The discourse presented in this episode elucidates the profound implications of dietary choices, particularly as illustrated in Daniel 1, through a Taoist Christian lens. The salient point underscores the notion that our eating habits not only reflect our personal values but also bear significant weight in our spiritual and cultural contexts. Joshua Noel delves into the narrative of four Hebrew youths who opted for a vegetarian diet during their exile, prompting introspection on the motivations behind their choices and the broader themes of solidarity and identity. The discussion further probes the intersection of faith and culture, urging listeners to consider how their food practices may resonate with or challenge the prevailing societal norms. Ultimately, this episode serves as a call to mindfulness in our consumption, advocating for a harmonious relationship with both the divine and the diverse communities we inhabit.
The discourse initiates with a profound reflection on the words of Jesus and Lao Tzu, setting the thematic stage of the podcast, which endeavors to harmonize Christian and Taoist ideologies. Joshua Noel, the host, identifies himself as a Taoist Christian, committed to seeking wisdom from both faith traditions. The episode delves into the Book of Daniel, particularly Chapter 1, which serves as a narrative introduction to the themes of exile and divine favor. Noel discusses the peculiar choice of four Hebrew boys to abstain from the royal diet, examining the implications of their vegetarianism within the broader context of their captivity in Babylon. He articulates various scholarly perspectives on the authorship and interpretation of Daniel, presenting a view that sees the text as a compilation of folk tales rather than a straightforward autobiography. The episode underscores the complexity of the narratives and the significance of understanding their chiastic structure, which, according to Noel, reveals the core message of the book. He emphasizes that the stories, while fantastical, are rich with moral and spiritual lessons relevant to contemporary society, especially regarding issues of identity, belonging, and resistance against injustice. Noel advocates for a nuanced understanding of dietary choices as acts of solidarity with marginalized communities, drawing parallels between the ancient text and modern ethical dilemmas.
Takeaways:
In Daniel 1, the significance of dietary choices is highlighted, reflecting deeper spiritual implications.
The story of Daniel emphasizes the importance of standing in solidarity with marginalized communities.
Joshua Noel discusses how modern eating habits shape and reflect our cultural and spiritual identities.
The exploration of Daniel's vegetarianism reveals a profound connection between food and personal integrity.
Lao Tzu's philosophy and Christian teachings intersect in the way we approach our eating practices.
The episode urges listeners to consider the impact of their food choices on those less fortunate around them.
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Jesus once said, it is not what enters the mouth that defiles the person, but what comes out of the mouth this defiles the person. Lao Tzu once wrote, the sage attends to the belly and not to what he sees.
This is be living water, a show that seeks to find a way to imitate Christ that's beneficial to all and in conflict with none. In our modern context.
I am Joshua Noll and I am a self proclaimed Taoist Christian who seeks to be true to himself and true to Christ to the best of all of my abilities. I may not always be the smartest in the room. I'm not usually.
But I am committed to be honest about who I am and to look to both Christian and Taoist traditions for wisdom and sages, pastors, theologians, for wisdom from sages, pastors, theologians and just smarter people who have come and paved the way before me. Daniel 1 introduces the book of Daniel, the book about exile and lasting victory with God.
It discusses how four Hebrew children decided to go vegetarian for some really unknown reason. That chapter one is just these kids want to be vegetarians now. What it really it's fascinating. So the Book of Daniel as a whole is just weird.
Very weird. Especially thinking about how I do and how I think I would still say probably a majority of scholars.
There is a lot more debate on the Book of Daniel than some other books.
People like my friend Christian and maybe more what you what other some people might consider like traditional thought, like Southern Baptist, Pentecostal kind of thoughts are. I think Catholics might be torn on this one too.
The more traditional is guy named Daniel wrote the Book of Daniel about himself, three of his friends and the prophecies at the end. People like me and many scholars, I won't say all will read Daniel more as if it's a collection.
So these were like folk tales that were told while the Israelites were in exile in Babylon. We talked some about that history last time. Right.
And these stories about these children and these heroes who stood up to all the various kings and apparently lived like over a hundred years on that time. Which just again, not realistic. But it's fine. But it's fine.
The thing that's interesting though, so the way it's structured, it appears as though the stories in chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 are meant to be what's called a chiastic structure. With chapter seven, which is the first of the prophecies.
Again, I think Daniel7 is actually the purpose of the whole book and we will eventually get to that. But the way 2 through 7 are set up is a chiastic structure where even though I think 7 is the main point. So you see a lot of seven reflected in two.
This is how chiastic structures work in the bible. Old Hebrew writings 72 will reflect each other. 3, 6 Are going to reflect each other.
4 And 5 are going to kind of be the center of what was the point of the narratives. And the point of the narratives is going to reveal. And this is why the whole book is weird, because that's how castic structure works.
But that's just a small part of the book of Daniel. Because you have chapter one, you have chapters eight through 12. I think that chiastic structure helps us see in four and five.
