The trouble begins with Cain's relationship with the Lord. Cain brings some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord, while Abel brings the best of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord accepts Abel's offering but not Cain's. Why? Because, "by faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings." (Hebrews 11:4) That means that Cain's offering was inferior, it was token, it was unworthy.

God has a plan and purpose for our lives. Yet, when we look at the world in which we live, and the seeming randomness, mess and suffering of life, we wonder how this can be. The story of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 tells us why this is so. It tells us what happened on the way to the fulfillment of God's plan and purpose. We, humans, when given the freedom to choose to fulfill the purpose of our creation, decided to go another way.

The physical becomes a sin when it controls us. All addictions are physical temptations. Drug, alcohol, sexual, and food addictions are a constant source of human self-destruction. Financial greed, the unbridled love of money, is the root of all evil. Physical, sexual and emotional abuse is the weapon of bullies.

There is the tendency in church life to let people eat what they want, or not at all, and not get concerned about it. But what if their diet reflects poor choices that result in an unhealthy relationship with Christ? What responsibility does the pastor and teacher have to warn them of the consequences? You can't force people to take the nourishment they need in order to grow into spiritual maturity. You can't control what they do. No do I want to.