::"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils; <br>Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; <br>Forbidding to marry, ''and commanding'' to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth."
:See [[Cafeteria Christian#Proof texts|Proof texts]]. See also 2 Peter 3:14-18.
:When this passage (1 Timothy 4:1-3) is read within the context of the whole of the New Testament (e.g. Jesus' words about men making themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom, and Paul's recommendation of celibacy), and within the historical context of the development of the various [[Heresy|heresies]] in the first century, Paul is referencing the various forms of [[Gnosticism]], and Greek [[Mystery religion]]s, to which he refers in Colossians 2:8-23, also sects such as the [[Ebionites]] and the Judaisers who insisted on obedience to the Mosaic Torah in abstaining from meats that Jesus had declared clean, "purging all meats" (Mark 7:19 "declaring all foods clean" RSV, NAB, and many other translations). The Orthodox and Catholic Church state unequivocally that the sacrament of marriage is evidence that marriage is not forbidden, and that abstinence from meat for a temporary period of time (for example particular individual days during [[Advent]] and [[Lent]]) or [[fasting]] for a day or for a period of days is not an absolute forbidding of meats (KJV) or any foods (RSV and other translations). See :''Compare'' '''Matthew 9:15; Mark 2:20; Luke 5:35; Romans 14:1–15:2 ''' and '''1 Corinthians 8:8'''.
:Later, similar but far more extreme forms of self-abasement were promoted by the [[Albigenses]] of Europe in the Middle Ages, who forbade marriage absolutely as a grave sin, especially the procreation of children (but allowed [[fornication]]), and highly esteemed the committing of [[suicide]] by self-starvation ("the pure"), prompted by the visions reportedly experienced or claimed by their founders as being new revelations from God or as restorations of lost truth, which Church leaders denounced as [[error]]. ''[[Foxe's Book of Martyrs]]'' presents the campaign against the Albigensians and against the [[Waldensians]] as a vile persecution of true Christians. <br> See [[Bible#Heresies based on abusive use of vernacular translations|Bible: Heresies based on abusive use of vernacular translations]].