Replies

“Paul is addressing the issue of whether or not Christians should eat otherwise clean meat”

Actually, ALL meat is clean, whether it is sold in shambles or not, or offered to idols or not. The only cause of offense can be in confirming another in their idolatry, as Paul is quite clear “for their conscience” sake, and not our own:

Rom 14:14 I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.
Rom 14:15 But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.
Rom 14:16 Let not then your good be evil spoken of:

Again, all things are lawful to me, though not all are expedient:

1Co 10:23 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.

We are no longer under law, but under grace, and thus, we are under no obligation to follow any dietary laws. Our only fear, then, is in offending others, since “all meat is pure,” but we ought not destroy another through it, such as in confirming them in their idolatry, or causing them to offend:

1Co 8:8 But meat commendeth us not to God: for neither, if we eat, are we the better; neither, if we eat not, are we the worse.

This is the Gospel of grace. Not surprising that you would be absolutely ignorant of it.

“You do know Herbert Armstrong has been dead for almost 30 years and was dead for almost a decade before United was formed...right?”

Your website teaches his doctrines on the ‘God family’, and even calls him a “forgotten hero”:

http://www.ucg.org/news/forgotten-hero-herbert-w-armstrong-1892-1986/

I wonder if the UCB teaches against Lying or not.

” Romans 14 is about food, not holy days.”

Romans 14 is a twofer against your religion. It is both against your absurd dietary laws, as well as days, as it says specifically “one man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day the same. Let each one be fully persuaded in his own mind.”

“In other words, Paul tells his congregation, a congregation composed of gentile and jewish Christians....to keep the feast of the Lord. That is the only meaning of heortazo. But neither heortazo nor heorte is found in romans 14.”

I do believe the UCB does not teach against lying. Notice that you managed to turn the singular word “feast” into “feasts,” without flinching. Furthermore, that feast is identified as Christ our passover, not your feasts, which have already been fulfilled in Him, from the verse you ommitted:

“Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1Co 5:7-8)

Neither can sincerity or truth actually be eaten.

That said, the only “feast” we are to keep is the Lord’s Supper, which is specifically commanded to us:

Luk 22:19 And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.

No other command aside from the Lord’s Supper is given to us, and so no other command do we need regard. Furthermore, the feast of the Lord’s Supper was not tied to any particular day. Christians of old practiced it everyday:

“I promised you [new Christians], who have now been baptized, a sermon in which I would explain the sacrament of the Lord’s Table, which you now look upon and of which you last night were made participants. You ought to know that you have received, what you are going to receive, and what you ought to receive daily. That bread which you see on the altar, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the Body of Christ. That chalice, or rather, what is in that chalice, having been sanctified by the word of God, is the Blood of Christ” (Augustine, Sermons 227 [A.D. 411]).

“Unlike me he couldn’t have believed in Christ since he was from before the time of Christ.”

All the better, since he’s a Jew who confirms what has been taught by Christians for 2,000 years.

” As a result some early Christians began to distance themselves from the biblical teachings of Christ and invented their own stories of why these things didn’t apply to them.”

The only people who might agree with you would be the Gnostics from the second century, but they denied the Old Testament and considered the God of the Old Testament as the evil demiurge. However, they were polytheists, and they also did not celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Up next would be the Arians from the 4th century, but they didn’t teach your “God Family” stuff.

The only “feast” we see practiced by Christians is the Lord’s Supper:

From Ignatius who perished between 95-115AD:

“Take note of those who hold heterodox opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us, and see how contrary their opinions are to the mind of God. . . . They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, flesh which suffered for our sins and which that Father, in his goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes” (Letter to the Smyrnaeans 6:2–7:1 [A.D. 110]).

Let’s face it, neither history nor scripture agrees with you.

No, it's not. The Lord Jesus Christ said this:

Lev 11:44 For I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
Lev 11:45 For I am the LORD who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
Lev 11:46 'This is the law of the animals and the birds and every living creature that moves in the waters, and of every creature that creeps on the earth,
Lev 11:47 to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, and between the animal that may be eaten and the animal that may not be eaten.' "

Rom 14:14 I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean. Rom 14:15 But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died. Rom 14:16 Let not then your good be evil spoken of:

Again the problem is that you have your talking points, but don't really study the scriptures you quote.

For example the word "unclean" here is a translation of the word "koinos". It means ceremonially unclean..such as the priests pronouncing someone clean or unclean after various activities. In the case of food the designation existed when the Levtical priesthood was in effect and it is still in effect among the jews.

There is another word usually translated "unclean" and that is akathartos. Akathartos is the term for meats that the Lord Jesus designated as not be eaten by his followers.

Acts 10:14 uses both terms:

Act 10:14 But Peter said, "Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean."

Common is koinos, unclean is akathartos.

In Romans 14, Paul uses the term "koinos" or common. The early Christians believed that clean meat could become ritually unclean (koinos) if it was sacrificed in a pagan rite. Paul didn't believe that happened because he understood that "koinos" is and was predominantly a remnant of the Levitical priestly system and especially of a body of tradition built up by the jews.

In 2 Corinthians Paul quotes scripture that shows that he absolutely believes that the designation of akathartos still exists for the people of God:

2Co 6:15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?
2Co 6:16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM. I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE."
2Co 6:17 Therefore "COME OUT FROM AMONG THEM AND BE SEPARATE, SAYS THE LORD. DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN (AKATHARTOS), AND I WILL RECEIVE YOU."
2Co 6:18 "I WILL BE A FATHER TO YOU, AND YOU SHALL BE MY SONS AND DAUGHTERS, SAYS THE LORD ALMIGHTY."

Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” (1Co 5:7-8) Neither can sincerity or truth actually be eaten. That said, the only “feast” we are to keep is the Lord’s Supper, which is specifically commanded to us:

There is no feast (heorte) called the last supper. Paul was telling his gentile and jewish Christian brothers and sisters to keep the feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread. That's why he uses the analogy of unleavened bread.

Keeping the feasts of the Lord Jesus Christ was normal behavior for the first Christians. Christ created and revealed his feast days to his people and when he incarnated he kept His feasts. His followers continued to keep the feasts of their Lord. To not do so would have been to violate the wishes of the Lord and the clear words of scripture.

Again, I get it. You are in rebellion against the Lord and don't want to do what scripture says to do though obviously you don't think so. So you explain away clear scriptures and lean heavily on traditional explanations made by those who turned away from scripture long ago. But at some point you're going to have to stand up and think for yourself my friend because the arguments you're making go against what the Lord teaches us in scripture and the example he and his disciples set for us by word and actions.

Scripture does, but you're invested too much into the history, the tradition, and so you can't recognize it.

In many ways you're like those first Christians who turned away from the Lord and his doctrine. You're afraid of what your friends and society will say about and to you if you go against the religious authorities...in this case the traditional beliefs that make up modern Christianity. At some point you're going to have to choose whom you serve.