subject: Hebrews: A Diet For Spiritual Growth
[print this page] Everyone knows that babies have to be fed milk. They have an instinctive sucking response to something placed in their mouth, so milk is easily ingested. Solid food would cause choking, and the digestive system could not handle it even if the baby had teeth.
As the baby grows, it begins to learn to consciously control various muscles, and can learn to handle solids as long as they are either too big to swallow, or small enough to prevent choking. It is still necessary that the food be mild enough to not upset the digestive system.
At some point, the baby has grown enough that milk no longer supplies all the necessary nutrients. If solid food is not introduced by that time, the baby's growth begins to be affected by the lack of nutrients. In our area, we see many children whose parents have decided that it is too much trouble to wean them because it is so easy to just give a bottle whenever thy act hungry. Such children tend to be very large, fat, and physically weak for their age. They also get to where they do not want to exert the effort to eat solid food.
Hebrews 5 describes a group of Christians who, like the five year old, are far past the age where they need the bottle, but have become so accustomed to it they have little desire for anything more. They need to be weaned and fed solid food to get the nutrients they need to be healthy. Since they have not tried enough of anything else, they may feel that they have all they need, never growing as they should.
They need to be introduced to solid food appropriate for their age. Many times, they are aware of the desire for more, but have come to accept what they have without seeking more. One may need to completely stop giving milk until the appetite develops. At first the flavor of the solid food may be a little unpleasant to the taste but it will soon adapt. Then the child begins to crave food with more taste. As the muscles, jaws, and teeth develop, other more difficult food to chew can be added to reach maximum benefit.
Veal is very tender meat. Modern veal is obtained from calves less than a week old, who have not been allowed to get much exercise. Originally they were not even allowed to eat. As a result, the meat is very tender, but has little more nutrient value than the milk they should be drinking. Soft, tender meat is desired by a great many people. And they may be willing to settle for veal.
Most meat sold in the stores is grain fed. It is very tender, and may have been tenderized to make it more so. It is quite popular because it is so easy to eat. In the past little grain fed meat was available. The meat was quite different. Chicken and turkey were mostly dark meat. Beef was a darker red than most of what is available today, because it had a lower fat content. The reduced fat content made the meat tougher. Because grainfed beef gains weight faster, the meat has less time to develop, making the connective tissues weaker and leaving the meat even more tender. For the same reason, the meat may have thirty percent less food value.
In an effort to make the meat easier to eat the bone and connective tissue may be removed. Cooking the meat with the bone in can double or triple the amount of calcium in the meat. Gnawing the bones and ribs can increase the food value, and available calcium even more, but it takes more effort.
The author of Hebrews describes his intention of getting to more difficult material in chapter six. Like the solid food, it requires more effort to utilize, but will be needed to produce strong spiritual growth. Some parts of the book are somewhat eating ribs, requiring a great deal of effort, but yielding great rewards for the effort.
by: Donald Fishgrab
welcome to Insurances.net (https://www.insurances.net)
