Last week I read a chapter in Romans that took on new meaning for me in light of the Blood Type Diet. I know that when Paul wrote this letter, blood types hadn't been discovered. He didn't know about ABO types or transfusions, much less eating right for your type, so clearly he was not directly dealing with the diet. However, there are principles here about food and getting long with people that relate to the BTD.

"One man's faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him." Romans 14:2 When I read that I get so many mental pictures. I think about Rachel's vegetarian friends who viciously turned on her when she began to eat meat. I think of my daughter's classmates who think she is a kook because she does not eat hamburgers or bacon.

Though Paul doesn't know about Blood Types, he anticipates that different people will eat different things, and warns against judging people who don't eat the same way.

A little later in the same chapter Paul writes, "I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died."

There are very few natural foods that are avoid for everyone. Certain highly processed foods and chemical substitutes for food are good for nothing and no one. But food as God created it, is good. Dairy may not be good for a Type O, but it is beneficial for Bs. The beef that is so beneficial for me, is bad for Type As. It's not that the food is good or bad, but whether it is good or bad for my Type. How did Paul anticipate that so many hundreds of years before science proved it?

Yet today, people are still doing the same things that they did in Bible times. Bookstore shelves are full of books written by people who found that one food was really, really good or really, really bad for them. They create a whole program based on what worked for them and condemn anyone who dares to disagree.

My favorite part of the chapter is verses 17 -19: "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,…Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food.

I want to encourage people not tear them down. If I can share information about the Blood Type Diet and help someone have better health that is great! If I tell someone about the BTD and they reject the information, I let it go.

If I am a guest in someone's home, I don't overindulge in avoids, but neither do I ask them to change their menu just for me. When someone prepares a special meal, to reject their food (even if it is avoid) is to reject them. My relationship with people is more important than what I eat.