Hi Mike,
    I am concerned about a brother who, knowing I no longer keep pagan holidays such as Christmas, is trying to convince me that his keeping them is okay.  He feels it is possible that we have carried with us idols from our previous church days.  As far as the Jewish holy days we kept obeying the letter of the law thinking we were pleasing God, he claims he is free to eat this meat (of keeping Christmas, Easter, etc.) even if it is ‘offered to idols.’  He considers my NOT keeping Christmas, etc. to be an idol of my heart.  He says “they are no gods to me, if they are to you, then go ahead and refrain, but don’t lord it over me.  I can eat this meat and I must respect your need to not eat.”  What would be the proper response from scripture?  Thanks, W____

Hi W____,
We do have to be careful to “bear the infirmities of the weak,”but the ‘weak’ are those who “eat herbs,” not the one who “eats meat.”
The tendency to not rock the boat, the need to just fit into society and not lose all our friends is “another who is weak eateth herbs” while thinking he is eating meat. The meat is always harder to take than the herbs. What is ‘he that eateth [ meat]” to do in this situation?

Rom 14:1  Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.
Rom 14:2  For one believeth that he may eat all things [ give up friends and family for Christ]: another, who is weak, eateth herbs [ so as not to rock the boat].
Rom 14:3 Let not him that eateth [ the harder meatier things of God’s Word] despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not [ cannot yet accept the total rejection of society] judge him that eateth: for God hath received him [ that can accept the meat of God’s Word].
Rom 14:4  Who art thou [ the weak brother who “judges him that eats”] that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him [ that eats meat and is judged by his weak brother] stand.

According to this verse, it is the weak brother who tends to “judge him that eats [ meat].” But it is also true that “he that eats [ tends to] despise him that eats not.” The next verse tells us:

Rom 14:5  One [ weak brother, still under the law] man esteemeth one day above another: another [ one who eateth meat] esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
Rom 14:6  He that regardeth the day [ Jewish days], regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it [ He simply has not yet been given eyes to see or ears to hear or the ability to accept the ‘meat’ of God’s Word in Deu 12 or Galatian 4:10]. He that eateth [ meat], eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not [“is weak in the faith – verse 2], to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.

Paul goes on in this chapter generally telling the brothers who eat meat to be tolerant of the brothers who can not yet eat meat:

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 [ the fact that you can eat meat] be evil spoken of [ as being intolerant of weaker herb eating brothers]:
Rom 14:17  For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
Rom 14:18  For he that in these things serveth Christ [ is tolerant of his weaker brother] is acceptable to God, and approved of men.
Rom 14:19  Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.
Rom 14:20 For meat [ the ability to accept the things of the spirit] destroy not the work of God . All things indeed are pure [ the meat of God’s Word]; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.
Rom 14:21  It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.
Rom 14:22 Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.

And this chapter ends with the verse which allows for the different levels of development in Christ:

Rom 14:23 And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because [ he eateth] not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Reading this chapter by itself leads many to believe that we are to tolerate false doctrine. But this is not the sum of God’s Word. Paul later adds these words:

Gal 4:9  But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
Gal 4:10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Gal 4:11  I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

And there is also these verses:

1Co 10:20  But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils [ observing Pagan holidays], and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.
1Co 10:21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.

Towards the end of this chapter are these words:

1Co 10:31  Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do , do all to the glory of God.

 And again:

Col 3:17  And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

If you can read Deu 12…:

Deu 12:28  Observe and hear all these words which I command thee, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee for ever, when thou doest that which is good and right in the sight of the LORD thy God.
Deu 12:29  When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;
Deu 12:30  Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
Deu 12:31 Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
Deu 12:32 What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

… and still observe pagan holidays, then my question for you is why can you not commit adultery against your mate?
Is it an ‘idol of the heart’ to keep these words of the law:

Exo 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Exo 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [ of any thing] that [ is] in heaven above, or that [ is] in the earth beneath, or that [ is] in the water under the earth:
Exo 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [ am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [ generation] of them that hate me;
Exo 20:6  And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.
Exo 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain

Now we come to the fourth commandment which Christ broke:

Joh 5:18  Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

If Christ is our example and pattern and He “broke the sabbath” and waited till the middle of the feast to go up contrary to the laws of observing the feasts, how then can any of us justify the observing of pagan rituals and claim that we are ” do[ ing] so unto the LORD thy God:”

Deu 12:29 When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;
Deu 12:30  Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
Deu 12:31 Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.

It is interesting to note that this takes place after “the Lord thy God has cut off the nations before thee.” This becomes a snare after we have already conquered many of our weaknesses and faults. It is after we have made great spiritual strides that we find that we are still doing many things which are not being done to the glory of God:

1Co 10:31  Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Here are some more “thou shalt nots” which don’t seem to bother most herb eaters:

Exo 20:13  Thou shalt not kill.
Exo 20:14  Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Exo 20:15  Thou shalt not steal.
Exo 20:16  Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
Exo 20:17  Thou shalt not covet

Are these “World Wide Church of God idols of the heart?” If not then why would…

Deu 12:31 Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods;

… be considered an ‘idol of the heart.’ This is the same spirit which teaches that if Moses said for women to keep silent then it must be wrong. That is no way to “rightly divide the word. “As also saith the law” is in the New Testament. As Babylon itself proves by teaching that the Ten Commandments are the law of God, they themselves admit that there are certain parts of Moses Law of which we can still say “as also saith the law” even though we know that there is a much higher application.
We are to receive the weaker brother, but not to doubtful disputations. What this is telling you and me is to “bear the infirmities of the weak.” It’s the very next verse in the Bible:

Rom 15:1  We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Rom 15:2  Let every one of us please [ his] neighbour for [ his] good to edification.
Rom 15:3  For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.
Rom 15:4  For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
Rom 15:5  Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:
Rom 15:6  T hat ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Rom 15:7  Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.

“The strong” here is “he that eateth meat” of the previous chapter. So we that are strong and can accept being rejected of the world and our families, need to be patient with those who are where we were only yesterday. But this is true only so long as “another who is weak eateth herbs” does not start trying to replace our meat with his herbs. We all need to be “of one mind and one mouth.” And when asked about “days, months, times or years,” we must not sacrifice our meat for their herbs.
I hope this helps you as you deal with weaker brethren. Be patient with them. They really are still on herbs.
Mike