Chapter 10

   For I would have you remember, brethren, how our forefathers were all of them sheltered by the cloud, and all got safely through the Red Sea.  

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   All were baptized in the cloud and in the sea to be followers of Moses.  

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   All ate the same spiritual food,  

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   and all drank the same spiritual drink; for they long drank the water that flowed from the spiritual rock that went with them--and that rock was the Christ.  

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   But with most of them God was not well pleased; for they were laid low in the Desert.  

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   And in this they became a warning to us, to teach us not to be eager, as they were eager, in pursuit of what is evil.  

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   And you must not be worshippers of idols, as some of them were. For it is written, 'The People sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to dance.'  

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   Nor may we be fornicators, like some of them who committed fornication and on a single day 23,000 of them fell dead.  

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   And do not let us test the Lord too far, as some of them tested Him and were destroyed by the serpents.  

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   And do not be discontented, as some of them were, and they were destroyed by the Destroyer.  

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   All this kept happening to them with a figurative meaning; but it was put on record by way of admonition to us upon whom the ends of the Ages have come.  

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   So then let him who thinks he is standing securely beware of falling.  

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   No temptation has you in its power but such as is common to human nature; and God is faithful and will not allow you to be tempted beyond your strength. But, when the temptation comes, He will also provide the way of escape; so that you may be able to bear it.  

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   Therefore, my dear friends, avoid all connection with the worship of idols.  

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   I speak as to men of sense: judge for yourselves of what I say.  

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   The cup of blessing, which we bless, does it not mean a joint-participation in the blood of Christ? The loaf of bread which we break, does it not mean a joint-participation in the body of Christ?  

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   Since there is one loaf, we who are many are one body; we, all of us, share in that one loaf.  

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   Look at the Israelites--the nation and their ritual. Are not those who eat the sacrifices joint-partakers in the altar?  

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   Do I mean that a thing sacrificed to an idol is what it claims to be, or that an idol is a real thing?  

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   No, but that which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, not to God; and I would not have you have fellowship with one another through the demons.  

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   You cannot drink the Lord's cup and the cup of demons: you cannot be joint-partakers both in the table of the Lord and in the table of demons.  

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   Or are we actually arousing the Lord to jealousy. Are we stronger than He is?  

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   Everything is allowable, but not everything is profitable. Everything is allowable, but everything does not build others up.  

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   Let no one be for ever seeking his own good, but let each seek that of his fellow man.  

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   Anything that is for sale in the meat market, eat, and ask no questions for conscience' sake;  

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   for the earth is the Lord's, and all that it contains.  

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   If an unbeliever gives you an invitation and you are disposed to accept it, eat whatever is put before you, and ask no questions for conscience' sake.  

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   But if any one tells you, 'This food has been offered in sacrifice;' abstain from eating it--out of respect for him who warned you, and, as before, for conscience' sake.  

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   But now I mean his conscience, not your own. 'Why, on what ground,' you may object, 'is the question of my liberty of action to be decided by a conscience not my own?  

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   If, so far as I am concerned, I partake with a grateful heart, why am I to be found fault with in regard to a thing for which I give thanks?'  

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   Whether, then, you are eating or drinking, or whatever you are doing, let everything be done to the glory of God.  

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   Do not be causes of stumbling either to Jews or to Gentiles, nor to the Church of God.  

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   That is the way that I also seek in everything the approval of all men, not aiming at my own profit, but at that of the many, in the hope that they may be saved.  

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