Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!ukma!seismo!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: lsrsohn@ucscc.ucsc.edu (23022000) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Paul and vegetarianism Message-ID: Date: 9 Jun 91 19:19:02 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 47 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Pardon me if this has been discussed here before; I haven't been reading long. I noticed in Romans 14:2, Paul writes: "People range from those who believe they may eat any sort of meat to those whose faith is so weak they dare not eat anything except vegetables." I know he says it is OK to be vegetarian, but even so, I'd like to know why he takes it as a sign of "weakness of faith." Does anyone know the justification for this? It occurred to me that he might have been referring to weakness of faith in Jesus' declaration that all foods were clean, but this doesn't seem right, since not all meat was considered unclean before that. I don't suppose this is a reference to Genesis 9:3, where God specifically sanctions meat-eating? Or am I totally on the wrong track? This passage also seems to contrast with 1 Corinthians 8:13, where Paul says "...since food can be the occasion of my brother's downfall, I shall never eat meat again..." From context, maybe this refers only to meat offered to idols, but even so... [Apparently in the ancient world, eating meat was much more of a cultic act than it is now. From what I've read in commentaries, a very large fraction of the meat a normal person would find in Paul's time would have been dedicated to some god or other. However C. K. Barrett's commentary on Romans (Harpers) says of this passage: "Who is this 'weak man'? Paul allows us to learn three things about him: (1) He eats vegetables and no meat; (2) he regards some days as having special importance; (3) he does not drink wine. It is impossible to pick out from the many examples of religiouos scrupulosity to be found in antiquity any single group of persons ... They were not orthodox Jews. Their scruples recall those of the Pythagorean Apollonius of Tyana, who avoided meat and wine. The closet parallel, perhaps is to be found in the heretics of Colossae ... it is probable that they arose out of some kind of fusion between Judaism and gnosticism. ... It is of course possible, and has been maintained, that Paul was speaking of the scrupulous in general, without reference to particular persons". In my view, Paul believes that all food is a gift from God, and thus that any scrupulousness in not eating or drinking indicates a weakness in faith. --clh]