²³ You are certainly free to eat food offered to idols if you want to; it’s not against God’s laws to eat such meat, but that doesn’t mean that you should go ahead and do it. It may be perfectly legal, but it may not be best and helpful. ²⁴ Don’t think only of yourself. Try to think of the other fellow, too, and what is best for him.

²⁵ Here’s what you should do. Take any meat you want that is sold at the market. Don’t ask whether or not it was offered to idols, lest the answer hurt your conscience. ²⁶ For the earth and every good thing in it belongs to the Lord and is yours to enjoy.

²⁷ If someone who isn’t a Christian asks you out to dinner, go ahead; accept the invitation if you want to. Eat whatever is on the table and don’t ask any questions about it. Then you won’t know whether or not it has been used as a sacrifice to idols, and you won’t risk having a bad conscience over eating it. ²⁸ But if someone warns you that this meat has been offered to idols, then don’t eat it for the sake of the man who told you, and of his conscience. ²⁹ In this case his feeling about it is the important thing, not yours.

But why, you may ask, must I be guided and limited by what someone else thinks? ³⁰ If I can thank God for the food and enjoy it, why let someone spoil everything just because he thinks I am wrong? ³¹ Well, I’ll tell you why. It is because you must do everything for the glory of God, even your eating and drinking. ³² So don’t be a stumbling block to anyone, whether they are Jews or Gentiles or Christians. ³³ That is the plan I follow, too. I try to please everyone in everything I do, not doing what I like or what is best for me but what is best for them, so that they may be saved.