What was the point of Daniel seven. Daniel one serves as an introduction to the book and especially an introduction to the narratives.
And chapters 8 through 12 are further prophecies that I think are supposed to help us understand better chapter seven. It's going to be different aspects of what happened in seven are kind of elucidated through these other prophecies later on in the book.
I would say that all of these were probably separate. And that's why you see so many other stories of Daniel that weren't included in the book of Daniel that are still written pretty similarly.
But I think there was a redactor who came along and compiled the story together into kind of like a anthology that we have today. Daniel 7 being the main point still, I believe. But you need chapter one to understand the narratives, to understand chapter seven.
Chapter one is so weird because it serves as an introduction. It tells you a little bit of the history. What's going on? Where does this book take place again? We talked about that last episode a little bit.
And then it goes into telling a random story about these kids wouldn't eat meat. Hold up. We've read the Torah. We know old Hebrew law. They were allowed to eat meat. What are they doing here?
They weren't seemingly weren't denying the food specifically because of old Torah law. There was probably some other reason. And that's where eatological debates.
People aren't really sure why Daniel and the other Hebrew kids decided to refuse to meet popular especially in American Christianity. You'll have like a Daniel fast where we're fasting from certain types of foods and there's no basis in the Bible for a Daniel fast.
I don't think there's anything wrong with it necessarily. There's just not a basis for before that. Like it wasn't like God told them to restrain from certain things.
They were Just like, no, we're not going to do that. That's what the story is about, them just refusing. And I'll talk about why I think that happens as this episode goes along.
I just kind of want to give you a backdrop of what Daniel Chapter one really is. And I'm going to read a chapter like a good Evangelical, which I technically am, you know, part of the elc.
EVA Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, even though I don't like using the term evangelical because how some people have twisted it these days. But leave that alone for today.
So Daniel one again, I think there's a lot of various short stories, folktales, kind of like comic books, like when you get like a graphic novel and just some different comic books, mostly from one writer, but maybe a couple other are thrown in to make the story feel complete. That's kind of how Daniel came to be. And again, it really centers around food for some reason.
And this intro is going to help us tell us who the characters are, what's the history behind it, set the stage for the fact that these are the Hebrew people in exile, what their exile was like, what they were experiencing, and then kind of tell us how at least the redactor or author of Daniel believes that God's people should behave while in a foreign land, a place that doesn't feel familiar to them.
The story places the rest of the book in context of history, showing us what historical events was happening at the time concerning Egypt, Israel's exile, Babylonian takeovers, etc. And all that's really important, but not more important than the message. I don't want us to get so focused on, oh well, he thinks it was a redactor.
This person thinks it was an author, or this is historically when it happened. How does that make. There's a message in this book that I think is important that God has to share for all of us.
And as a Taoist Christian, I think there's a lot of message of like, what does it mean to be true to myself in context where I'm being told that I can't be true to myself? What does it mean to be in harmony with others when others are being persecuted? Even my own people are being persecuted in front of me.
I think again, this relates to our own time, especially in American culture right now, because we do see a lot of people being subjugated in our country, being treated as less than being marginalized in our own country. And what does it mean to stand with them?
I think for Christians it's a little weird because Some people identify as Christians, but are kind of more this like Christian nationalists. We should have the power. Yeah, These people were putting them down because they're breaking the law. And that's what God would want somehow.
And I don't understand how that's Christianity. Look at what's happening to people, even people who are breaking the law. I think that's okay. That just doesn't feel very Christian to me.
For those who are more in my camp who are like, yo, the Christian thing to do is to help the marginalized, to feed the hungry, to house those with no home who are coming into our country, even if they're coming legally. We want to do something to help them.
We live in a country right now where those Christians who have mindset like my own might also feel a little out of place, a little like a fish out of water, which I'll be talking about soon on Another podcast, this MacGeekology, when I'm going to be reviewing Luca, one of Pixar's best. That's. That's for another day.
Great fish out of water story, maybe a little too on the nose, but I like it for now that we are going to talk about Daniel 1, and I'm actually going to read it.
And I'm reading out of a physical book, so you might see here some page turns and looks, you know, noises you don't usually get out of podcasts that I'm on because I try to edit really well, but again, trying to be authentic to myself and authentic to the scripture. I like when it comes to certain kinds of books like the Bible, I like having a physical book.
And when it comes to this text in particular, I think it's important to read a version translation that was worked on by actual Hebrew scholars who are from the culture that this book helped bring about. So I'm reading out a physical copy of the New Jerusalem Bible.
And the New Jerusalem Bible, it does have New Testament too, which are really interesting, but mostly Hebrew scholars. And the focus of it wasn't to get word for word exact, but rather to get the type of literature more right.
So like the poems rhyme the way that it was meant to rhyme, if it was meant to rhyme or structured the way that it was meant to be structured, the chiastic structure is easier to spot. So it's more on format than it is word for word literalism.
