Questions to Ponder

• Are we allowed to eat foods

sacrificed/offered to Idols?
• What are idols?
• Is modern-day fiesta
celebration the same with
the ancient pagan feasts?
• Are we sinning when we
attend and eat during fiesta
celebration?
 Can Christians Eat Foods
Sacrificed to Idols?
a) NO, such things should never be
consumed by Christians.
b) YES, Yes, because Paul allowed it
by saying believers have freedom
in Christ to eat or not, as they
choose.
c) Yes/No (Neutral). I don’t know
 TEXT VERSES
•Acts 15:19-20,29
•I Corinthians 10:20-21
•Revelation 2:14, 20
 ACTS 15:19-20 NIV
• It is my judgment, therefore, that we
should not make it difficult for the
Gentiles who are turning to God. V19
• Instead we should write to them, telling
them to abstain from food polluted
by idols, from sexual immorality, from
the meat of strangled animals and from
blood. V20
I CORINTHIANS 10:20-21NLT
20 No, not at all. I am saying that
these sacrifices are offered to
demons, not to God. And I don’t
want you to participate with
demons. 21 You cannot drink from
the cup of the Lord and from the
cup of demons, too. You cannot
eat at the Lord’s Table and at the
table of demons, too.
 REVELATION 2:14 RSVCE
LETTER TO THE PERGAMUS CHURCH

14 ButI have a few things against

you: you have some there who hold
the teaching of Balaam, who taught
Balak to put a stumbling block
before the sons of Israel, that they
might eat food sacrificed to idols
and practice immorality.
 REVELATION 2:20 RSVCE
LETTER TO THE CHURCH AT THYATIRA
20 ButI have this against you, that
you tolerate the woman Jezebel,
who calls herself a prophetess
and is teaching and beguiling my
servants to practice immorality
and to eat food sacrificed to
idols.
 What is an IDOL?
• It is an object that people made
out of wood, stone or metal for
people to worship instead of the
real God;
• an image of a person or object that
people worship instead of God; a
false god;
• something that we love more than
God and put in his place.
-Easy English Bible Dictionary
What are foods sacrificed to Idols?
 Three Portions of the Pagan sacrifice
1. One small part would be used in
the sacrificial ritual.
2. A larger portion would be reserved
for the use of the priests or other
temple personnel.
3. The largest part would be retained
by the worshiper to be used in one
of two ways.
- Holman Bible Dictionary
 Two Ways
1. The one who offered the sacrifice
sometimes used the remaining
portion as the main course in a
meal which might be served at or
near the pagan temple.
2. The second method of disposing of
the worshiper's portion would be to
offer it for sale at the local
marketplace.
 IS IT PERMISSIBLE FOR
CHRISTIANS TO EAT FOODS
SACRIFICED/OFFERED TO
IDOLS?
 Things to Ponder
• Verses often cited to prohibit the act
are usually taken out of context.
Eating sacrificed foods in the bible
times is usually associated with
orgies/sexual immorality which is
totally different with the present-
day fiesta celebration.
 Things to Ponder
Most of the time, foods served, are usually
meant for fellowship of friends, relatives, etc.
and not for any worshipping ritual.
Foods served during fiesta are not sacrificed
or offered to false gods but to God in honor
of their patron saints. Patron saints are not
considered gods by Roman Catholics.
Fiesta celebration in the Philippines is
becoming secular rather than being purely
spiritual.
 Verses Explained
• Acts 15:19-20
• With its ruling, the Jerusalem Council
affirmed the need for deference, or
consideration for the scruples of others. The
principle is one of self-denial; we should be
willing to lay down our personal rights for
the sake of maintaining unity in the body of
Christ. Spiritual growth takes priority over
personal preferences.
 I Corinthian 8:1-13
1 Now about food sacrificed to idols: We
know that “We all possess knowledge.” But
knowledge puffs up while love builds up.
2 Those who think they know something do

not yet know as they ought to know. 3 But

whoever loves God is known by God.
4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to

idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in

the world” and that “There is no God but
one.” 5 For even if there are so-called gods,
whether in heaven or on earth (as
indeed there are many “gods”
and many “lords”), 6 yet for us there is but
one God, the Father, from whom all things
came and for whom we live; and there is but
one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all
things came and through whom we live.
7 But not everyone possesses this knowledge.

