Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the
sacrifices participate in the altar? Do I mean then that a
sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is
anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons,
not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you
cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of
demons.
If some
unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever
is put before you without raising questions of conscience. But if
anyone says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice," then do
not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you and for
conscience' sake--the other man's conscience, I mean, not yours.
For why should my freedom be judged by another's
conscience? (1 Corinthians 10:27-29 NIV)
By telling his guest the meat has been offered to an idol, the host
is expecting the guest to join him in eating to the idol's glory.
In that case we should not eat it. After all, we know idols are
nothing, but the host sees the idol as his god. We don't want to
join him in worshipping his god, but instead make clear we only
acknowledge the One, true God.
Thus we can eat whatever food there is, as long as we eat it to the
glory of God, and not while even so much as acknowledging
idols.