But I think this translation is incredible and I think it's really important to use for books like Daniel, Proverbs, Psalms, and again, if we're going to be Trying to talk about being authentic. I think it's important to use translation that was worked on from Hebrew scholars when talking about the Book of Daniel.
So all that said, let's start the reading, pause some along the way to just kind of emphasize certain points. But again, the beginning, we're really focusing on the history. Where does this story take place? In the third year, the reign of Jeho Kohen. Jehoiakim.
Sorry, I'm not one of those guys who's good at being confident when reading words he doesn't know. Jehoiakim, King of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, marched on Jerusalem and besieged it.
The Lord let Jehoiakim, King of Judah, fall into his power, as well as some of the vessels belonging to the temple of God. These he took away to Shinar, putting the vessels into the treasury of his own gods.
From the Israelites, the king ordered Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to bring a certain number of boys of royal or noble descent.
They had to be without any physical defect of good appearance, versed in every branch of wisdom, well informed, discerning, suitable for service at the royal court. Athanes was to teach them to speak and write the language of the Chaldeans.
The king assigned them a daily allowance of food and wine from the royal table. They were to receive an education lasting for three years after that, after which they would enter the royal service. I'll stop here.
This kind of like verse 6ish. Again, it's not structured with like verse numbers in front of it, because that takes you out of the reading.
It's structured to read how it's supposed to read. I think it's important. So we see the history. They're being taken to exile and it's saying that these aren't just normal Israel children.
They didn't just say, ah, these kids. No, they went. They tried to find the best of the best.
And I think part of that is going to justify the folkiness of the folk tales, you know, where you're like, wait a minute. No ordinary person would sit there and be thrown into light. So, yeah, these aren't ordinary kids.
These are supposed to be the brightest, the well educated, clean, you know, not diseased children. It also serves that narrative purpose, but it also shows historically some important things.
The Babylonians, typically, when they took people hostage, would take some of their brightest people and kind of teach them and almost doctrinate them, indoctrinate them, believe in their God, to believe in their way, that kind of thing.
And we already see they're being offered food from the royal table and that's going to be important, seeing how things are being brought into the temple of another gods to get this idol worship themes brought up in the theme of the royal table. I think both of those are going to be important when we think about why were these kids refusing the king's meat. But more on that in a bit.
For now, we're going to keep reading. The chief eunuch gave them other names. These are going to be the Charliean names.
Colleen, Daniel, Belchezar, Naya, Shadrach, Mishael, Meshech, and Azariah is now Abednego. Daniel, who was determined not to incur pollution by food and wine from the royal table, begged the chief, I don't want to pause right there too.
The way that's worded, I think, is an attempt to get us to interpret it certain way. It's not that clear cut when you read it in the original language, but I'm going to move on. Begged the chief eunuch, to spare him this defilement.
God allowed Daniel to receive faithful love and sympathy from the chief eunuch. But the eunuch warned Daniel, I am afraid of my lord the king.
He has assigned you food and drink, and if he sees you looking thinner in the face than the other boys of your age, my head will be in danger with the king because of you.
To the guard assigned to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah by the chief eunuch, Daniel then said, please allow your servants attend a 10 days trial during which we are given only vegetables to eat and water to drink. You can then compare our looks to those of the boys who eat the king's food. Go by what you see and treat your servants accordingly.
The man agreed to do what they asked and put them on 10 days trial. When the 10 days were over, they looked better and fatter than any of the boys who had eaten their allowance from the royal table.
So the guard withdrew their allowance of food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables. To these four boys, God gave knowledge and skill in every aspect of literature and learning.
Daniel had also the gift of interpreting every kind of vision and dream. Pause real quick here too. I like that this story.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, as most of us know them, are still referred to as Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, even after they were given their new Babylonian names.
Part of that is because in chapter two, and this is crazy Daniel, the book of Daniel goes from being read In Hebrew, if you're reading the original language to, I think it's like chapter two, verse four, it switches to Aramaic. And then most of the stories, the narratives are told in Aramaic. And that's meant to kind of show even physically from the format.
I think the media kind of informs the message sometimes is that even the medium itself, the text itself is in captivity. It starts as Hebrew, very Hebrew book, and then it goes to Aramaic, the language that the Babylonians would have spoke. Yeah, that's really cool.
But we'll talk more about that if we get to chapter two eventually. Because, you know, the way I'm doing this, we have no idea when or what I'm going to talk about.
But for now, you know, still doing Daniel Les Miserable, we're talking more about this. But also, I want to mention those who do the Daniel fast.
Typically what I've seen is they're doing it for blessings of the new year or something for themselves or their family. Whereas here, the fast, especially when reading through this translation, you see that what they were doing wasn't really a fast.
They dietary restrictions that they chose was more of a refusal of the king, refusal of the power.
