Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
Weeds Choke, Entangle, and Steal
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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Genesis 1:29-30
Critical scholars say that initially, God gave humanity a vegetarian diet (Genesis 1:29-30). If we follow this line of reasoning far enough, then we today should be eating kudzu, poison ivy, grass, tulip bulbs, and so on. This extreme idea is nonsense, of course. Many plants are poisonous to humans. Why would God have us eat daffodils, azaleas, nightshade, oleander, wisteria, mistletoe, or hundreds of other plants that can be fatal if eaten? On the contrary, this verse simply means that God gave humankind certain foods to eat, and people quickly discovered—perhaps primarily through trial and error—what the good foods were. The Contemporary English Version translates this verse simply and clearly: “I have provided all kinds of fruit and grain for you to eat.” A lot of people hold the belief that the pre-Flood world was vegetarian. However, we must be careful how we read Scripture. While telling us that God has provided food for us, it is not telling us, “Do not eat meat.” Advocates of vegetarianism often pay no heed to the fact that God had previously given humanity dominion over all animal life (Genesis 1:26, 28), which could include using fish, birds, cattle, and even insects for food. The argument continues, however, claiming that, after the Flood, God finally permitted humans to eat meat, implying that God is indecisive or unsure: “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs” (Genesis 9:3). To put it simply, some critical scholars say the eating of meat was unknown before the Flood. These “scholars” totally ignore Genesis 4:3-4, where Cain offers produce, which God disdains, yet He accepts Abel's offering of his firstborn lamb. This event occurs right at the beginning, long before the Flood! Animals were offered. Their blood was emptied, their bodies burned, and, in many cases the remains of the offering were eaten by those making the offering. These offerings were, of course, clean animals.
Mike Ford
Was Jesus a Vegetarian?
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Matthew 13:7
In Matthew 13, Christ gives us the Parable of the Sower and the Seed in which the sower throws his seed on four types of ground. In verse 7, the seed falls among thorns. Thorns are nothing more than prickly weeds. In the Bible, seventeen different Hebrew and Greek words are used to describe weeds, though they are often translated as "thorns," "thistles," "briers," and the like. What do weeds do? They choke, entangle, and steal. They hinder fruit from maturing. They may not necessarily stop growth, but they can slow it down to the point that fruit never ripens. The spiritual parallels are evident.
Mike Ford
Weeds!
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Luke 8:5-8
His disciples asked Him what this parable meant, and Jesus obliged them by explaining that it had to do with the Kingdom of God. What we see in it are descriptions of four categories of people. In my experience in the church for nearly forty years, each one of these kinds of people has been and is currently in the church. Those in the first group, those by the wayside from whom the Devil steals the Word from their hearts (verse 12), come to church for a short time and never return. A man my wife and I knew from our teenage years showed up one Sabbath. We spoke to him, excited to see someone from our past being called, yet he never came to another service. Many more never make it as far as to darken the church's door. Those in the second category are "the ones on the rock . . . who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away" (Luke 8:13). Some people attend church for quite a while before leaving and not returning. Because they lack roots, they have no real commitment. For many of us, the Sabbath was our first test. If a person has no real commitment—no root, as Jesus puts it—he will probably not give up his job to keep the Sabbath. Such a person ends up falling away. Those in the third category of people concern us the most: "Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity" (Luke 8:14). These people start out producing fruit, but somewhere on their journey to the Kingdom, they allow the worries, the riches, and the pleasures of life to distract them, and they stop producing fruit. In other words, their growth in Christ ceases. Finally, the fourth group "are those who, having heard the word with a noble and good heart, keep it and bear fruit with patience" (Luke 8:15). "Patience" translates the Greek word hupomone, which suggests "endurance under extreme provocation." These people continue to follow Christ and grow spiritually despite the trials life throws at them. Just three verses later, Jesus advises: "Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him" (Luke 8:18). The New International Version translates the first sentence as "Consider carefully how you listen." He then links how we listen with rewards and punishments.
Clyde Finklea
Listen Carefully (Part Two)
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