Question Corner

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 24, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 12.

“Enquire and make search and ask diligently.”

735. Eating of Swine’s Flesh.

PLEASE explain through the SIGNS why we can not eat swine’s flesh. W. H. P.

Let the SIGNS say to all such inquirers that they can eat swine’s flesh, all they want of it, for 365 days a year, and on leap years 366 days a year, three meals a day, and between meals if they want it, if they can get it, and can physically endure it. As a change, they can eat snails, and slugs, and worms, and shrimps, and toads, and snakes. In matters of diet, as in other things, God sets before us the best and the better, but He will not compel choice. He has given us good and sufficient principles by which a consecrated heart will be guided; but He will not compel guidance. He sets before us the way of life and its glorious future, and the way of death and its terrible end. “Choose ye.” Does not special pleading of a normally healthful person for some special article of food indicate a depraved appetite, or a subjection to lust, rather than a desire to eat and drink to God’s glory? I Cor. 10:31. Esau said, “Feed me, I pray thee, with that same red pottage.” See Gen. 25:30–33. Esau “for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.” Heb. 12:16. God gives permission to each one to “walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes; but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.”

736. Books of Moses.

(1) Did Moses write the first five books of the Bible? (2) If so, what about the account of his death in Deuteronomy 34? G. B.

It is generally held that Moses wrote these books, and that the last chapter of the last book was added by Joshua, or some other servant of the Lord.

737. Judges 1:19, Because They Had Chariots of Iron.

How do you explain the peculiar wording of the nineteenth verse of the first chapter of Judges? Is not the Lord strong enough to overcome chariots of iron? B.

Boothroyd translates as follows: “And Jehovah was with Judah; and he drove out the inhabitants of the mountain; but went not to drive out the inhabitants of the plain, because they had chariots of iron.” This translator tells us that the Septuagint, Vulgate, and two MSS. support this rendering. The trouble was with Judah, who did not exercise enough faith to overcome the iron chariots.

738. A Perfect Life.

Is it possible that man can, while in this corruptible body, live a perfect life? If so, please explain 1 John 1:8. Some say that the 144,000 who stand on the sea of glass will have to live so that they can say, “Show me some blemish or sin.” Or is it through Jesus that we are called perfect? H. P.

It is man’s duty to “be perfect.” See 2 Cor. 13:11; Matt. 5:48. And God demands of no one what is impossible through Christ. This does not mean perfect in knowledge or wisdom or power, but in love and mercy, which will always result in obedience. In this mortal life, no man is in himself perfect. Comparing his character, his love, his service, with Christ’s perfection, he will always see where he has sinned or missed the mark, and will acknowledge it to God as such. 1 John 1:8, 9. But if the heart is perfect toward God, God counts that soul “complete in Him,” Christ Jesus. Col. 2:10. Perfection in Christian character is perfect love (Matt. 22:37–40), manifest in willing, glad obedience to every known commandment and leading of God (1 John 5:3). But the perfect-hearted through Christ (Eph. 1:4; 3:16–20; 4:25; Phil. 2:15; 4:13; Col. 1:10–12, etc.) will never boast of themselves. They will point, never to self, but to Christ.