So I think if you were to do a Daniel fast, which again, not biblical, never says do fast, never uses the word fast here, it should be more of a not praying for the king, but rather praying for the people, praying for those to be strong enough to say no to your president, to say no to unjust laws, to say no to unjustice, going around you to stand up for what's right in the face of government and anything else. Because God's law, God's way, God's justice should be higher than that. That I would say is the way.
And that's, you know, Amanda would like that, and I think Lao Tzu would probably like that too. But that's kind of what they're getting at here.
So if you're going to do a Daniel fast, I don't think it should be in favor of the president or yourself or blessings for a new year. It should be prayer that you and those around you are strong enough to stand up for justice even in the face of unjust government and unjust.
Let's finish reading chapter one here. When the time stipulated by the king for the boys to be presented to him came round, the chief eunuch presented them to Nebuchadnezzar.
The king conversed with them, and among all the boys found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, wrong page, great content and Azariah, so they be, and Azariah, So they became members of the king's court.
And on whatever point of wisdom or understanding he might question them, he found them 10 times better than all the magicians and soothsayers in the entire kingdom. In the entire kingdom. Daniel remained there until the first year of King Cyrus.
Again, this is putting it in context historically, from Nebuchadnezzar all the way to Cyrus, who is the Persian king. And again, that's where I'm like, ah, believe me, Daniel lived that old. That's hard. But through God, anything's possible.
That's not the meaning of that verse. But, you know, I do think God can make anything possible.
He could have prolonged Daniel's life that long, just in that particular time and age seems unlikely. The way these stories are told makes me feel like this is more than that, more like folk tales.
The way that Daniel's story so perfectly in many places parallels the story of Joseph. Daniel would be like a Joseph figure, if you will.
If you're reading it this time and understanding literary tropes of the time when this was written, you'd be like, oh, Daniel's a Joseph story. Knowing in our own context, knowing about Christ. You know, I believe, kind of like Lewis, that sometimes the truth can have two meanings.
The truth that was actually given and then a greater truth that they couldn't have possibly known could also be there. And I think that's kind of what's happening here with this, with Daniel as a whole, as a character.
I think he, at the time this was written, was meant to remind them of Joseph, good old Joseph.
But I think very clearly, in context of what we know now of Jesus and what God did through Jesus on the cross, and they're then three days later, raising him from the grave, defeating hell, death itself, I think we could see there's more to Daniel, that maybe he's also a Christ figure, but wasn't written that way. He was written to be a Joseph figure. Anyway, that's not what this story is about. I apologize. Got a little sidetracked. Adhd.
Being true to myself, being true to that adhd. Guys, I do want to say there's a few different sources I'm using when I talk about these books.
Primarily, I'll be pulling from Ernest C. Lucas's commentary on the Book of Daniel, as well as John E. Goldingay's commentary, which is volume 30 of the World Biblical Commentary. If you're looking for sources to follow along with me as I do this, it'll be Spotty. I'm going again between Daniel and Les Miserable.
So it's not like the next episode will absolutely be Daniel 2. I really don't know, guys, but once you guys kind of know what sources I'm pulling from.
I've had Ernest E. Lucas on another podcast that I did with the whole church podcast. I might link that below. And a lot of stuff I agree with him. There's some stuff that I'm like, ah, do a little pushback.
You know, we don't all see eye to eye, especially scholars and people who aren't scholars, like myself. You know, I love the Bible, but I don't have a PhD or anything like that.
So I'm an enthusiast, I would say a very well educated enthusiast, because I have gone to college for Bible. I just don't have a doctorate. And I have a whole bookshelf of, like, commentaries and stuff. Like, I care about it.
I just don't want to equate myself to, like, an actual scholar.
That said, man, this story is so fascinating to me because what a weird way to start off a book that's supposedly about, like, end times and prophecies and craziness. And you're gonna start off with, like, Israelites were taken captive.
These kids were chosen because, you know, they were pretty and they were smart and they didn't. They wanted to be vegetarians. Like, okay, all right. That's how we're starting this thing off, about end times and dragons and stuff later, right? Yep.
Food. Food choices. That's going to come first here. What dietary restrictions are you following? I also want to say what's cool to me.
Throughout the Bible, even in the Torah, you'll see dietary laws change from time to time, a lot more seldomly.
So it's interesting that in this time and in this context, Daniel has a different dietary restriction that he feels that he's obligated to adhere to in this time than necessarily what the Torah gave. I don't think he's breaking any of the Torah laws, but I think it's interesting he's adding to it for the time that he was in.
And I think that's the thing we see all throughout. God always is like, hey, yeah, the laws I'm giving you, it's for a specific purpose in a specific time and place.
When I think when Jesus comes and then you see Peter and Paul and the vision they're given, it's like, actually, you should eat these things. Peter's told in the New Testament, it's good to eat meat. It's good to do this because it's going to allow you to better commune with the Romans.
It's going to allow you more to reach the Gentiles by not restricting yourself to these laws that your soul doesn't depend on. But then Paul says in a point, he's like, if eating meat offends my neighbor, I'm not going to do it.
