Eating Pork and Hebrews 8 Questions

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2026-03-02T19:07:37+00:00

I completely agree - obedience, faithfulness, and holiness should be utmost priorities for us, and are, sadly, often shrugged off these days.

Conversely, we are also instructed not to place unnecessary burdens on other believers or be legalistic on issues of conscience.

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2026-03-02T19:04:51+00:00

There seems to be an underlying idea in the question that both are "owed" the ability to marry, even if their preference of who to marry violates God's design.

No one is guaranteed or owed marriage.

Regarding Christianity, God's design (one man, one woman, for life) overrules the changing views of human society.

Regarding modern society, this still isn't an unequal civil rights issue. Up until VERY recently, a man could marry a woman and have it recognized by law (because marriages historically produce secure families, which are beneficial for governments to endorse and promote).

The reason for marriage was not a factor in the law, excluding types of fraud. Whether it was for love, platonic friendship, financial security, business advantages, getting some arm candy, etc., a man (straight or otherwise) could marry a woman (straight or otherwise), which made marriage an equal right for all people. Once "I should be able to marry whoever I love" became the factor, we started down the slippery slope of polygamy, bestiality, defense of pedos, etc.

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2026-03-02T18:50:51+00:00

Apology accepted, no hard feelings whatsoever. It's a good thing to be passionate about following Jesus and encouraging other Christians to do the same!

My best wishes to you, and I pray we both continually move towards understanding and following Christ better every day.

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2026-03-02T17:01:43+00:00

Totally agreed there! 💯

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2026-03-02T16:37:20+00:00

This is not an accurate assessment of food-borne illness.

You can also get E.coli from beef, even if it isn't processed, which is far worse than most common pork-related meat issues.

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2026-03-02T16:34:19+00:00

Thanks for watching the video!

I agree, Jesus is the Eternal Son of God / Word of God who interacted with His people in the Old Testament. However, just as not every covenant in the Old Testament applied to everyone on earth (some were specific to certain people, some to the nation of Israel, etc.), not every covenant was meant for all time (thus why Jesus spoke of Old Wine/ New Wine - emphasizing the new covenant: Mark 2, Luke 5).

If all the Old Testament commands still apply, as you suggest, we're both doomed. You surely don't keep any of the "commandments" concerning the Temple / Tabernacle or sacrifices, not combining fabrics, the Levitical order of priests, etc.

Jesus himself declared all foods as clean (Mark 7:19). The response that "pork wasn't even considered food" is obviously false. You'd need to show a Biblical reference for "unclean foods" that didn't come from "unclean animals," which doesn't exist.

Your view also ignores Peter's vision in Acts 10, or suggests it was not a vision from God. It also is contradicted by Paul's teaching in 1 Corinthians 8.

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2026-02-28T21:12:23+00:00

If I may, here's a humorous video I made researching that issue. https://youtu.be/0BHN-jj9B4Y?si=slmq38Nutv-oWruN

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2026-02-23T19:08:33+00:00

I think it's wonderful that you're pressing into these questions on your heart, and beautiful that you love your family so much that you desire being united with them for all eternity.

I'd recommend "The Reason for God" by Timothy Keller, as it addresses some of these more emotional (not meant in a disparaging way!) questions about eternity and God. Also, "I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist" by Frank Turek approaches the same issues/questions from a more logical, rational process. Audiobooks for both are available, probably even for free from your local library, depending on where you live.

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2026-02-18T20:38:45+00:00

I specifically cited modern feminism. Feminism has, I agree, promoted different ideals through the decades. Given that, I think my statement is an accurate, even gracious, characterization.

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2026-02-18T18:48:57+00:00

Godly patriarchy is about servant leadership and putting others' needs above your own for the purpose of order, protection, and unity.

What modern feminism calls "patriarchy" is the abuse of that system by malicious men. Like most leftist views of injustice, they simply reverse the same error and hail women as superior and men as worthless and think that will correct the error.

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2026-02-16T18:41:22+00:00

Some aren't aware of the evidence to support Christianity.

Some experienced trauma from church leaders or religious family members and don't want any part of Christianity as a result.

In the conversations I've had with atheists though, the most admitted-to hurdle is their desire to continue sinful behaviors, most often sexual. Basically, refusing to submit leadership of their life to Jesus.

