CHRISTIAN BEHAVIOUR

By Ben Berto

Dear friends, God is good. So, I beg you to offer your bodies to him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. That’s the most sensible way to serve God. ² Don’t be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him. ROMANS 12: 1, 2 CEV

What behaviour is expected of Christians today? What is their lifestyle to be? Some people think that if they are Christians, they can do anything they wish. Saint Paul said in his letter to the Romans that we as Christians should live a lifestyle that is acceptable to God which is our reasonable service. The 21^st Fundamental Belief of the Seventh-day Adventist Church states, “We are called to be a godly people who think, feel, and act in harmony with the principles of heaven. For the Holy Spirit to recreate in us the character of our Lord , we involve ourselves only in those things which will produce Christlike purity, health and joy in our lives. This means that our amusement and entertainment should meet the highest standards of human taste and beauty. While recognizing cultural differences, our dress is to. Be simple, modest and neat, befitting those whose true beauty does not consist of outward adornment but in the imperishable ornament of a gentle and quiet spirit. It also means that because our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit, we are to care for them intelligently. Along with adequate exercise and rest, we are to adopt the most healthful diet possible and abstain from the unclean foods identified in the Scriptures. Since alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and the irresponsible use of drugs and narcotics are harmful to our bodies, we are to abstain from them as well.  Instead, we are to engage in whatever brings our thoughts and bodies into the discipline of Christ, who desires our wholesomeness, joy, and goodness.”

Furthermore, “Christians should adopt a different lifestyle, not for the sake of being different but because God has called them to live by principle. The lifestyle to which He has called them enables them to reach their full potential as His creation, making them efficient in His service. Being different also advances their mission: to serve the world—to be salt in it, light to it. Of what value would salt be without taste, or light that didn’t differ from darkness? Christ is our example. He lived so thoroughly in the world in the world that people accused Him of being a “glutton and a drunkard” {Matthew 11:19, NIV} though He was not. He so consistently lived out God’s principle that no one could prove Him guilty of sin.” (John 8:46 NIV)

Science has proven that being a vegetarian is a healthy lifestyle. Many books have been written about it, and space would not permit listing all of them. Suffice it to say that research has proven that vegetarianism is a healthy lifestyle. Henry Salt’s plea for vegetarianism, articulated in his influential 1886 book A Plea for Vegetarianism, argued that a plant-based diet is morally superior, economically beneficial, and healthier, challenging traditions and promoting a more humane, civil society by connecting diet to broader social reform and animal rights, profoundly influencing thinkers like Mahatma Gandhi. 

To contact us: Our website is www.abundantlifeadventist.ca. Worship with us every Saturday Sabbath, the seventh day of the week. Genesis 2: 2, 3, Exodus 20: 8-10, Isaiah 58: 13, 14; Isaiah 66: 22, 23; Matthew 5: 17-19; Revelation 22: 14, John 14: 1-3, Rev. 6:6-12, Romans 8: 35-39