Boss ordering all Halal and Kosher for Christmas party

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According to the Catechism, the Muslims worship the God of Abraham anyway, so I’m not concerned if they dedicate their meat to God.
The Halal Guys stand in Manhattan is pretty good.

Edited to add, I see twf beat me to it.
 
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I’m sorry, but there is something strange in all this – to have a “Christmas Party” (which is what the OP called it) and limit the foods to only those groups that don’t celebrate Christmas - at least in a religious sense. What if a Christian in good conscience didn’t want to eat either kosher or halal? It would be like the proverbial “barbecue on a Lenten Friday” situation.

I wonder if management had earlier gotten a call from the Diversity Police, so common in the workplace today. I think to have had one or two dishes that specifically weren’t kosher or halal would have been more appropriate.
 
Pitcairn17 said:
What if a Christian in good conscience didn’t want to eat either kosher or halal?
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Why would a Christian not want to follow God’s teaching that no food is unclean?

Also, when Christians go to the Holy Land to walk where Jesus walked, good luck finding non-kosher food especially in hotels…unless perhaps it’s halal food.

Half of NYC who doesn’t even believe in God eats at kosher delis daily.
 
It does seem strange to me too but as long as it’s not offensive to God I’m ok. But who can say with certainty God doesn’t mind that celebrating Jesus’ birth solely with food meant/prepared for those who don’t worship Christ is ok?
I don’t know for sure.
 
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Pitcairn17 said:
What if a Christian in good conscience didn’t want to eat either kosher or halal?
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I know Christians who, in good conscience, refuse to celebrate Christmas. When invited to Christmas celebrations, they stay home. I don’t know any Christians who won’t eat kosher foods and feel religiously obligated to attend Christmas parties.
 
MarthaSo said:
But who can say with certainty God doesn’t mind that celebrating Jesus’ birth solely with food meant/prepared for those who don’t worship Christ is ok?
I don’t know for sure.
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Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 14, makes it pretty clear that once again, God doesn’t care what food we eat.

Also, let’s not forget that Jesus’ parents and Jesus himself were observant Jews their whole life. On the night Jesus was born, when Joseph and Mary had their evening meal, it was their era’s equivalent of “kosher food” in that it complied with the Jewish laws on what Jewish people were permitted to eat. If they had a little family party when they got home to celebrate the birth of a son, they and all their guests ate “kosher food”. If they had birthday celebrations for Jesus as he was growing up, they served “kosher food”.
 
I understand that because they were Jewish, but ,maybe it’s just not clicking for me, would they have eaten Halal as observant Jews?
I feel like I have a gaping hole of lack of understanding so forgive if I seem lost.
 
Well, I respect the good conscience decisions Christians make. We’re not all fully informed and I know God sees us doing the right thing based on our understanding. For example, last year I knew less than I know now of my faith and likely would have avoided Halal and I believe God would have appreciated my choice because He knew I was making it based on what my conscience told me was honorable to Him. Same with Catholics who don’t want to eat Kosher because their conscience tells them otherwise. Does that make sense? Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut!
 
In short you’re not the first one to feel this way, but you shouldn’t say anything. I get that the context is slightly different here, but I feel it’s pretty relevant. Romans 14:1-4
1 Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. 2 One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3 The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. 4 Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
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So I get that all the people we’re talking about here aren’t Christian and the people Paul was were, but I think it fits in nicely to your situation.
 
Sounds delicious. My Catholic cousin made some wonderful challah last night. (Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
 
Obviously the Holy Family didn’t eat Halal because it is Islamic, and Islam wasn’t invented until about 600 years after Jesus died.
 
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That challah looks amazing.

I am missing the excellent Jerusalem hummus, but I did find some Jerusalem za’atar in my bag that I’d forgot I brought back.
 
MarthaSo said:
Well, I respect the good conscience decisions Christians make. We’re not all fully informed and I know God sees us doing the right thing based on our understanding. For example, last year I knew less than I know now of my faith and likely would have avoided Halal and I believe God would have appreciated my choice because He knew I was making it based on what my conscience told me was honorable to Him. Same with Catholics who don’t want to eat Kosher because their conscience tells them otherwise. Does that make sense? Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut!
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As a non-theist, albeit one who’s sympathetic to religious adherents, I don’t want to speak of turn, but this seems inherently backward to me. Paul’s epistles famously argued that it wasn’t necessary to maintain a kosher diet. The idea that this could be revised to a Christian belief that a kosher diet should be avoided had never occurred to me. You are the first to suggest it, in my experience.

I very much like the idea that your boss would wish to serve food that no one would have to “check first,” and kosher certainly serves that purpose (well, almost*). It’s naturally halal according to muslim clerics I’ve spoken to, and was the diet of all original Christians, who, naturally enough, were also Jews.

*I am personally deathly allergic — as in, I’ve been hospitalized for accidental consumption — to antibiotics typically found in meat products, which makes me vegetarian by necessity. Yes, free range meat is an option, but the risk of a vendor lying about the origin is too great to risk, for me, anyway. It’s such a pain to have to inquire about every dish at a potluck that I’ve given up on those events. I’d probably abstain from your office party for the same reason, unless it was also strictly vegetarian.

Merry Christmas in any case, to one and all.
 
I understand, I was speaking hypothetically as if it were around during that time.
 
Wow. Sorry you have such a food ordeal. Great information in your post. Thank you for sharing.
 
What sounds delicious? Halal? I don’t know their cuisine very well but I’ll find out soon enough! Thanks for sharing!
 
I stand corrected. I’ve edited my post to reflect that. The Muslims I know are apparently more lax—they consider food to be halal as long as it meets the criteria for cleanliness.
 
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