Today, Paul offers a thoughtful and reasoned response to a dilemma faced by the early Christians in the church at Corinth.

His topic is consuming meat that has been offered as a sacrifice to idols. The question is: Should a Christian eat this meat or not?

Meat was not a staple in the diet of ordinary first-century people. For those who could afford it, the most accessible source was the market adjacent to pagan temples. So – if one was in a position to buy meat that meat had most likely been a sacrificial offering.

By attending these markets and participating by eating this meat, were Christians in some way endorsing idolatry? Was this the edge of a very "slippery slope"?

Would it be better for Christians to abstain from meat altogether or perhaps to operate their own meat market?

This is the dilemma to which Paul seeks an acceptable and faithful answer.

He agrees with the "stronger" members of the Christian community. There is no ultimate power in the world but the one God. Idols are merely human projections. However, if you are not so strong in your faith, if you are perhaps a recent convert, this argument may not convince you. For these, the "weaker" in faith, eating the meat of idols is wrong because it brings you back to idolatry, a form of worship you have perhaps forsaken for Christianity.

With knowledge comes power, and with power comes responsibility. So, even if you know that idols are not real and that the meat is just meat and nothing more, should you still eat it? Does your eating set a poor example for those who may be wavering on the issue? The mature Christian has to consider not only his or her responsibilities to God and themselves, but also how one’s actions may affect the beliefs of others.

Why are we reading this passage anyway, we might ask? We buy our meat from local farmers or in the supermarket. Either way, we know very well it has not been used for idol worship. How doe the dilemma of those early Christians apply to us?

To answer that, we must remember that this decision about meat was an everyday one. It was impossible to live in any Greek city and not deal with this question. This was not a monumental once-in-a-lifetime decision. It was routine.

Sometimes, the big decisions are easier to make: what house to buy, what college or university to attend, etc. etc. They make take time and research but, once made, that decision is done and over with. Perhaps, it may come again two or three times in your life – or never.

It is the smaller, more ordinary decisions that can cause us the most grief.

Let us suppose we go to the supermarket for some fresh fruit. Do we buy the fruit that comes from a country where people don’t get a fair wage? Do we leave it there in the store? What difference will it make to those underpaid produce workers if we refuse to buy? What will happen to the Canadian employees of the importers and distributors if we refuse to buy? Suddenly, buying a bunch of grapes or an apple becomes a political, moral and faith statement.

Consider this:

Money may be tight in your family. You stretch your dollars but still, some weeks are difficult. Your employer gets a new contract and offers lots of overtime hours – as much as you want. Great, you think, now I can give my kids what they want! But – if your work all that overtime to buy those extras, there’ll be little time to spend with your kids. Is it better to provide well for them or to spend time with them? Doing both is not an option. We know that our family will be better off, the more hours we work, but what will that do to our family? What message will we be giving our children?

I remember the day I visited the Maria Elena Cuadra Centre in Managua, Nicaragua. At this Centre, women could get small interest-free loans to start a home business; they could learn a trade; get an education; and/or counseling and support. The day we visited, a group of women were working on a petition for better working conditions. They were women who made clothing in the Free Trade Zone.

For some years, I had favoured a particular women’s clothing chain and bought most of my clothes from them. I was discouraged to learn that this particular chain operated a factory in the Free Trade Zone. The women who made my clothes worked in appalling conditions. Their workplace was one of those large metal Quonset-type buildings, a large building without windows. Remember this is a country where a cool day would be in the low to mid-30’s in temperature. It was 42 degrees the day we visited with these women. Despite the low humidity, it felt very much like being in an oven – and we were in a room filled with open, breezy windows. Their workday was from 7:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. with only one 25-minute break in the day. Just 25 minutes to take a washroom break, eat your lunch, get a bit of fresh air, or stretch your tired, cramped muscles. For this 10 ½ hour day in stifling heat, the women were paid $3.50 U.S. This was in 1998 and I hope conditions have changed, but somehow I think the large corporations are still coming out on top.

Makes you think twice about supporting these companies who exploit their workers doesn’t’ it? I came home determined to never again give my money to what had been my favourite clothing store. I still sometimes linger at their display windows, wistfully admiring an outfit, but I can’t go in. It feels wrong to give them any money. Even though that company has certainly not suffered from the loss of my business, in the past eight years, I feel I must continue my own personal little protest. So – buying a new blouse or a pair of earrings becomes a political, faith statement.

It’s these little decisions that most strongly impact our lives. And they are not easy decisions to make. Paul reminds us that as Christians, our decision-making may be guided by knowledge, but, more importantly, it must be guided by love – Gods’ love.

It isn’t easy is it? We make hundreds of decisions every day. Most of them are automatic but some are not. What Paul told the Christian community at Corinth is good advice still today:

• Consider Christ’s teachings and God’s will when deciding.
• How will your decision affect others? Do you set an example that will help others or confuse them?

"Once upon a time", he writes, "soldiers fought the enemy hand to hand. Leaders fought in the front lines. Soldiers and leaders both knew what their victims looked like, sounded like, felt like.

But, during the Vietnam War, and in more recent wars, the military became increasingly distanced from their victims. They bombed their opponents from 20,000 feet up. The people who dropped those bombs may have been compassionate individuals themselves. They would never bayonet a little girl, or spray her with napalm. But at a distance, the bombing becomes purely a tactical exercise – it has nothing to do with real people anymore.

In the same way, bosses used to work beside their staff. They did the same jobs. They knew what the work felt like, how their staff felt doing those jobs. They knew their staff by their first names, and often their families too.

But today, decisions aren't made on the shop floor. They’re made in distant boardrooms. Or in shareholders meetings, by people who have never met any of the employees their decisions affect.

From the safety of a boardroom 20,000 feet above the daily reality of putting food on a table, mass firings are just a tactical move, to save the company."

"Every day", he goes on, "each of us is faced with the dilemma of doing the right thing. Economic theory says one thing, compassion says another. Selfishness (or survival – the choice of word reveals a significant difference in perspective) may whisper yet another message in our ears.

Paul took the dilemma out of the realm of theory, and put it in human context.
"You can do what you think best," he told the Christians in Corinth. "But if what you do is going to harm or mislead someone else, don’t do it."

Paul wrote about eating food prepared for idols, but his principle applies. If what’s good for you will harm someone else, don’t do it.

As we go about our everyday lives making simple – or not so simple – everyday decisions, let us remember Paul’s words of advice and encouragement.

May the decisions we make bring joy to our God and may they never do intentional harm to others.

Amen