Peanut Butter and Salmonella

I've always said that George Washington Carver is my favorite scientist of all times. Besides seeking God's wisdom for everything he did, he is generally given credit for inventing the absolute best food in the world - peanut butter. (Actually George Bayle is recoginized as first person to sell the stuff )I love peanut butter so much that I will sit down with a jar and spoon and eat to my heart's content. I'm pretty picky about my peanut butter though. There is only one brand that I will eat like that - Peter Pan Reduced Fat Crunchy. For those of you wondering, I have received no compensation for this endorsement.

Imagine my dismay last week whenI read about the salmonella contamination in my favorite brand of peanut butter. I quickly emailed the story to my wife who checked all our peanut butter jars. Every jar we had, including the off brand, came from the infected lot. Interesting thing is that we have eaten out of every jar and no one has gotten sick. Since we have consumed a fair amount of the creamy crunchy nectar of heaven already, we are assuming that we have a safe batch to eat. We're going to finish it off anyway.

You are probably wondering how I'm going to relate peanut butter to our faith journeys. First, I do not recommend that any of you go out and buy peanut butter that MAY be infected with salmonella just because I did not seem to be affected. In fact, it may have been reckless and inappropriate for me to even tell you I'm okay doing it. If you have any misgivings about eating potentially lethal peanut butter, you should continue to avoid doing so.

Many times, we set standards of behavior on our lives once we begin a faith journey. Some behaviors are clear, others are not. What is permissible for one person on a faith journey will not be permissible for another. Back in the days of the Apostle Paul, the hot topic of debate was whether to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols.

These are waters that should be entered into very carefully. If there is something that you are hesitant to do because you don't think it is appropriate, then don't do it. If you think it is appropriate and have a clear conscience that it will not lead you away from God or down a path that eventually takes you to places clearly inappropriate, then go ahead. Either way, people must be careful about their decisions and how they judge people who disagree.

I'm one of those people who believes if it is questionable and causes more controversey than good things, I'm not doing it. But that's me. You have to decide how you want to handle your faith journey. Just remember that the decision is not one you should make alone and on your own counsel. You need to pray, search Scripture, and even ask the others around you on a faith journey.

While you search for those answers, enjoy some peanut butter. That's what I do.