Always writing about food

If you were to look over the next couple chapter in Leviticus you probably won’t see a lot of common themes. Much of it seems to have randomness to it. Nick (Symbiosis) said this past week that in fact some of the Law was arbitrary, not necessarily in a sense that God says it so you do it, but that in total it speaks to God being present in every aspect. Everywhere you would turn you would be remind that you are part of a covenant people and that God cares about every aspect of our lives, down to the most random and mundane. We need to also point out that part of the “you are covenant people” is that you are a people who are different. The “Cultic” theory (Gods laws are meant to contrast other religious practices of neighboring pagan nations) seems to have some weight in theses chapters. Both ch17 and 19 mention other religious practices and 18 explicitly says, “You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not follow their statutes.” (18:3) and then continues to instruct about sexual practices to be avoided. So again we see a contrast of practices against many pagan nations.
Ch 17 seems to focus on sacrifices and food. Much of the chapter seems to be a restriction on killing animals so that there isn’t a chance of people sacrificing to other gods. Whether or not the restriction of drinking the blood of the animal was attributed to a Canaanite or Egyptian sacrificial rituals, we don’t know, but it obviously was something that people participated in.
We also see some instruction given to the alien living with them. This again reinforces the "you shall be separate" to the point that those who wish to reside within the Hebrew community must not keep there own practices, rather they’re to adopt it’s the Hebrew culture. (interesting how only past cultures wrestle with that, never enlightened cultures of today… Europe). So where are we at in regards to participating in other religious activities? Do we stop with Easter and Christmas because it was a pagan celebration that has been refocused and redeemed with a Christian narrative? How about eating delicious ginger beef? Under the watchful eye of Buddha or how about Malcolm’s favorite curry, unfortunately I have to be forced to carry the burden of meeting up with him (even this week) oh the pains of a pastor. A couple scripture passages you might wrestle with in figuring it out. (Jdg2:1, 1Kg16:29, Matt 6:24, Lk 16:13, 1Cor 10:20-22, Acts 15:29)