Bible Discussion Thread

Ricky, read Acts 10:9 to 11:18. Peter has a vision of all sorts of unclean animals, reptiles and birds, and God says to him, "Get up, Peter; kill and eat them." Peter says, "Never, Lord. I have never in all my life eaten anything forbidden by our Jewish laws." Then God says, "If God says something is acceptable, don't say it isn't." The same vision was repeated three times. You see, the Gentiles ate these unclean animals, and because of this, the Jews considered them to be unclean and an inferior people. God was trying to show Peter that these things that were unclean, were now made clean by the blood of Jesus Christ and to the glory of God. God made these animals clean; therefore, the Jews no longer needed to consider the Gentiles unclean and could now eat with them without risking defilement. God accepted the Gentiles (who did not live by Mosaic law) and He baptized them with the same Holy Spirit as the Jews. You see, before Jesus's sacrifice, we had to depend on obeying the Mosaic law to make us clean--and we could never live up to it; but now, it's Jesus who makes us clean, if we abide in Him. Jesus said in Matthew 15:11, "You are not defiled by what you eat; you are defiled by what you say and do." (NLT)