Can Christians eat anything they want?

Question: Jesus said, “Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?” (Mark 7:18–19). Does this mean Christians can eat anything they want?

Answer: People sometimes use Mark 7:18–19 to justify their desire to eat foods the Bible calls “unclean.” It is important, however, to understand this verse in context in order to truly appreciate what Christ was teaching.

Brits were fed up with Brussels telling them which cucumbers met European Union beauty standards and could therefore be sold in market. That was minor compared to fishing quotas placed on waters the British considered to be their own. Then there were the payments to subsidize weaker EU economies. In short, Britain was losing its sovereignty, and many didn’t like it.

Western nations have dominated much of the world for nearly five centuries. During this era, European nations—and later, the United States—gained power and spread the influence of Western civilization over much of the globe. China and Japan were forcibly opened to European and American trade. Africa, India, and much of Asia were overwhelmed and carved up by Western powers. The Russian Empire fell to the communists and then lost the Cold War to the West.

In 2017, author Tom Nichols published a book titled The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why It Matters. Nichols makes the case that we are experiencing “the growth of an irrational conviction among Americans that everyone is as smart as everyone else” (p. 7).

In the history of every successful nation, company, or team, there is at some point a person who provides groundbreaking leadership, making the difference between success and failure and between ordinary and great. This was truly the case in the history of Canada’s earliest development.