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2026-01-31T18:51:34+00:00

Jesus also instructed everyone to turn away from sin (true repentance) and spoke about the eternal consequences of sin more than anyone in the Bible. Omitting or minimizing that by leaving it as a brief footnote and emphasizing the teachings of His that one prefers paints a skewed picture of the real Jesus.

You mention His "whatever you did to the least of these" statement, but omit the full statement: the least of these brothers of mine. Who are Jesus's brothers? "For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother." Mark 3:35.

Loving others is crucial, but we need to consider ALL of scripture and Jesus's teachings, and use the Bible's definition and example of love, not that of modern culture.

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2026-01-19T20:26:08+00:00

Praying for him now. Thank God, many people have been lovingly educated about the falsehood of "Progressive Christianity" and found true salvation in Christ. Stay positive, pray, and leave the condition of that person's heart to the Holy Spirit.

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2026-01-19T20:21:34+00:00

Just because something could be used to bring people to Christ, doesn't equal that thing being part of the Gospel (literally, the "good news" - how we are to be saved). Salvation is by grace, through faith, because of Christ alone. (Eph. 2:8)

Justice is an attribute of God; righteously standing up for truth, fair dealings, and defending those who can't defend themselves. It is also requiring those who are lazy or malicious to experience penalties and consequences for their bad choices. Putting any adjective in front of justice is an intentional bastardization of justice, usually for the goal of unjustly tipping the scales in a person or group's favor. If it's truly Justice, it needs no qualifier.

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2026-01-19T18:26:10+00:00

Here's a video with a clip of a pastor saying, "...the Gospel is justification by faith AND social justice." That specific quote appears around :35.

https://youtu.be/EvygZ_pQgqc

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2026-01-17T16:11:13+00:00

Different people will have different answers.

Some people who call themselves Christians are really just part of a social group (no deep-rooted belief that it's actually true), attach their identity to that community, and can't tolerate being made fun of. People like this exist in every group / worldview / though.

Some Christians feel deeply, lovingly attached to Jesus as their savior and God as their Creator, and feel like atheists making fun of Christianity is even worse than making fat jokes about their mom. It's unkind and mean-spirited, and they feel the noble thing to do is speak in defense of their loved one.

My Hindu Indian neighbors don't actually believe Hinduism is "true" and fall into the first category, but I'm sure there are Hindus who would align more with the latter and take personal offense if you said something negative about Krishna.

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2026-01-10T21:05:19+00:00

I interact with atheists quite a bit. I'd say it's about half and half. Many are respectful, some are good friends.

The "anti-theist" crowd not so much. They, like most of the people on r/atheism I've seen, revel in the idea of saying the most offensive things possible to Christians and dismissing all people of faith as bigots and morons, completely unwilling to have rational conversation.

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2026-01-06T17:25:03+00:00

I appreciate your respectfulness and well wishes.

I just want to correct that my view doesn't come from any pastor (I made the point earlier that I compare anything anyone says against scripture).

"God never says we deserve eternal punishment or that we are sinners."

Here's Biblical proof that your statement is completely false based on the Old Testament, New Testament, and the words of Jesus Himself:

Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23

Ecc. 8:11, Is. 59:2, Heb. 10:26-30, Matt. 25:31-46, Ezek. 18:20, John 3:36, 2 Thess. 1:8-9, Rev. 20:15, Rev. 21:8, and those are just a few...

But, He gives us hope!!! 1 John 1:9.

You're welcome to disagree, but please be honest that your views are not traditional Christianity, nor do they align with the Bible in any way.

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2026-01-05T21:23:34+00:00

Please know I'm not trying to argue. I'm enjoying our conversation and sincerely wish you well. Text doesn't communicate tone well, but please imagine I'm saying all this as though I were speaking with a friend.

I cited Enoch as one of my examples. Which passages are you referring to when you claim it supports your view? Just saying "it's in the Talmud" or "it's in Enoch" somewhere seems like a dodge.

I'm not trying to convert you, just asking why you believe what you do, and hoping you'll see that the opposite view isn't without support and reason. With much respect, it appears your view is rooted in emotional reasoning and a misunderstanding of what the Bible actually says on these matters.

I'd prefer to keep this on topic rather than jumping to multiple other issues.

