bones

By Elizabeth Prata

To the casual or immature discerners who say “just eat the meat and spit out the bones”… I ask you this:

If you are a parent, even if you’re not, picture your sweet baby in his high chair. You are preparing food for him and place it in his plastic bowl in front of him with his little spoon. In the bowl is a hunk of meat along with its bones. You tell the toddler to eat the meat and just spit out the bones.

Is this a safe way for your baby to consume food?

It’s a hypothetical question. We all know it’s not safe to serve a baby meat with bones and just tell the child to spit out the bones. This illustration was designed to highlight one fatal flaw: PRIDE. We think we are smarter than we are.

How do I know this? Because we all are babies. We are little children, stumbling along like helpless sheep, trying to do our best to serve God. How many times in the Bible are WE called sheep (which are stupid animals), or babes? We are naïve and vulnerable to the world, to our sin, and to the devil. We need God’s strong word as a fortress, a haven, a sheepfold with Him as guide to get us safely through this life and across the Jordan to eternity.

We think we ‘can handle’ this or that. But we can’t. We are as ignorant and helpless as a baby in a high chair when served what the world has to offer and when served what the church has to offer. We must stay closely in the word of God, lest we be deceived. We are often not smart enough to be bone detectors.

Always test whatever lessons we receive with the word of God, and

Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. 6In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight. 7Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and turn away from evil. (Proverbs 3:5-7).

Do not eat bone-riddled meat. You’re a baby.

By Elizabeth Prata

fish bones — Fish bones courtesy of thegraphicsfairy.com

There are two reasons we don’t follow the man-made philosophy regarding the word of God and listening to false teachers; i.e. ‘eat the meat and spit out the bones’. People who disagree that false teachers should never be tolerated, say that false teachers sometimes teach truth and we should take what is true, i.e. the meat, and spit out the false, or the bones.

No.

Reason #1: In Philippians 4:8-9 we read that we must dwell upon certain things, for one, “Whatever is true.” Steven Lawson preached on these verses in his sermon The Battle for the Mind, saying,

That’s what your mind needs to be fixed upon. “Whatever is true.” This word for true means real, genuine, authentic, that which is reliable, faithful, as distinguished from that which is false, that which is a lie. Do not let your mind be focused upon a distortion of the divine standard, or compromise on which God clearly lays out in his word. Focusing on what us true leads inevitably into true Christianity and results in authentic godliness.

“Whatever is pure.” Pure – that which is not mixed with immorality, moral impurities. It refers to that which is uncontaminated with man’s depravity, unmixed with filth or adulterated with moral corruption. How pure of a life do you want to live. Marginally pure? If we dwell on that which is impure given enough time, we will live an impure life because we have become impure.

So, the Bible says to stay as pure and true as possible. Choosing to absorb that which is untrue and impure directly contradicts the Philippians verse.

Reason #2 we don’t eat the meat and spit out the bones: In our total inability to be holy, with our sin-drenched mind and our constant strong pull toward untruth and impurity, do we really believe we have the sense, strength, and wherewithal to take in a steady diet of lies and remain untainted? Of course we cannot. It’s why we needed Jesus to save us, and the Spirit inside us prodding and guiding to holy excellence.

“if there is any excellence”… Don’t you want to live a life of moral and spiritual excellence? Then clear your mind so that there is holy fodder to graze upon. You’re not eating meat, as Lawson reminded us, you’re eating rocks and dirt and grass and trash.

So stop it.

Here are some good resources, no bones, only meat:

John MacArthur
Steven Lawson
Phil Johnson
S. Lewis Johnson
Nathan Busenitz
Paul Twiss
RC Sproul
Spurgeon Archive