Will you please tell me what you think the word "creature" means in 1 Tim. 4:4, where it says, "Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving"?
The word "creature" there means anything created, whether mineral or animal or vegetable. It seems to us to be limited by the expression, "For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." That is, the things which the Lord has given us to eat are those things which He has sanctified, or set apart, for that purpose. Such, of course, we ought to receive with thanksgiving.
1996.—Eating of Flesh.
Do you think that eating of flesh is wicked? We have eaten pork and other meat, supposing that the law given in the Bible, as recorded in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, was especially for the children of Israel. After mentioning various other unclean animals, it says, "Whosoever toucheth the carcass of them shall be unclean until the even." Then, too, if the law is given to us, why are the locust and beetle and other things offensive to us? I do not think we would like to eat them. We think beef is bad enough in these days.
Meat-eating may be wrong and it may not. The one principle which ought to guide Christians is stated in 1 Cor. 10:31: "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." One might be in such circumstances that the very best food that was placed before him was meat. It is said that in one of the eating-houses of the plains, before railroads crossed the great desert, a solitary traveler came along the next day after a caravan had passed thru. That caravan had eaten the caravansary out of house and home, so to speak, and the only articles of diet left were pork and mustard. That was all the host could place before the solitary traveler. When he passed the pork, the traveler said, "Thank you, I don't eat pork." "Very well," said that genial host, "help yourself to the mustard." If there was no reasonable prospect for that traveler to get any better food within a proper length of time, it seems to us he would be justified in eating the pork. And yet pork is not good, and no Christian, or it seems to us, any one else, who wants to live on good food, and pure food, and the best food for the proper building of the best manhood and womanhood physically, would want to use it at all.
The law which God gave to Israel is not, as a statutory enactment, binding upon us now, but God gave that law for a reason. The animals were unclean to the Israelites not because of that law, but in their very nature. They were clean not because of that law, but because they were clean by nature. That law simply designated what was allowable for food and what was unfit for food. We do not know when or where any change has taken place in the nature of the prohibited animals. As to the locusts and grasshoppers, they have been used as an article of diet, and still are, by the poor of the eastern countries, and seem to them probably no more repulsive than pork does to those who use it in western lands. Our customs have much to do with this. They are probably a great deal more wholesome. Beetles, of course, are not among the permitted articles of food. We therefore say to our querist and to all others, become intelligent in regard to the food question, live the simple life, choose the best and purest food. It is a patent fact that all animal life is becoming more and more diseased. The simple, cheaper food is the vegetable food. Learn how to prepare that in the very best ways. Personally, the writer can say that after a test of years it is better for him, and he has no longing nor desire to go back to the flesh-eating which he once loved.
1997.—Duty to Parents.
Has a child a moral or Scriptural right to claim any part of the parents' property, accumulated after the child has left home and gone to make a home for himself, and therefore had no part in accumulating the parents' property. To illustrate: An aged couple own a home worth $400; one of them dies; the survivor desires to sell the home. To make a legal deed, the signatures of the children are needed. Have they any moral right to demand a part of the money before they are willing to sign the deed?
There is no question in regard to the legal status of the matter. Of course, legally a part of the property belongs to the children. Some State laws give the wife one-half, some one-third. But morally it would seem to us that children who are able-bodied and well would be only too glad to give the survivor the whole of such a small amount of property. The first duty of the child is to honor the father and the mother, and if an aged father or mother has only a small amount of property for their last days, they certainly ought to be permitted to enjoy it without covetous eyes cast upon it or covetous plans used to divide it up.
1998.—Feeling Contented.
Will you please tell me if it is wrong for one not to feel perfectly contented when she desires companionship of those who are of "like precious faith" and is deprived of that companionship? In other words, is it wrong to feel the longing for that companionship?
Perfect contentment will never be found here. No longing for good will ever be satisfied to its fullest extent in this life. God has created these longings in the human heart because He does not want His children to be contented in their low estate. Contentment and satisfaction with the poor things which this world gives at the best is not a desirable condition. God would have us continually longing and reaching out for the better things, and communion with others of like precious faith is one of the good things; but if we can not have that, if we know that that is impossible, let us be content. In other words, leave it all with God and know that in some way it will work out for our best good. To be discouraged when our selfish desires are not satisfied, is not Christian. Paul says he had learned that in whatsoever state he was to be content. That is, when he could not change matters, and he knew that the Lord had permitted those things to come to him, he just simply left them with the Lord and did not worry over them. So we should do. Bring all your desires, all your longings to God, let them be sanctified by His presence. Sometimes He removes from us the earthly companions we long for in order that we may press nearer to Him and get more of the heavenly companionship.
