Paul wrote this passage to the church at Corinth, a congregation which had been established under his leadership several years prior. Part of his reason for writing this epistle was to address problems with sexual immorality in this church, a problem not foreign to our culture today. The gooey details of the Corinthian problem are reported in I Cor. 5:1-5. To handle this, Paul exhorts the Corinthians by reminding them that their bodies are temples of the Lord, a doctrine echoed elsewhere in his writings (e.g.- 3:16-17, II Corinthians 6:16) and in the teachings of Jesus (Luke 17:21).
Through the ages this passage has been applied to other health issues, and with good reason. If the apostle were here today he probably would be an outspoken opponent of drug abuse, alcohol abuse, smoking, and the other practices in our society that are dangerous to our temple. The great evangelist Charles Finney, in his classic work Revivals in Religion admonished his listeners to abstain from smoking for the following reasons:
By contrast, the heart attack risk of the average man in the U.S. who eats no meat is only 15%. This is largely because of cholesterol. The average cholesterol level of people eating meat-centered diets is 210 mg/dl. Persons with a level like that stand a greater than 50% chance of dying from heart disease. Every time a person reduces his/her intake of meat, dairy, and egg products by 10%, the heart attack risk is cut down by 9%. This means that if you cut your intake level in half, you've cut your risk down by 45%.
This fact has been empirically observed in world history. Frances Moore Lappe' made the following observation in her book Diet for a Small Planet: The citizens of Denmark were forced to reduce their intake of animal foods by 30 percent during World War I, when their country was blockaded. Their death rate simultaneously fell 30 percent, to its lowest level in 20 years. Denmark's experience was not unique: in a number of European countries, where World War II forced people to eat less fat and cholesterol and fewer calories, rates of heart disease fell.
The American Dietetic Association notes the following: Vegetarians of the Seventh-Day Adventist faith have lower rates of mortality from colon cancer than does the general population. That may be due to dietary differences which include increased fiber intake, decreased intake of total fat, cholesterol, and caffeine, increased intakes of fruits and vegetables, and, in lacto-vegetarians, increased intake of calcium... Lung cancer rates are lower in many types of vegetarians because they typically do not smoke or, possibly, because of their increased intake of beta carotene or other constituents of fruits and vegetables that may also lower lung cancer risk. Lappe' similarly observes the following: The traditional Japanese diet contains little animal fat and almost no dairy products. Japanese who migrate to the United States and shift to a typical American diet have a dramatically increased incidence of breast and colon cancer.
The following diseases illnesses can be commonly prevented, consistently improved, and sometimes cured by observing a low-fat diet free from animal products: arthritis, asthma, breast cancer, colon cancer, constipation, diabetes, diverticulosis, gallstones, heart disease, hypertension, hypoglycemia, impotence, kidneystones, kidney disease, obesity, osteoporosis, peptic ulcers, prostate cancer, salmonellosis, strokes, and trichinosis.
"Hear, my son, and be wise; and guide your heart in the way. Do not mix with winebibbers, or with gluttonous eaters of meat; for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags." --Proverbs 23:19-21
This passage points to the practice of keeping good fellowship as a part of partaking in God's wisdom, which is described extensively in the first sixteen chapters of the book of Proverbs. Fellowship is further stressed in the New Testament as being a part of Christian discipleship (e.g. Ephesians 5:11; cf. Hebrews 10:24-25). Although Jesus did have fellowship with sinners (Matthew 11:19) in order to reach out to them (Matthew 9:13), Christians are generally cautioned to use discretion in choosing who they hang out with (II Corinthians 6:14-18) because of the dangers of compromise in their Christian lifestyle (I Corinthians 15:33).
In this passage the particular compromises the author is concerned about deal with temperance. Although this term historically has been applied in a narrow sense (i.e. alcohol prohibition), in the Biblical sense it has a broader application (e.g. sexual practice, worldly amusements and indulgences, food, wealth, etc.). In this case, the author is concerned about intemperance with alcohol (which he speaks against more strongly in vv.29-35), and also about meat consumption. The author is concerned that mixing with persons with gluttonous habits in these areas will corrupt the wise lifestyle habits of the listener. The consequences of drunkenness (from excessive alcohol) and drowsiness (from excessive meat-eating) will lead to a condition of poverty (rags), which the author wishes to prevent.