So different context actually should change what dietary restrictions we put on ourselves, what we eat, how we eat, how, who we choose to eat with. It's actually really important. It says something about our priorities.
It says something about what we think is important to us and to the God we claim to follow. Here is where we get some. We get some interesting things here. Well, first I want to. I want to go back up.
So they learn from the same books that the other people, the Chaldeans, the Babylonians took and trained all the kids on the same books. But for some reason the Hebrew people learned it better. And I don't think it's because vegetarians are smarter than anyone else or anything.
I think it's just showing God's favor. You also see that God allowed Israel to be taken care. You use a lot of this allow or God this happened, or God made them smarter.
You have a lot of questions of God's sovereignty, especially when we get later into those prophecies, is God sovereign? This is something challenging for people like me, who probably are more like an open theist, where I'm like, I don't think the future is set.
I don't think that God already won. You know, as much as I disagree with Tom woods several times on the whole Church podcast, check some of those episodes out.
I do think there's something to this whole, like, no, God gave us freedom. Galatians 5:1 is for freedom. He set us free.
I don't think God's trying to pull the dreams and control us because one, that's not very loving and two, the world has too much hate, too much awful stuff in it for me to think that all loving God is completely in control. And yet you see stories like Daniel where it's kind of framed that way. And I think it's framed that way because it adds comfort.
It allows us to feel that stability. But also, as uncomfortable as it might make me, I think there is still some truth to it.
Again, I don't think that God's pulling all the strings in his completely capable of just mind controlling us all. We're not like mindless robots. But I think there's something to it. You see where God allowed them to be taken up.
That makes me think that God could have probably worked with somebody that maybe was able to stop it. But the Israelites were choosing not to work with God. So God did not control them. I think that was what was happening here.
God is not controlling them. They did not work with God, so they got held captive. I think there's a importance of participation with God if we're going to be doing God's work.
We see that Daniel and them did an action first. They chose not to take of the king's food. We'll discuss why that might be in a little bit. But they were with God and God blessed them.
We see the eunuch, his heart was open. He's not a Hebrew person. He's not one of the people of God, but he was open to showing compassion.
And God worked with that willingness in the eunuch's heart. The eunuch, you know, Nebuchadnezzar's secretary. Know why he didn't have a lady secretary? Because Babylonians were into that, though.
You know, in my mind, I always think of, like, older civilizations as just being more like, this is a woman's job. But no, women didn't really. They were staying home, treated more like property. They weren't really given jobs.
So eunuchs were the ones given these kind of jobs that. I'm glad we live in a world now where there are.
We're not just making people eunuchs to be slaves and we're not treating women as property and all that. But when I study these old cultures, sometimes I get confused. I'm like, wait a minute, are you treating women better or worse by doing this?
I'm not really sure. That aside, Sorry, side tangents galore. The sovereignty question is really important.
I don't think we have a solid answer, but that's just how I'm viewing what God's doing in this chapter. I think we need to get to the food stuff. Why did Daniel and his friends choose not to participate with the king's food and wine?
The way that the new Jerusalem Bible frames it very much sounds like they didn't want to take from the king's portion. And I think there's some merit to. When you're looking into the original language, you're like, okay, that might be what's going on.
But also, again, remember that throwaway line at the beginning of things being brought into the Babylonians, God's temples. So the two main thoughts amongst the scholars that I've read come to yours that I'm digging in either.
Maybe the king's food and wine was once sacrificed to their gods, and it has something to do with idol worship. And there's a lot about idol worship in the book of Daniel that. That fits. That makes a lot of sense to me. The other one is it was solidarity.
Daniel and the other boys here were taken out from their own people who were not being offered the king's food. They were being offered crumbs. They were being mistreated, marginalized, treated terribly.
And that might be why Daniel M. Said, no, my people don't get the king's food. I am one with my people. I also will not be eating the king's meat. And I think that's powerful. I think both are powerful.
I don't know which one might be more accurate. I think it is important that we don't idolize other God.
We don't participate in things that show that we don't participate in things that were meant for ungodly purposes. I like that.
I really like this solidarity bit of their choosing to eat only vegetables because they know that the other Hebrew people are not getting to have the king's meat and the king's wine. And, man, that speaks to me, how do I choose to eat? Am I sitting here eating the best food I can, knowing that AIs is no threat to me?
All the things that Trump's doing probably won't affect me. Knowing that there's people in the Middle east being killed, there are people taken off the streets unjustly in America.
It's hard for me to want to eat the king's food. Now, that doesn't mean I want to eat worse food and, you know, act like I'm poor when I'm not? No, that's. That's not what I'm thinking.
But certain things, like Fourth of July, I'm going to eat a good American cheeseburger and hot dog, and I probably will still do this, but it's challenging. When I think about this story and the possibility of, like, what does solidarity mean?
Do I really want to just eat all American meals and yeehaw, go America. When America's acting the way it is, I don't think I do, but I do love a good cheeseburger. So that's where that gets hard.
