I hope you will join us tonight for mid-week Bible study.

In the adult class we’re studying Romans chapter 14. We actually spent all last week building up to this study, by looking at 1 Corinthians 8. That chapter was all about the issue of what to do with eating meat that the butcher had privately offered to his pagan god. Should you eat that meat? Would eating it mean you were partaking in idolatry? Paul answered the question by saying that meat is just meat, and even though the butcher may have blessed it to his idol, that doesn’t mean your eating it does the same. Eat the meat, just thank the one true God of Heaven for it.

But you can see how some people may read that and still think “yeah but I can’t get over the fact that it was offered to an idol…I don’t think I can eat it.” To that person Paul says “DON’T eat it! If eating it hurts your conscience, then don’t eat, because to go against your conscience is to sin against God.”

That doesn’t mean something that isn’t against your conscience is necessarily OKAY either. God still has laws that have to be followed. But there are some things where God says “it’s okay to do it if you want to…but you don’t HAVE to.” In such cases we are free to partake or abstain, but we have to be careful of our conscience when we do…and be considerate of others too.

That idea is explored in a lot more detail in Romans 14. It’s a chapter with a lot of potential for application and scenarios to be discussed. Join us as we talk about it!