Jewish and Gentile lifestyle

[angels4u]

After becoming Christians, is there a different in a life style?

Do we eat drink and dress the same?

Do we worship God the same?

Angels

[boblandis]

I know we abstain from evil and the appearance of it. Our thoughts, activities, and priorities should become Christlike so we shine as a beacon in this world of darkness.

[angels4u]

Hi Bob,

In Christ we are all one and belong to the same family!!

Hey.... you must be my brother Bob!!

[Ovedya]

Lifestyle was a point of contention between the Jewish and Gentile believers in the early church. Some Jewish believers in the early church contended that in order for a Gentile to be considered a genuine convert to Christianity, he first had to become a Jew through circumcision and keeping the law. Actually, these Jewish believers thought that they still had to keep the laws in abstaining from meats, etc. Acts 15 is the council that was held to clear up these matters. Between Acts 15, Romans, and the Corinthians Paul deals with the issues of lawkeeping and lifestyle practices. The core point of Paul's writing was that the Gentiles did not have to become Jews, did not have to be circumsized, and did not have to change their diets or eating habits (unless these offended or stumbled other believers).

[angels4u]

Amen Godman,

Isn't it good to be free in Jesus and that He didn't give us all those extra rules to keep? He knew we couldn't do it, nobody could.

God must have know that if we didn't grow up with the Jewish lyfestyle we would get confused by all those rules.

That's why I believe The Holt Spirit writes them down in our heart and because we love God and what He did for us we want to live a life pleasing to Him.

I believe too that we are set free from all the diet habits and such but that not everything is good for us ,as Yod and others explained we can eat everything but not everything is good for us, but we're free to eat it.

We have to take care of our bodies because The Holy Spirit dwells in it, and I believe its up to us treat our body right.

(I do believe we have stay away from meat made with blood.)

[Ovedya]

The blood observance is also something that has been done away with in Christ. Many would point to Acts 15 and saythat we are still under that ordinance, but it is not so if you take the situaiton in context. It was sufficient for the Gentil believers to abstain from blood. This was a sort of compromise. We can eat all things with a clean conscience, knowing that Christ has become the end of these things.

[angels4u]

Very true we live by grace ,but don't you believe God had a reason why He didn't want The Israelites to eat unclean meat? I believe it was for their health.

I know we're free to eat what we want but there is also comman sense , isn't there?

I know that the blood observance is also something that has been done away with in Christ, Amen and amen!

[Ovedya]

Acts 15:20 has four aspects: The abstenence from the contaminations from idols, fornication what is strangled, and blood.

The abstinence from blood is according to God's commands in Gen. 9:4; Lev. 3:17; 17:14; Deut. 12:16; 23-25.

If you look at those verses, you will find that the abstenence from blood referred to living blood, or uncooked blood. Genesis 9:4 says, "flesh with its life..." The verses in Leviticus command not to eat an fat or blood. But that commandment does not make much sense when you read about the sacrifices. Of the sacrifices the priests are permitted to eat the fat. The verses in Deut. seem to refer to live blood also, since God further commands it to be poured on the ground. Even if you pour blood on the ground, there will still be some in the meat. So abstaining from blood literally meant not to drink the live blood from the animal. I believe that drinking blood was a pagan practice, and may have been experienced by the children of Israel while in Egypt.

Now we know very well that the children of Israel were not vegetarians. But what we do not know for sure was whether there was any practice of eating uncooked, or underdone meat. Remember that these commandments and ordinances were given after the children of Israel had left Egypt, after being there for around 400 years. I believe that one of the Lord's main ways of sanctifying the children of Israel in the desert was by changing their diet. They had been used to the food of the world for so long that they needed a change of diet.

Also they needed a change of practice. In Acts 15 there are the other four items to deal with. What is interesting about this verse is that there are three items having to do with defilement from food. First there is the contaminations of idols, which refers to food sacrificed to idols (Ezek. 4:14; Dan. 1:8; Mal. 1:7; Acts 15:29; 21:25; 1 Cor. 8:1; Rev. 2:14, 20). Then there is the blood. Then there is also abstenence from thing strangled. Finally there is fornication (1 Cor. 6:9; Gal. 5:19). What i find very interesting is what the Lord had to say concerning what goes into the mouth. He said that it is not what ggoes into the mouth that defiles, but what comes out of the mouth. Surely this thought sunk into Paul in a very deep way and impressed him to realize that the food ordinances have been done away with.

Now as far as health is concerned, of course it is unhealthy to drink any animal blood that has not been cooked. But cooked thoroghly enough, animal blood is harmless. I do believe, though, that God's commandments regarding blood referred to uncooked blood.