Don’t assume that your Christian friends are Biblically grounded.
1 Corinthians 8:7 (NLT)
7 However, not all believers know this. Some are accustomed to thinking of idols as being real, so when they eat food that has been offered to idols, they think of it as the worship of real gods, and their weak consciences are violated.
Examine the scriptures:
1 Corinthians 8:7 (NLT)
7 However, not all believers know this.
(The truth about idols.)
- Don’t assume that your Christian friends are Biblically grounded.
WHY? Why don’t they know the truth?
Some are accustomed to thinking (incorrectly)
through former association with idols (ESV)
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 (NIV)
being accustomed [throughout their lives] to [thinking of] (AMP)
because they were used to idol worship until now (CEB)
Accustomed to thinking
Thinking what?
What are we being exposed to?
Who is shaping our thinking?
Acts 20:30 (NLT)
Even some men from your own group will rise up and distort the truth in order to draw a following.
2 Peter 2:1 (NLT)
But there were also false prophets in Israel, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will cleverly teach destructive heresies
Matthew 24:11 (NLT)
And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people.
Matthew 24:24 (NLT)
For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones.
Colossians 2:8 (NLT)
Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.
- We are constantly being exposed to false teachers who teach in a way that makes it hard for us to see that they are wrong.
We think incorrectly because we are being taught wrong ideas.
Romans 12:2 (NLT)
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
1 Corinthians 15:33-34 (NLT)
33 Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for “bad company corrupts good character.”
34 Think carefully about what is right, and stop sinning. For to your shame I say that some of you don’t know God at all.
Luke 6:40 (NLT)
Students are not greater than their teacher. But the student who is fully trained will become like the teacher.
We have multiple teachers including parents, school teachers, Sunday School teachers, pastors, the Holy Spirit, etc.
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- Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world.
- Bad company corrupts good character.
We think incorrectly because we are influenced by those who don’t know any better.
- Think carefully about what is right.
- The student who is fully trained will become like the teacher.
Be like the Bereans
Acts 17:11 (NLT)
And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.
Study the scriptures daily.
- It is important to study the scriptures daily.
of idols as being real, so when they eat food that has been offered to idols, they think of it as the worship of real gods, and their weak consciences are violated. (guilty, ashamed)
Conscience:
An inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one’s behavior.
Our conscience is not the Holy Spirit.
We are able to adjust our consciences to fit the culture.
Find a penny. Keep it, it’s only a penny.
Find a nickel. Keep it, it’s only a nickel.
Find a dime. Keep it, it’s only a dime.
Find a quarter. Keep it, it’s only a quarter.
Find a dollar. Keep it, it’s only a
- Our consciences can, and do, mislead us.
Our consciences are not always consistent with Biblical principles.