But, you know, I think motives matter a lot. I go to a Mexican restaurant and I participate in whatever's going on. Am I trying to appropriate what's happening and belittling their culture?
Like, oh, isn't that cute? Or am I Trying to be in solidarity. Like, I want to experience this culture. I want to stand with you. I think that's. That's a possibility.
Maybe we take Taco Tuesday really serious because we want to stand with the Latino cult people who are being treated so poorly in our country. I think that's completely reasonable. That makes a lot of sense. I'm not saying we have to change our diets. I don't think that's the thing.
Like, I don't. I don't do docs. But I think it's important that we do consciously think about why am I eating what I'm eating.
Should I take the time to use my dietary habits to stay in solidarity with someone else? I think it's a good thing to do. If you can. Can I not see? You have to. But I like that that's what the Daniel and them were doing here.
And I think we can find ways to do that in our own time. Like, am I standing in solidarity? Am I turning a blind eye? Am I participating in celebrating the culture that's subjecting someone else?
I think those are the three main things. I don't know if there are other options.
It's easy to ignore what's happening in our country, what's happening around the world because of the administration of America and American government right now. It's easy to ignore it. If you're like me, lower middle class, live comfortable enough, not in a big city.
So, you know, probably not going to have to deal with the riots. It's easy. It's hard to say, you know what? Take Taco Tuesday real serious because I want to be there with Latino culture.
And then I'm not going to go to like some restaurant that's like all fancied up. Maybe I'm going to find Taco Truck where I know there's people who are part of this culture who feel the burden of being marginalized in our country.
I'm going to go eat with them. I'm going to talk to them, I'm going to befriend them. There's no way to make. There is not a better way to make friends than food.
Beer and wine and participating in meal. Culinary arts aren't just an art. Food is life. And when we participate in food of another culture, you're participating in that culture.
You can decide whether or not you're appropriating or belittling or do you want to truly participate? Find people, meet them, talk to them. I have a neighbor who offered me some tacos off their grill last year. It was phenomenal.
I wish I was more social person. I actually feel a little bit guilty about this. I wish I want talk to them more, learn more about them.
Being in solidarity is important and food is just such a good way of doing that. I do believe that at least partially the reason why Daniel then refused the king's food. Not because the Torah demanded it.
Torah does not demand the main vegetarians, but rather they were standing in solidarity. They were eating in solidarity with their people, with God's people. It's powerful, meaningful.
We don't really know for sure if that's why they were doing it, but I think it might have been. Now I mention we are reading Daniel alongside Les Miserable and mentioned several times.
One of my favorite characters in Les Miserables is just from the very beginning of the novel. I think he's also in the play, maybe in the movie, not sure. Bishop Muriel is incredible. He is the priest who allowed Jean Valjean to steal from him.
That said, Jean Valjean's whole life on the trajectory that it is with throughout the narrative. Which again, Les Misrel is just an incredible story. But you have this bishop in a world. Again, I want to pause.
Victor Hugo also wrote the Hanch back in Notre Dame. It's not like he wasn't critical of the church. He was a Catholic who was extremely critical of other Catholics.
He was extremely critical of world government and thought that there was something more. Again, we talked more about Victor Hugo. I won't just bore you with that, but I want you to understand he's not just saying, oh, church is good.
When he tells the beginning of Les Miserables, there's a lot of characters in the church who are just awful, who are just taking advantage of people, who are treating their power and status they get from being ministers, like a privilege. Like they were like, oh, yeah, hey, I get this. I want the power. I want this privilege that I get for being a man of God. But Bishop Muriel, who.
One of my biggest inspirations for my own life, truly. And I'll never live up to one of the coolest things he does. Early on, they're looking for people, for a place to put hospitalized people.
These people who need healing, they need place to stay while they're recuperating from battle wounds, whatever sickness, disease. I don't remember the exact detail. Sorry. And they're like, there's no place for them. And Bishop Muriel straight up is like, what about right here?
Like, that's your bishop's residence. You get this nice fancy house because you're A bishop. That's not a place for them.
He just offers up his house, these people, so they could use his nice bishop residence that he got for earning his way to be a bishop. Where he leaned while he went and got a lowly home. He lived amongst the poor. He hung out with those who were suffering, who were needy.
That's where he spent his time. Because he gave up his nice fancy home to the sick. That's someone I want to be like. That's someone I want to model myself after.
That's someone who found a way to live in harmony. He's not clinging on to the items and material of this world. Which, again, that's more Buddhist ideas even of, like, not holding too tight.
Do our things here. Because none of it, none of it really matters. Learning to let go. Why Bishop Mule wanted to live in harmony.
He wanted to see everyone thrive, to have love. This is the way the Tao again, he's Christian bishop in a world where they weren't all good, but this one was. Why?
Because he chose to live in solidarity with those who were belittled or needy, suffering. Why did Daniel and his friends choose not to eat from the king's table? It may have had something to do with idols. I want to keep that open.
