Acts 15:29 - "keep abstaining from blood"
by aqwsed12345 81 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Biahi
Easy prompt, I donated plasma (for money) when I retired, they have a very strict policy about who they will pay for plasma. They reject drug addicts. I asked about this, because I didn’t understand why they were so strict about who they accept. They said that previously, there were no standards, but the US GOVERNMENT passed laws that curtailed this practice. I ended up getting another full time job, but, after 8 months, I am finally stopping work, as of August 31st. I will probably sell it again, pays our grocery bill.
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Rattigan350
Actually, you are not selling plasma. It is illegal to sell body parts. They pay you for your time.
And the apostles saying "abstain from blood" is not an expansion of the law. All 4 prohibitions were listed under "abstain". The apostles did not have the authority to alter God's law. If they did, it would not be God's law, it would be the apostle's law.
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EasyPrompt
Some people sell their body for money.
@Biahi, Part of what defines someone as an "addict" is their willingness to lie, cheat, and steal in order to cover for their behavior. If you want to believe that everyone who gets paid to donate plasma is honest on that government required form and not an addict, that's your decision. Unfortunately, I've known enough addicts to know better.
https://stanfordbloodcenter.org/medical-history-questionnaire/
The blood industry enables addicts and lines the pockets of greedy, selfish profiteers. The people are farmed, "milked" of their blood like cows in order to feed the system. Selling the blood product as fractions multiplies the profit - the more blood products are sold at hospitals and covered by insurance and pushed by medical professionals, the more money the pharmaceutical companies and blood processors make. It's sick.
"$ave a life" actually = "Blood Money"
If you watch even five minutes of that video enoughisenough posted, it'll be enough to change your mind about the medical people saying blood donations "save lives".
God is the source of holy spirit.
"For the holy spirit and we ourselves have favored adding no further burden to you except these necessary things: to keep abstaining from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you carefully keep yourselves from these things, you will prosper. Good health to you!”
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Vanderhoven7
Hi E.P.
1Co 10:23 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.
1Co 10:24 Let no man seek his own, but every man another's wealth.
1Co 10:25 Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake:
1Co 10:26 For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof.
1Co 10:27 If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake.
"Whatsoever is sold in the shambles - In the market. The meat of animals offered in sacrifice would be exposed there to sale as well as other meat. The apostle says that it might be purchased, since the mere fact that it had been offered in sacrifice could not change its quality, or render it unfit for use. They were to abstain from attending on the feasts of the idols in the temple, from partaking of meat that had been offered them, and from celebrations observed expressly in honor of idols; but lest they should become too scrupulous, the apostle tells them that if the meat was offered indiscriminately in the market with other meat, they were not to hesitate to purchase it, or eat it."
Asking no question for conscience’ sake - Not hesitating or doubting, as if it might possibly have been offered in sacrifice or strangled. Not being scrupulous, as if it were possible that the conscience should be defiled. This is a good rule still, and may be applied to a great many things.
So do you agree that it was alright for early Christians to eat meat even if it had previously been sacrificed to idols? If Acts 15:29 was a command, was that command rescinded...or was that wise instruction given to facilitate fellowship between Jew and Gentile believers, i.e., not stumbling a Jewish brother.
Do you agree that Jews could eat unbled meat if they found one of their flock or herd had died in their field?
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TD
You guys are a bunch of Pharisees, making advice into commands while toying with the lives of children.
To that, I would point out that Rabbinical interpretation existed for the purpose of resolving conflicts. If an occupied building collapsed on the sabbath, was it a violation to clear the rubble and search for survivors?
The JW's have created a conflict where none existed. --A conflict between (of all things) one of the highest of all mitzvot and kashrut (!)
That's pretty far beyond anything Judaism (ancient or modern) has come up with.
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EasyPrompt
Hi Vander🙂
The ancient Greek ceremony involving sacrifice to idols required bleeding the animal. The whole point of the sacrifice ceremony was to slaughter the animal and use the blood in the sacrifice. That's why Paul said it was okay to eat the meat offered to idols - because bleeding the meat was part of the offering ceremony.
https://www.learnreligions.com/method-of-sacrifice-in-ancient-greece-4079925
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EasyPrompt
TD said: "To that, I would point out that Rabbinical interpretation existed for the purpose of resolving conflicts."
Hmm..."Rabbis" resolving conflict? History shows otherwise...
Mark 3:6
"At that the Pharisees went out and immediately began holding council with the party followers of Herod against him, in order to kill him."
Mark 8:11
"Here the Pharisees came and started disputing with him, demanding from him a sign from heaven, to put him to the test."
Luke 6:7
"The scribes and the Pharisees were now watching Jesus closely to see whether he would cure on the Sabbath, in order to find some way to accuse him."
Luke 16:14-17
"Now the Pharisees, who were money lovers, were listening to all these things, and they began to sneer at him. So he said to them: “You are those who declare yourselves righteous before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is considered exalted by men is a disgusting thing in God’s sight. “The Law and the Prophets were until John. From then on, the Kingdom of God is being declared as good news, and every sort of person is pressing forward toward it. Indeed, it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to go unfulfilled."
Besides causing conflict, the Jewish "teachers" disregarded God's Law by killing the one foretold by Moses and the rest of the prophets. Listening to Jesus is in fulfillment of the true "mitzvah". And as regards the "Kashrut", the holiest of dietary commands for a spiritual Jew is to figuratively partake of Christ's sacrificial blood.
Willfully and knowingly disregarding the sanctity of Jesus' sacrificial blood is the highest form of disrespect toward God.
Hebrews 10:26-31
"For if we practice sin willfully after having received the accurate knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice for sins left, but there is a certain fearful expectation of judgment and a burning indignation that is going to consume those in opposition. Anyone who has disregarded the Law of Moses dies without compassion on the testimony of two or three. How much greater punishment do you think a person will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God and who has regarded as of ordinary value the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who has outraged the spirit of undeserved kindness with contempt? For we know the One who said: “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again: “Jehovah will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
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Vanderhoven7
Hi E.P.
Not all of the meat sold in the shambles was from the temple of idols. You don't think pagans had a taste for bloody meats. Should Christians have asked conscience questions at a feast hosted by a pagan who was known to enjoy things strangled?
Do you agree that it was alright for early Christians to eat meat even if it had previously been sacrificed to idols? If Acts 15:29 was a command, was that command rescinded...or was that simply wise instruction given to facilitate fellowship between Jew and Gentile believers, i.e., not stumbling a Jewish brother.
Do you agree that Jews could eat unbled meat if they found one of their flock or herd had died in their field?
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TD
EasyPrompt
Your ignorance of your own ignorance is hard to deal with, but I'll take a crack at it.
The OP mentioned a principle of Halakha know as pikuach nefesh. In a nutshell, the preservation of life, being the purpose of the Law, (Yoma 85b) took precedence over everything except cases involving murder, idolatry and incest
This is Rabbinic interpretation. --An invention of the Pharisees that Jesus of the Bible not only accepted, but did not believe was being taken far enough.
So you can step off your fundamentalist pedestal and at least agree with Jesus of the Bible here.
While you're at it, you might want to reread (And possibly amend) your reply to Vanderhoven7 above.