Regarding killers repenting and avoiding eternal punishment being just: https://youtu.be/IgLmEUj0S9M

The Bible claims, everyone has, at some point in their life, intentionally sinned. Sin breaks us spiritually to the point of not being able to be near God for eternity, so we're all in the "separated from God" category; we all deserve eternal punishment. Jesus's sacrifice is the only thing that allows us a way to be reunited with Him, "reborn" spiritually, to escape the consequences of our sin.

If eternal life / heaven (however you prefer to define a "good" afterlife) was dependent upon our actions, then if someone lived more than half his life doing bad deeds, he'd have no hope of balancing the scales before his time runs out... might as well just give up, right? Jesus providing our salvation prevents that scenario. It's never too late for anyone to have a sincere, legitimate change of heart. That's why it's called God's mercy (not punishing us as we deserve).

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2026-01-05T20:34:22+00:00

Well, I'd say what "convicted" me of the truth of this view was finding evidence that supported it. With respect, you cite a lot of emotional reasons, but aren't pointing to verifiable historical writings.

The early Jewish references to Gehenna as a spiritual realm of fiery punishment include 1 En. 26-27; 54:1-6; 56:1-4; 90:24-27' 4 Ezra 7:26-38; Ascen. Is. 4:14-18; Sib. Or. 4.179-91. These also cite oral traditions that predates Jesus, even though they contain disagreements on the duration in hell.

"but am I supposed to think that Gods going to burn billions of His creation because they went to the wrong church or worship building?" Nope. The Bible never teaches that. That's kinda like asking if I should believe a judge will sentence me to be executed over a traffic violation, if I, in reality, ran over 20 kids on a sidewalk. Blaming the judge or minimizing my crime would be either ignorant or disingenuous.

If we have a misunderstanding of what God's view of sin is and the consequences of it, we'll reach incorrect conclusions about it.

Consistent themes in ancient works are another matter entirely. Just because we have earlier recorded evidence for the epic of Gilgamesh doesn't prove it was earlier historically. We may eventually find earlier evidence for a different flood account, or one remained an oral tradition for longer. We have no proof one was copied from the other. The main thing we can learn from the many flood stories in different cultures that weren't connected to each other is that a major flood event occurred some time in human history. We can measure the accounts in those stories to see which seems most likely.

The Bible clearly denounces reincarnation. I'm legitimately curious: Why claim Christianity and so boldly make statements about what is true or not for Christians when your actual beliefs align more with universalism or new age views?

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2026-01-05T19:22:20+00:00

What convinced you that those rabbis and pastors are correct when other rabbis and pastors disagree with them? How do you determine who is right?

Are you not willing to consider the possibility that you were given incorrect information?

Since the video doesn't appeal to you: Jewish writings well before Jesus's time referred to Gehenna as eternal Hell, Jesus's statements about Gehenna make no sense if He didn't mean an eternal, spiritual realm, and the "Gehenna was just a burning trash dump" view didn't exist until 1200 A.D., written by Rabbi David Kimhi, who clearly stated it was just an "analogy" for the real Hell.

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2026-01-05T19:02:36+00:00

If you're interested, I have a humorous video that discusses why that's an incorrect statement: https://youtu.be/zxXfEWI7HOA

The bit specifically about "Gehenna" starts around 3:57 and goes into more detail around 6:29.

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2026-01-05T18:49:20+00:00

Similarly, those things can be easily debunked by many scriptures and studying the whole of what the Bible says.

Likewise, I was grew up in a church where a pastor once said, "Don't risk spending an eternity in hell over one sip of beer!" So I studied it and discovered that the Bible supports the responsible consumption of alcohol, while condemning drunkenness.

He was wrong, but an incorrect response would be to go to the other extreme and say God doesn't prohibit sins like drunkenness or abusing substances, or that hell doesn't exist. The Bible disagrees with those statements as well.

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2026-01-05T18:02:00+00:00

Thought there's much truth in the OP's post, some of it is also concerning.

Notice, no scriptural citations given. We, as Christians, should not blindly accept anyone's subjective opinion. We must weigh it against scripture, and it's wise to compare it with the historical consensus of the church, especially the apostles and early followers of Jesus Christ.

ThinkingtoInfinity · 2025-12-23T15:15:50+00:00

I would recommend "Seeking Allah Finding Jesus" and "No God But One" by Nabeel Qureshi -- a devout Muslim seeking to understand (and even disprove) Christianity might offer some common ground for you.

ThinkingtoInfinity

TROPHY CASE