creatures,and birds on it.A voice tells him”Peter,get up,kill and eat!”Peter replies by saying”By no means Lord,for I have never eaten anything unholy or unclean.”The voice then replies,”What God has cleansed.
no longer call unclean.”(this happened three times)

 Peter then has the encounter with Cornelius,and salvation comes to the Gentiles(me)through the bestowing of the Holy Spirit upon he and his family.But,this posed a question to me.

 In Gen.1:25,before man's creation,God saw that all He had created was”good”,and in vs. 31 God saw all he had made was”very good”(after man's creation).God recognized that
all he made was intended for our use,and that everything had/has a purpose for us.So then how can we(the created)deny the gifts that God(the Creator)has made for us,and in fact prohibit their usage/consumption?Can we forbid that which God has made clean?

 I went to the NT to find the answer.In 1Tim.4:1-5 Paul
tells us that in”later days”some will fall away from the faith
giving way to”decietful spirits and doctrines of demons”,and
in vs.4-5 Paul writes,”For EVERYTHING created by God is good,and NOTHING IS TO BE REJECTED if it is recieved with gratitude;for it is SANCTIFIED BY THE MEANS OF GOD'S WORD and prayer.”Of course this is all a matter of conscience
(Romans 14).

 So the main question to be answered is,”Can man's law forbid that which God has given for us to use?”and more
so,”Is it sin to forbid these gifts,and to follows laws which do so?”

 Example of a hypothetical situation.Say that Religous extremists decide to bomb churches on Sun.because they realize that the best way to destroy the most enemy is when they are all assembled in one location.The federal gov't recognizes this and forbids any public worship on Sunday
for the safety of the worshippers(churches,homes,…anywhere
a large gathering of christians would be for worship).Do we as
followers of the scriptures obey that law and go against established NT teaching and example?

 If your answer like mine is”NO!”Then how can we obey laws all ready in place that forbid things God said were good and NOT to be rejected(unless dictated by conscience)?

I look forward to your responses.Thank you.

[Not3in1]

Quote (The One @ Oct. 29 2007,10:11)

Then how can we obey laws all ready in place that forbid things God said were good

Like what, for instance? What did God say was good that we are by law not able to enjoy or participate in?

[The One]

There are laws in place that forbid consumption of certain animals the gov't deems untouchable.There are plants that cannot be grown or consumed by federal mandate(some of which are medicinal, natural proteins,some that can be made into clothing,…and these are gifts from the Father to us.

In Gen.1:29 God tells Adam(our common ancestor)”
Behold I give you EVERY plant yielding seed that is on the face of the earth,and every tree which has fruit yielding seed,it shall be food for you,”.Of course,God(under the old law)forbade certain animals for consumption to the
Isrealites.

But,under the new law(which all christians are to follow)God
made all things clean(Acts 10),and tells us through Paul that
NOTHING IS TO BE REJECTED because it is sanctified by God's Word and prayer if accepted in the proper way(1 Tim.4:1-5).

So,if God says(and this is a command,not a request)”nothing
is to be rejected”,can we forbid the use or consumption of that which God gave us by man's law?

[942767]

Quote (The One @ Oct. 30 2007,09:33)

There are laws in place that forbid consumption of certain animals the gov't deems untouchable.There are plants that cannot be grown or consumed by federal mandate(some of which are medicinal, natural proteins,some that can be made into clothing,…and these are gifts from the Father to us.  In Gen.1:29 God tells Adam(our common ancestor)” Behold I give you EVERY plant yielding seed that is on the face of the earth,and every tree which has fruit yielding seed,it shall be food for you,”.Of course,God(under the old law)forbade certain animals for consumption to the Isrealites.  But,under the new law(which all christians are to follow)God made all things clean(Acts 10),and tells us through Paul that NOTHING IS TO BE REJECTED because it is sanctified by God's Word and prayer if accepted in the proper way(1 Tim.4:1-5).  So,if God says(and this is a command,not a request)”nothing is to be rejected”,can we forbid the use or consumption of that which God gave us by man's law?

