Legalism is a general tendency of mankind.  Many of us love rules, we love to know where we stand and to be able to judge ourselves with respect to others.  The Pharisees are a great example of legalism gone wild.  They were given the Law and over the centuries kept interpreting it, extending it and generally making it more and more difficult to follow.  If the Pharisees, who came from God’s chosen people fell in to this trap, is it any wonder Muslims have as well?

Recently, a friend was talking about what she has learned about halal from her neighbors.  Her neighbors are older people (as such, respected) and Hui.  Even though she has recently moved to a new apartment, these people from her old building continue to have a significant influence in her life and now she is finding she needs to rethink a lot of the things she thought were OK.

Pictures with eyes in them?  They must go – that is not halal!  Down come several photos from the walls.

Meat killed improperly … that is easy!  She knew animals must be intentionally killed, not die of disease or accident, in order to be used for food.  She knew that the imam should pray over the animal as it is being killed in order for the meat to be halal.  She only bought halal meat from halal vendors. She felt she was OK there.

“But what about that chicken?” her neighbors asked.  It is processed in a Muslim factory, she thought surely it is OK. “How do you know each and every bird was prayed over as it was being killed in the processing plant?”

Oh no!  There is no way to verify for herself that the meat was halal according to this new standard!  “If you are careful to keep halal but you sell meat that may not be halal as if it were halal, more punishment will be dumped on your head!”  Her neighbors have her terrified, she must change her approach to preparing chicken.  The vendor is her longtime friend but she will need to buy chicken from another place now, probably buy it live, have it killed by a local imam and pluck and dress it herself.  She has been committing this unwitting sin for years. She will change how she does things and endure the punishment after death.

Pray for “Lucy”, ask that the Father will open her eyes to His Grace. Ask that he will pour out His Grace on her whole family.  Ask that He will continue to use the testimony of the numerous foreign and local Christians that persistently share Truth with her and her family to bring them into His Kingdom.