QT 29 Jun 10

1 Cor 8:1-3, 9-13 (NIV) Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. 2 The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But the man who loves God is known by God.

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9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol's temple, won't he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? 11 So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12 When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.

NOTE: It appears that the Corinthian letter, to which Paul is responding, contains a dissertation on the freedom we have in Christ, and the non-existence of idols (so-called gods). Paul starts with a gentle reminder of the danger of thinking you know it all, that you have solved all the issues by logic and wisdom. In fact, Paul then goes on to argue two points, the fact that eating food sacrificed to idols should not be an issue, but because of conscience and the weaker brother, you sin against Christ when you eat food sacrificed to idols in the weaker brother's presence. So then, the problem is not quite as easy as their letter seems to suggest it to be. Or in other words, don't be too quick to judge or to rely on human reasoning.