Hi:

The following scripture indicates that we should obey the Laws of society:

Quote

Romans 13 – Study This Chapter   1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained F53 of God. 2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same: 4 For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil. 5 Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. 6 For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.

This would be true except if by the law they were asking us to do something contrary to God's Word.

God Bless

[Proclaimer]

Such as Hemp, you mean?

It is a very useful plant. It makes great paper, ink, clothing, rope, plastics, fuel, and has medicinal properties. It also replenishes poor soils.

Even though it has low THC and therefore is not very useful to take as a recreational drug, it is still banned because it's cousin is outlawed.

Yes I agree that such a useful plant being outlawed is pretty rough.

The ironic thing here is that the THC molecule has been synthesized and is used in medicine. Seems weird that man's version is OK, but God's version is unlawful.

Is this a case of “do not touch”, “do not taste”?

[Stu]

Quote (The One @ Oct. 30 2007,09:33)

In Gen.1:29 God tells Adam(our common ancestor)” Behold I give you EVERY plant yielding seed that is on the face of the earth,and every tree which has fruit yielding seed,it shall be food for you,”.Of course,God(under the old law)forbade certain animals for consumption to the Isrealites.  But,under the new law(which all christians are to follow)God made all things clean(Acts 10),and tells us through Paul that NOTHING IS TO BE REJECTED because it is sanctified by God's Word and prayer if accepted in the proper way(1 Tim.4:1-5).  So,if God says(and this is a command,not a request)”nothing is to be rejected”,can we forbid the use or consumption of that which God gave us by man's law?

We should warn against consumption of fruits that are poisonous, surely! Was Adam (maybe your ancestor, but not mine) warned about those?

Can we assume that the reversal of the prohibition on eating pork related to some discovery that it was raw or undercooked meat that gave people trichnosis?

Stuart

[Proclaimer]

The point is that all things are lawful, but not all are profitable.

Is it profitable to eat poisonous fruit? No.
Is it sinful? I think no again.

Of course it really depends on motive.

[The One]

Again,as I certainly agree with Romans 13,if God commands us then there is no question as to what my actions should be:
man's law or no man's law.

 In 1Tim.4:1-5 a command is given.After talking of those who prohibit marriage,and abstainINg from certain foods as those believeing”deceitful spirits and DOCTRINES OF DEMONS”,Paul
goes on to repeat Gen 1 that”EVERYTHING CREATED BY GOD IS GOOD”(so everything has a use or purpose for us)and I quote,”NOTHING IS TO BE REJECTED”because why?”IT IS
SANCTIFIED BY THE WORD OF GOD AND PRAYER!”

 This IS NOT a suggestion but it is,in fact,a command!And
is no less binding than any other command we are given by the Father through either Jesus,or his disciples.They are
all ordained by the Father.

 If any other command is made,we see it and obey!Why is this one any different?If any edict of gov't goes against any
command of God,the edict automatically becomes secondary to the command in my understanding.

 In truth,we are not”COMMANDED”to meet on Sunday,Only
by example(the early christians did,as did the apostles,and God's plan came to fullfillment on the first day of the week with Christ's ressurrection)is this proved.But to not worship on Sunday,to me,would be a sin,and I cannot do that!

 But this is a direct command.How we deal with it shows how obedient we are to God.

[The One]

To T8,
    Being as you brought up hemp and mariquana,you are correct when you give the many uses for hemp,but let me expand a bit.

 Even though this is not the only thing the gov't rules unfit
for us to consume,it does have a unique physical
characteristic.In every body ever created on this planet,
there are”canabinoid receptors”at the base of the cerebral cortex that are there solely for taking the active ingredient in mariquana into the body/brain(THC).This is a scientific,biological fact!

   This not only implies,it downright states out loud that this plant was intended for our use(if conscience permits,Rom.14).
    It should be up to each individual christian to determine
whether conscience can allow use without sin:not by
gov't mandate.The gov't of men has in fact DENIED gifts from God,and to me,that is sin.

[Author]

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