I'm not saying that this is the reason, but I do think. And then this translation really speaks to it. Strong chance.
They were standing in solidarity with the other Hebrew people saying, if you don't get to eat from the king's table, I won't either. This year, I think, hey, let's super celebrate Cinco de Mayo, which I know that's not really the one that they celebrate.
Find holidays from our Mexican neighbors, our Puerto Rican neighbors, our Salvadorian neighbors. Let's celebrate some of their holidays this year and maybe even put aside some of our home. I'm not saying it has to be fourth of July.
That's a big one. Family gets together. I'm all for family.
Let's find ways that our eating habits can be more in tune with those who are suffering, who feel like they've been belittled and marginalized. Even if you don't think they've really been marginalized, they're being treated the same as everyone else.
If they feel like it, though, we could still stand in solidarity by our eating choices. Lao Tzu spoke a little bit more to this I don't want to get into. Because food isn't. Yeah, it can be a way of solidarity. It can be a form of identity.
You know, Granny's chicken For me, that's part of what it means to be part of my family. You know, Granny's chicken, you know, Annette turkey and dumplings. But there's these foods that I'm like, that's part of what it means to be a gnoll.
Part of what it means to be someone who lives in the south is bacon, eggs, gravy, right? Like, probably grits, but I don't like grits. Sweet tea. That's the thing. It's part of what it means to be someone who lives where I live.
I think it's important to understand how impactful food and drink is to the culture we live in and then make conscious. Like, be intentional about our choices. If meat offends your neighbor, don't eat meat.
If, you know, I'd say, if I have someone over and they're allergic to something, don't serve that food. Like, that seems pretty. Pretty obvious. Christian, good friend of mine, he comes over now, I've learned this the hard way.
I'm not gonna get to cook a lot of vegetables. I probably am gonna cook more meats and cheese and stuff, because that's what he eats.
If I have someone over who's a vegetarian, I know how to make some good ratatouille. We're gonna eat that. Maybe we'll eat some potato. Egg rotten. I'm not gonna do what offends my neighbor. I'm gonna be conscious of my food choices.
Lao Tzu talks a lot about food and the Tao Te Ching. One of the things he says I somewhat disagree on. We've talked about this on another show, but I guessed it.
On Mark Flowers podcast, Growing Grace, But Longitude talks about the five tastes, and in it, he basically is saying, only have one flavor at a time. You know, I don't agree with that. I think some flavors really contrast really well and make some awesome meals together.
But what he was saying, because he also talks about coloring and other stuff in the same way, he's trying to say, just keep it simple. Keep it simple, stupid. You know, the whole KISS acronym of, like, hey, don't overwhelm your taste buds.
It's okay for a carrot to taste like a carrot, man. It's okay for peas. It tastes like peas. I don't need to taste like garlic, salt and other stuff. I like this stuff.
That's where I disagree a little bit. But I understand this concept of simplicity, of learning to let things be.
When I think of the identity we have in food, I also think, like, let's consider what's natural to the area I live in, you know, I live in the Carolinas. Blackberries are natural. I incorporate that in some of my foods when I eat.
Not all the time, because I really like meat, but, you know, I think it is important that we get local produce, that we think about local food and we can. I used to. I haven't done this in a while. There's a butcher nearby in Lancaster where I can get food more locally sourced.
And it puts me more in tune with my own community, which is important for me. I'm going to find harmony.
I need to think about these things, make conscious decisions, intentional decisions about how to be in harmony with the world around me, the nature around me, the people around me, those marginalized, those who are just working in their mom and pop shops, their locally owned restaurants. How do I support these things in my decisions on how I eat? I think all of that is important. Even if I'm like, I want to.
Sometimes it's good to have multiple flavors, man. But one of the other things he talks about, I think really highlights the mentality that he's getting behind.
You know, it's not necessarily just about food. He also talks about, like, travel. So don't go travel. Because then you're like, oh, look, I did England, I did Spain, I did whatever.
Like, hey, don't travel. Be tuned where you are. Get to know where you live, where you were born, the best that you can be in harmony there. Don't just go to places.
Be like, I went here as like a souvenir and a mark of pride. Like, who needs the pride from that? Now, again, don't always agree with Dallas, stuff like that. Traveling can be good.
But I think when you do travel, eat the foods of that place, truly experience the place, don't just go to say that you went as bragging rights. Go to experience something new. And again, this gets behind the literal words. And what was the purpose behind it?
I think Lao Tzu is really trying to get people to say, hey, know where you are. Be one where you are. Find that harmony. When you go somewhere else, don't just do it as a bragging thing, like, find harmony.
Find a way to truly experience what's there. To be at one with those people from that culture who live in that place. If you go to the south, drink sweet tea.
If you go into California, you're probably gonna have to eat some avocados. If you're gonna go to Maryland, you're gonna have to eat some crab. Experience what makes the place the place.
