Is a Little Sin Okay?

 

 Friday, September 23, 2016

“Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s delicacies and wine. (Daniel 1:8); Daniel continued (as a servant of the kings) until the first year of King Cyrus. (1:21)

 Hey Gang: I, Gma, am teaching a series on Daniel, our example- Teen to aged man who lived a God-filled in a godless culture and served with integrity – and so can we in today’s upside-down culture.

 Several months ago I (Gramps) shared a morning message that I titled the “Subtle Fulfillments of Prophecies That We Tend to Overlook ; I believe the focus of the Rabbi’s Cahn’s recent letter referring to those subtle fulfilments of a prophecy that tends to sneak into our lives without sending up red flares.

 Let me share some of his comments and see it you have experienced one of those subtle fulfillments in your life.  I confess it made me do some soul searching.  He immediately identified a subtle problem by stating: “I grew up in a Kosher Home!”  But then tacked on “Well, not purely Kosher.”  A Jewish Mama would rather take ten lashes then to set something that is not Kosher before her family.”

 So, what did Jonathon mean by “well not purely kosher?”  He said his mother would never cook ham, and never have anything to do with pork, which is forbidden in the Jewish diet.  But, to Jonathon’s mom, and many other Jewish mom’s, bacon was not considered pork!!  Bacon was not like ham or pork steaks, it was hard and crispy.

 “When bacon was slipped into the morning menu there was always a feeling of guilt, with each bite of bacon that entered our mouths.”  He said one did not have to be a rocket scientist to know when bacon was filling the house with its very special aroma, you could feel it in the atmosphere of the house.

 “It wasn’t a big quilt-trip, just a little bit that no one talked about.  It was that we were participating in something that was a “LITTLE BIT ILLEGAL”.  “Strange as it may seem many, if not most, strict kosher families slip bacon from under the table but they do not call it bacon and it is one of those things that, if we don’t talk about it, it does not exist!”

 Now Jonathon’s point is it is not about bacon or the law or whether you keep a kosher home or not.  The point is the bacon principle.  God gave us His word. His word is clear.  He tells us certain things are taboo and should be not, under any circumstance, be included in our morning menu.  Why? Because we then open the door to other subtle transgressions to enter our life.  We convince ourselves that it is not exactly wrong and, after all, is that not what the cross is all about? – to forgive us of our transgressions, even the porky one?

 We convince ourselves that it’s not so wrong.  It’s not clearly wrong.  It’s not exactly wrong.  I mean it is only bacon, right?    And there are no references in the Bible that tell us bacon is pork.  

 Do you get the point Rabbi Cahn is trying to warn us against? The indulgence is not really lust.  Drinking is not really drunkenness. Anger is not really bitterness.  Vanity is not really pride.   The talk is not really gossip.  All we are really doing is rationalizing a behavior that God said is an entry drug to deeper sin- if you allow it to remain in you.

 Jonathon’s bottom line: “If you want the joy and fullness of God’s blessings and power, then you must to do it His way!   Doing it His way means you are going to live your life under His standards! In other words, it is being totally committed to the principle that “Bacon is Pork”. 

 Blessings,

 Gramps