Food for Thought

A cereal named Ezekiel 4:9 has just shown up on my grocers shelf, and even for a town that prides itself in keeping things weird, this is weird.  Here’s what the package says, “As described in Holy Scriptures ‘Take also unto thee wheat and barley and beans and lentils and millet and spelt and put them in one vessel and make bread of it…..’This Biblical Cereal is truly the Staff of Life.” 

The maker of this cereal is Food For Life Baking Company.  It is neither surprising nor thought provoking as to location (California) or date of organization (1964).  Even the fact that there is food for the body but not for the soul here provides little food for thought.  What provides grist for the mental mill is that the LCMS serves up the same pablum.

In the Fall 2009 Better Health published by Concordia Plan Services, there is the article on page 3 entitled  “Bible Super Foods.”  I quote the opening paragraph.  “We use the Bible as our guide for daily living, but it also can serve as a guide to healthier food choices.  In verses like Deuteronomy 8:8 (‘…a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranate, olive, oil and honey…’), God reveals to us some foods that are good for us:”

The article goes on to tell you why wheat and barely, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olive oil, and honey are good for you. They could very well be, and probably are, good for you, but to say that God mentions them in the Bible for that reason is to say more than God does.  The 7^th Day Adventists have always argued this way about the Levitical laws pertaining to food.  It is really healthier to eat beef rather than pork; try telling that to someone from Iowa.  Reasoning like this mistakes the theological point of the Levitical laws for a medicinal one.

In fairness to Better Health, they didn’t write the article “Bible Super Foods.”  They attribute it to “CNN.com, beliefnet.com, Journal of Urology.”  Well if it’s from the Journal of Urology it can’t be peeing in the wind, can it?  Medically no; theologically yes.

If you want to see how far awry this way of thinking can go, buy some Ezekiel 4:9 cereal, and cook it in accordance with God’s further directions to Ezekiel in chapter 4 verses 11-15. But don’t be surprised when you come away saying, “That tastes like _____!