One word about alcohol: I wish the church had continued to speak out as strongly against its use/abuse as it did during the prohibition era and before. Around the turn of the century the church was extremely vocal and effective in fighting alcohol. Leading the crusade were great Kansans like Carrie Nation, Charles Sheldon, and Myra McHenry. This kind of voice is needed as much today as it was back then. In my ministry work with Alcoholics Anonymous and prison inmates I have seen lives that have been destroyed by alcohol. Rolando Rizzo, an Italian Seventh-Day Adventist theologian, writes the following: Alcohol is responsible for domestic violence, abuse of women and children, mental illness, social irresponsibility, and other crimes. Society seems to fear only illegal drugs. Yet alcohol is no less a killer. In Italy, where about a thousand people a year die because of drugs, 50,000 die because of alcohol. In biblical times, when alcohol was a relatively minor problem, the Bible presented abstinence as the ideal for living. How much more should this be the stand today, when alcohol has become one of the great social evils of life, affecting the physical, mental, and spiritual health of people everywhere. That quote sums up my position perfectly.
The consequences of gluttonous meat-eating are more subtle but every bit as real. In addition to the health concerns expressed in part one, meat-gluttony creates a dangerous spiritual condition. The teaching against gluttonous meat consumption in Proverbs 23:20 goes hand in hand with the larger body of Jesus' teachings on the danger of riches, wealth, indulgences, and gluttony in general. In fact, Jesus said more about these dangers than he did about lust, sexual promiscuity, homosexuality, abortion, and a number of other social issues that are treated as paramount by many congregations today. The following are examples...........
It is therefore legitimate to argue that European-American meat consumption habits fall under the critique of this body of scripture. In most countries meat is considered a great luxury, to be consumed only on rare occasions if at all. Only in the countries of Europe and North America is it allowed to be the center of the diet. This type of meat-gluttony has a great consumptive danger to it. The ultimate danger the writer of Proverbs is concerned about in 23:21, you'll remember, is poverty, which (on a larger social-scale) comes as a result of hoarding. Meat consumption entails this sin. Why? Well, consider these facts..........
This passage originated in a farming culture, which eliminates it from being used for animal rights in the radical sense since it applies largely to farm animals that were used for labor and/or food. There is definite application for it to the vegetarian issue, though, particulary when we consider the common practices of the meat industry in America, as well as animal testing practices in cosmetic and health-related industries.
In the above scripture the character trait that is addressed is righteousness. Under the old covenant this was most frequently sought by practicing strict obedience to the Old Testament laws and commandments, and especially by living up to the external appearance of the commands. But Jesus challenged His followers to go further, and to take hold of a "surpassing righteousness" that would not just result in pure actions, but pure motives (Matthew 5:17-20). He applied this to Old Testament teachings on murder, adultery, divorce, swearing, justice, and neighbors & enemies (Matthew 5:21-48). Hence His famous beatitude, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). Applied to Proverbs 12:10 this means that there must be a purity in our hearts and an inward sense of compassion for animal welfare, stretching beyond what we do externally.
Standing in sharp contrast to this ideal are the practices of the American culture, where meat-eating is the center of the diet, where animals are hunted for sport, where they are brutalized in scientific experiments, where they are trained for circus acts, and where pets are euthanized in astonishing numbers. Most animals that American meat products come from never see the light of day. After birth animals are raised up in a stall until they reach the desired weight, at which point they are slaughtered. I need not spoil your appetite by describing the sights, sounds, smells, and inhumane pain that goes on in a typical slaughterhouse. One can imagine how atrocious they are. Thom Gunn's poem, "Meat," speaks well for the situation:
Not much like this degraded meat -- this meal
Of something, was it chicken, pork, or veal?
It taste of the half-life that we raise
In high bright tombs which days, and nights like days
Murmur with nervous sounds from cubicles
Where fed on treated slop the living cells
Expand within each creature forced to sit
Cramped with its boredom and its pile of shit
Till it is standard weight for roast or bacon
And terminated, and its place is taken.
To make this worth a meal you have to add
The succulent liberties it never had
Of leek, or pepper fruiting in its climb,
The redolent adventures dried in thyme
Whose branches creep and stiffen where they please,
Or rosemary that shakes in the world's breeze.
Christians look to Genesis 2:18-20 for the answer to the above question, and it tells us that animals were originally created for companionship with us. They were set to be helpers in a mutual, interdependent way. We still see some traces of God's original intent for animals in our relationships with household pets and other creatures. Something in our created nature makes us have interest and sometimes love for animals, hence the number of zoos, nature shows on television, puppets and cartoons in animal forms, etc. Most people would have a hard time killing an animal for food if they had to do it personally, for this reason. It's easier to pay slaughterhouse workers to take the burden off our shoulders.
Even though animals were not fully suited for this purpose, an idyllic "golden age" of perfection had been set up, where man and beast were at peace. The "dominion" over animals in Genesis 1:28 was provided as a caretaking responsibility, not as a consumptive privilege. Humans and animals were exclusively given seed-bearing vegetation as provision for food in Genesis 1:29-31. Note the progression in this passage....
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