And don't Just go to the bragging rights. If you can just stay home, that's fine.
It's fine to just stay where you are, to eat the food from where you live, to know the people in your own community. That's what Lao Tzu was trying to say, and I think that's important. I also think there's a way to do traveling still stays true to the concept.
I want to bring up one example of this, too, that I love. So Parks and Reich. I love the show, especially because of Ron Swanson, and I can get too much into all the characters. Ron Swanson is great.
Libertarian, likes meat. He's great. They get a new guy in the workplace who is vegetarian, and he's like, I can make a better burger than you without meat.
And Ron's like, okay. He took him up on this bet, right? And the guy's making bean burgers, adding all these seasonings, doing all this stuff, makes this exquisite meal.
And the judges are all like, oh, that was great. That was great. Ron gets buns, gets meat, cooks meat, puts meat on bun burger. And everyone's like, oh, yeah, no, that was better.
Because sometimes it was. It was hilarious. But, like, there's a point to it, and I think it's. It's accurate. Sometimes less is more.
It's okay for a burger to be a burger and not have to be, like, a garlic black bean, something like a burger could be a burger sometimes, guys. And, you know, it's coming from a guy who. I love going to a place called Mug Shots in Alabama, Louisiana. Those kind of place.
And it has, like, peanut butter and jelly burger, and it has a breakfast burger. I love that stuff. It's fun sometimes. But when I'm at home cooking for myself, I don't even like condiments. I want my burger to be a burger.
And I'm not saying that that's super important. I don't think that's a super spiritual practice or anything.
But I do think it's important for us to remember, keep things simple, be intentional about our food choices, find a way to be at harmony with those around us.
And again, if there's a way we can make intentional choices with our food that shows that we're in solidarity with the marginalized, with the suffering, with those in need. Let's do that. Caspo need is this place in Denver, Colorado, that's famous because of South Park. It's amazing. The shutdown.
During COVID it was reopened by the creators of South Park. And one of the things that they did.
I really love they hired people from Latina countries who were genuinely able to represent Latin culture in this restaurant that's also kind of just a souvenir, you know, place for tourists. But I like that they did intentional treating these people well, paying them well. That's incredible. And that's what it's all about.
Like, when we go out to eat, be authentic. Don't go to a place that's just a gimmick. When you're eating at home, maybe try to use a few more local foods, produce meat, whatever.
And when we're celebrating with our food for holidays or whatever else, think about, what is it we're really celebrating? What is it that we're saying we're okay with when we take this food? Am I okay with what America's doing around?
And is my celebrating Memorial Day showing that I'm okay with it, or is it just like trying to be a family? I think it's important to really think about our intentions.
Am I taking the time to participate in Latin culture, knowing what people are going through who are marginalized in my country today? Am I taking the time to eat food or just like Middle east foods, like Lebanon, Lebanese food is great.
Knowing what the American government is doing to those people overseas, I think it's important that we do decide to participate in these cultures when we can. Not just to say, oh, look, I hate Mexican, but rather be like, we got to know this culture a little bit better.
People a little bit better in my community who are experiencing real pain, suffering, fear. Food is a powerful, powerful thing when we're intentional about it, like Daniel and his friends were. So hope you enjoy, Daniel.
One in my food rants for the day, guys. You know, I. I love food. I'm passionate about it. So I probably went a little bit longer than usual. That's okay. I don't know what will be next.
Probably do some more Les Miserable stuff. We get into more other things, but, you know, we'll see.
I forgot to do a slide with the three takeaway questions and a point of meditation, but I'm going to tell it to you guys. So if you're just listening to audio, it's the same. If you're on the video, just listen a little closer. Maybe turn closed capture on if you need.
If you need it. Three takeaway questions at one point of meditation today. How can I incorporate more local foods into my cooking? Pretty simple.
How can I choose to eat or fast in solidarity with those who feel marginalized or belittled in the culture I live in? Number three and this goes back to the Hebrew children being wiser than the others and all that. Where does true wisdom come from?
So again, how can I incorporate more local foods into my cooking? How can we eat or fast in solidarity with those marginalized in the culture I live in? Where does true wisdom come from? Those are your questions.
Your point of meditation Today I want you to listen to some music from a different culture so you can kind of learn to be more adapt to that. Whether it's Latin culture, Lebanese, whatever. Listen to music from another culture while you're meditating.
Try to really feel at one with these people and be intentional if you know someone to speak to and get to know people in your community better from these communities alright guys, rather than providing with any clear answers or instructions on what to do with your life, how to find wisdom, any of that, I hope this conversation has instead helped you to struggle with and ponder how to best be true to yourself as a unique individual and be true to Christ as the true source of all life. Remember, we are all to be water, beneficial to all, in conflict with none.
We are called to be Christ, loving everyone, laying down our own lives for others.
Thank you all for joining me in my own struggles to love myself, others and God better and I hope this has encouraged you to continue to be living water. Sam. Sa.
