Although Labor Day's the year's last chance for an all-out cookout in your backyard, it's also your singleton pastor's 40th birthday, so you buy him an expensive dinner at your favorite restaurant instead. Pastor remarks how the A5 Wagyu steaks you are served promptly are so perfectly seared to a rich mahogany, the caramelized crust shimmering under the soft lighting. Tucking in without hesitation, Pastor praises how each buttery smooth morsel is suffused with hints of rosemary and thyme, how each bite that melts in his mouth is balanced with the smokiness of charred oak.
As that succulent A5 texture yields to your glistening knife, a tiny rivulet of bright red blood seeps out to puddle momentarily on your perfectly white porcelain plate. You remark that the blood is a sign of just how fresh the steak must be, a gesture to the life force within this splendid cut of meat.
Surely one would be crazy not to eat this just because of a little blood, you giggle nervously, even as you ask Pastor how Christians might dismiss the Acts 15 ruling not to eat blood, as the Law commands. But Pastor is too intent on savoring his steak, blood or not, so he simply refuses to talk theology.
Still, the four prohibitions in Acts 15 did sound like Law, you reason silently, not wishing to be a wet blanket. Meanwhile, clueless as to your theological anxieties, Birthday Boy continues to tuck in heartily, blood and all.
You ask yourself earnestly why believers today don't have to keep the Law. Or do they? Well, this book proves from Paul's own words that, contrary to church dogma, he expected you to keep the Law, like Jesus also did (Matt 5:17-19) - whatever your pastor might say.
But dare you confront the verse-by-verse evidence for all that? This book will turn your life of faith topsy-turvy but it can also set things right with God- for you! Still, can you muster the courage to take up this challenge? The ball's in your court.
