Question Corner by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Apr 25, 1906

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 17.

Question Corner

By Editor

1810.—Eating of Pork. 1 Tim. 4: 3-6.

Why do you condemn pork when God says it is good to eat, if received with thanks and after asking God's blessing upon it?

We do not believe in the eating of pork because— 1. God has classed it with unclean animals, and tells us that it is unclean and an abomination. Leviticus 11, Deuteronomy 14. We know no reason why it is not unclean still. We believe that heavenly wisdom made the classification that it did because of the very nature of the beasts themselves, and we know no evidence to show that the nature of the beasts has changed. 2. Medical science is against the use of pork as food. It is one of the first things forbidden in sickness, and one of the last things permitted. The very word from which "scrofula" comes is the very same word from which "sow," the female swine, comes. 3. The text in question no more authorizes the use of swine's flesh as food than it does that of toads, scorpions, bedbugs, or any other creeping, crawling, filthy thing. The subject under consideration is not the subject of food at all. It is that we should beware of a class of people that depart from the faith of God's Word, that give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, that are led by the doctrines of men who speak lies, whose conscience is seared. This class forbids to marry and command to abstain from food. The word "meats" simply means food, nothing more nor less, and applies to vegetable food just as much as animal food. The kind of food that these teachers command their dupes to abstain from is that which God commands to receive with thanksgiving by them which know the truth. 4. The Word of God is true, and that Word teaches the distinction between the clean and the unclean which we have set forth in the beginning of this note, and the creature, or anything created, not necessarily animal, is good if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified through the Word of God. The Word of God is that which sets it apart, and the Word of God has made very clear

and distinct what things are good for His children and what are not. The class against which the apostle warns us would make their rules and regulations the standard of conduct, and God has left His children free to walk in the liberty of His great, boundless Word.

1811.—The Gospel of the Kingdom.

1. Has the ordinary preaching of the present day any resemblance to the preaching of the Gospel of the kingdom as predicted by our Saviour in Matt. 24:14? (2) How far do you understand this Gospel of the kingdom has been preached? (3) As Christians, what may we next expect in view of that message?

1. Much of the preaching of the present day has no relation to the Gospel at all. It is based on higher criticism and traditions of men. Much of the preaching also is real Gospel preaching without specific reference to the coming kingdom; yet much of this true preaching rings out with the truth that Christ will come, and that the Gospel is to prepare men for that coming. 2. We do not know how far the Gospel of the kingdom has been preached. In the message of 1840 to 1844, it is said that the message of Christ's coming was preached in every mission station on the face of the globe. There are many missionaries preaching it now, and it could be preached in a very short time if hearts were alive to its meaning. 3. When that time has come that the Gospel of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ is proclaimed in all nations as a witness, then cometh the end.

1812.—Prerogatives of Religious Bodies.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. On this ground why should a Unitarian representative, that church or denomination have been denied joining with other representatives at the Federation of Churches at New York? Is not the Unitarian Church a Protestant church and entitled to its beliefs, seeing that all men do not, and can not, believe alike?"

Every human society has a perfect right to shut from its deliberations and fellowship whomsoever it will, if the civil rights of those so shut out are not infringed upon. This is also true of any number of such societies which may form an alliance. The Church Federation was such an alliance, and Unitarians were excluded on the ground that they were unevangelical. Jesus Christ to them is only a man, not a divine-human Saviour. The Constitution has no bearing on the subject whatsoever. Doubtless the Federation was inconsistent because there are many in the other churches who hold to Unitarian ideas; yet they have the right to exclude Unitarians.

1813.—Adam and Repentance.

Does the Bible teach that the first man Adam, for his disobedience, was repentant, and that he was faithful and obedient to the commands of God to his life's end?

The Bible says nothing directly upon this point. It has been inferred that he was repentant.

1814.—Proper Precautions.

Does it show a lack of faith for Adventists or Christians to build storm caves?

It is not a lack of faith to do anything that common prudence deems advisable unless absolute duty calls us from it. It is no more lack of faith, so far as we can see, to build a storm house or cave, than to build any house, or to carry an umbrella, or to wear an overcoat or storm shoes.

1815.—Carcass and Eagles.

Matt. 24:28. What is the carcass and who are the eagles?

The carcass is the incorrigibly wicked; the eagles, or vultures, are the plagues or judgments of God that seize those unrepentant when probation closes. Compare with Luke 17:26-37.