“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11).
The Basket Case Chronicles #84
“As concerning therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one” (1 Cor. 8:4).
Here we learn that every form of false religion is superstitious at some level—that is, it makes something out of nothing. Compared to the true and living God, an idol is nothing in the world, and there is no God beside the Most High. It is important to note that Paul says that the idol is nothing in the world. He does not say that God is the Most High in Heaven, but that idols can be something on earth. When it comes to eating meat that has been sacrificed to an idol, there is no reason for abstaining from it that can be found in the meat itself. To attitude that kind of power to pagan worship is superstitious—even if the superstition is held by someone outside that pagan religion.
The meat is not demon-possessed. The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness of it. Everything else being equal, it would be perfectly fine to have a BLT made from bacon that came from a pig that was slaughtered on the altar of Satan. This kind of freedom that Christ brings does not give power to Satan, but rather takes all his power away—because his power rests on the platform of deceptive superstition.
Years ago someone phoned my wife very concerned about a rumor she had heard about Proctor & Gamble being given over to Satan—it had something do with their logo of the crescent moon and stars, etc. Supposedly, one of their execs had said on television that their profits went straight to the Bad Place. My response was that if Satan had indeed gone in for soap manufacturing we Christians ought to consider this to be, on the whole, a net plus.
If it is a lie, then Christians ought to be the first to laugh at it. And every idol is a lie. Every idol pretending to be something in the world is actually nothing in the world.