Bacon, Idol Worship and the Kingdom

This is the seventh post on the subject of Animal Care, one of the five spheres of a Christian ethic of eating. We discussed before what ethical treatment of animals means, how it is accomplished and why it is so important. Now we will turn our attention to meat eating in the New Testament, particularly the area of sacrifice. After this discussion we will move into a discussion of a “rule” to eat ethically.

There are three main passages that detail the eating of food, particularly meat, in the New Testament. The first one is in Acts 10, when the apostle Peter has a vision from God that tells him all animals are now clean and acceptable to eat. This Christian is most thankful for this vision, because without it I would be living in a world without bacon, and that’s not the kind of world I want to live in.

The next two passages are in 1 Corinthians. Paul makes two major statements about food sacrificed to idols (this was almost always animal sacrifice). Once Gentiles became Christians they were confronted with a problem that did not affect Jewish converts: what to do about non-kosher food, particular food that was part of idol worship. Throughout the Greco-Roman world the butcher’s work was integrally tied into temple worship: the food sold at the market by the butcher was from animal sacrifices. The early Christians, understandably, became wary of eating meat that had been sacrificed to idols. Paul offers his advice on the subject in 1 Corinthians 8:

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. But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

He picks up the discussion again in 1 Corinthians 10:

Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons. Are we trying to arouse the Lord’s jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

The messages in these three passages are united around one common point: meat can be part of the diet for a Christian, even meat considered unclean by the Jewish faith.  1 Corinthians 8 & 10 seem to conflict on the food that is dedicated to idols. When it comes to spiritual knowledge in 1 Corinthians 8, Paul is advising that people not get so wound up in a proper theological justification for eating meat that is sacrificed to idols that they cause former idol-worshipers to stumble. The conversation seems to allow for the fact that food sacrificed to idols is not tainted in any way by the sacrifice, since idols aren’t real. Paul turns the whole argument upside down in 1 Corinthians 10 though, as he makes a case concerning food sacrificed to idols not in terms of knowledge but in terms of worship. Reading between the lines, what Paul seems to be saying is that while we may know that eating food sacrificed to idols does not taint the meat or make it unclean in anyway, the fact that it was sacrificed to idols means that the person who consumes it is participating in the sacrificial act. It is interesting that the conversation would turn this way, but what I think Paul is doing is making a point about allegiance to the new covenant of Christ’s kingdom. Animal sacrifice is a sign of a covenant relationship with a god. So, if we follow this logic, the Christian sign of the covenant relationship is the Lord’s Supper. Paul is arguing that eating food sacrificed to idols is to capitulate to the Roman culture. To abstain from food sacrificed to idols is then a sign of allegiance, a counter-cultural act that designates the Christian as a citizen of Christ’s kingdom and not a citizen of Rome.

This leads me to a very provocative point, and one I have thought long and hard about. I truly believe that these passages still speak to us today. When we view these passages in light of our modern day agricultural practices, I believe that idolatry is alive and well today. The way the majority of animals are treated in the industrial food system is influenced by the idols of money, violence and consumerism.

Ask yourself: could that bacon cheeseburger you just ate be food sacrificed to an idol?

Bottom line: it should be a matter of conscience that the meat in our supermarkets and restaurants is meat sacrificed to the idols of money and violence. To eat meat that is not sacrificed to idols, we should look to farmers and businesses that raise animals humanely and sell meat that is butchered in a humane manner. Jesus told us that we could not serve both God and money. Even though stone and wood idols have fallen out of the norm, Paul reminds us that our allegiance is to Christ’s kingdom. We renew the new covenant every time we eat the body and blood of Christ during communion. With food being so central to the practice of Christ’s kingdom, we can in turn do our part to build Christ’s kingdom in this world by renouncing food that is sacrificed to the idols of money, violence and consumerism.