Some people are still so accustomed to idols

that when they eat sacrificial food they think
of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and
since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.
8 But food does not bring us near to God; we

are no worse if we do not eat,

and no better if we do.
9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of
your rights does not become a stumbling
block to the weak. 10 For if someone with a
weak conscience sees you, with all your
knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t
that person be emboldened to eat what is
sacrificed to idols? 11 So this weak brother or
sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by
your knowledge. 12 When you sin against
them in this way and wound their weak
conscience, you sin against Christ.
13Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother
or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat
again, so that I will not cause
them to fall.
FOUR PRINCIPLES THAT WE CAN LEARN
 Having the “right” to do something does not mean we
are totally free to do anything we want in all
circumstance, regardless of its effects towards others.
 Our liberty in Christ should be voluntarily limited for the
benefit of others not causing our brethren to sin
because we chose to use our liberty. We have to
remember that our liberty should be limited to love.
 Continuously living in unity would sometimes lead for
the sacrifice of our own personal rights and liberty
 We are to avoid doing things that would make our
brethren who are weaker in faith to think less about
our faith or would make an unbeliever to feel more at
ease in his sin.
 Things to ponder
• Christians have freedom from the Law,
and we are to “stand firm in that liberty”
(Gal 5:1). WE are not under the law but
under grace. “Therefore, do not let
anyone judge you by what you eat or
drink (Col 2:16-17).
 Romans 14:13-17
Therefore let us stop passing judgment
on one another. Instead, make up
your mind not to put any stumbling
block or obstacle in the way of a
brother or sister. 14 I am convinced,
being fully persuaded in the Lord
Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself.
But if anyone regards something as
unclean, then for that person it is
unclean.
15 If
your brother or sister is distressed
because of what you eat, you are
no longer acting in love. Do not by
your eating destroy someone for
whom Christ died. 16 Therefore do
not let what you know is good be
spoken of as evil. 17 For the kingdom
of God is not a matter of eating and
drinking, but of righteousness, peace
and joy in the Holy Spirit.
 I Corinthians 10:25-30
Eat anything sold in the meat
market without raising questions of
conscience, 26 for, “The earth is the
Lord’s, and everything in it.”27 If an
unbeliever invites you to a meal and
you want to go, eat whatever is put
before you without raising questions
of conscience.
HOW ABOUT HALAL FOODS?
 What are Halal Foods?
• In Arabic, the word halal means permitted or lawful.
Halal foods are foods that are allowed under Islamic
dietary guidelines. According to these guidelines
gathered from the Qu'ran, Muslim followers cannot
consume the following:
– pork or pork by products
– animals that were dead prior to slaughtering
– animals not slaughtered properly or not slaughtered in the
name of Allah
– blood and blood by products
– alcohol
– carnivorous animals
– birds of prey
– land animals without external ears
 The Pagan Ritual
• The food must come from a supplier that uses
halal practices. Specifically, the slaughter must
be performed by a Muslim, who must precede
the slaughter by invoking the name of Allah,
most commonly by saying "Bismillah" ("In the
name of God") and then three times "Allahu
akbar" (God is the greatest). Then, the animal
must be slaughtered with a sharp knife by
cutting the throat, windpipe and the blood
vessels in the neck, causing the animal’s death
without cutting the spinal cord.
• Lastly, the blood from the veins must be drained.
 Who is Allah
• Is Allah the God of the Bible, or is Allah
the moon god of ancient pagan
Arabia?
 Who is Allah
• Mohammed’s father was called
Abdullah, which means ‘slave of
Allah’. The worship of Allah was
well-established long before
Mohammed was born in 570 AD.
• Modern scholars identify Allah
with Sin (as in Sinai), the god of the
moon, a position reinforced by the
crescent moon atop every
mosque.
• All Mohammed said was that
Allah alone was to be worshipped
of all the idols in Mecca. Even
today, Allah’s idol in Mecca is a
black stone, held sacred by
Muslims.
 Proofs
• Archaeologists have uncovered temples to the
Moon-god throughout the Middle East. From the
mountains of Turkey to the banks of the Nile, the
most wide-spread religion of the ancient world was
the worship of the Moon-god. In the first literate
civilization, the Sumerians have left us thousands of
clay tablets in which they described their religious
beliefs.
• As demonstrated by Sjoberg and Hall, the ancient
Sumerians worshipped a Moon-god who was
called many different names. The most popular
names were Nanna, Suen and Asimbabbar. His
symbol was the crescent moon.
 Given the amount of artifacts concerning
the worship of this Moon-god, it is clear that
this was the dominant religion in Sumeria. The
cult of the Moon-god was the most popular
religion throughout ancient Mesopotamia.
The Assyrians, Babylonians, and the
Akkadians took the word Suen and
transformed it into the word Sin as their
favorite name for the Moon-God. As Prof.
Potts pointed out, "Sin is a name essentially
Sumerian in origin which had been borrowed
by the Semites."
Halal Foods
 QUESTION
If eating foods sacrificed
to idols is not permitted
why do we eat HALAL
certified foods when these
are offered to a pagan
moon God – Allah?
 CONCLUSION
Paul concluded: “Therefore, whether
you eat or drink, or whatever you do,
do all to the glory of God. Give no
offense either to the Jews or to the
Greeks, or to the church of God, just
as I also please all men in all things
not seeking my own profit, but the
profit of many, that they may be
saved. (1 Corinthians 10:31-33).”