1 Corinthians 8

Three things in this chapter impress me. One is that knowledge can lead to pride, but charity builds and strengthens. At BYU, we continually see what we call "academic arrogance." When you couple that with positions of authority, it can be very stifling. Fortunately, this sort of thing is far worse at other universities. Second, Paul's statement that there are gods many and lords many. Not having revelation and the restored scriptures, other Christians interpret this to be Roman gods and Lords. As Joseph Smith taught, it refers to the ultimate promise of exaltation possible for each person. To know the nature of God and to know that we are offspring of that nature with the same potential, is a great blessing. To view mankind as a depraved and sin-filled being from birth robs a person of his true identity. Third, Paul admonishes the saints to avoid eating meat that has been offered to idols. He says that in and of itself, the meat is harmless. But if people who are weak see a righteous person eating it, it might cause them to stumble and weaken their resolve not to associate with idol worship. Having a drink of wine with dinner, a cup of coffee with breakfast is probably harmless for the most part. It's the excess that hurts the health. But being a commandment, if a weak member of the church saw me drinking wine or coffee, it could help them to become more weak and lead them further from the church. If one commandment isn't that important to keep, neither are the others.