Toxic Fruit

by Pastor Tom

“But avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, dissentions and quarrels over the law, for they are unprofitable and futile. As for a man who is factious, after admonishing him once or twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is perverted and sinful. He is self-condemned.” -Titus 3:9-10

On September 26, 1830, a man named Col. Robert Gibbon Johnson stood on the courthouse steps in Salem, Massachusetts before a crowd of several hundred cheering spectators as he held a basket of potentially toxic fruit. Despite warnings that the fruit, if consumed, would turn his blood to acid, he announced that he was going to eat the entire basket.

His own doctor, who stood among the other spectators, shouted out that if the Colonel was foolish enough to carry on with his plans, he would foam at the mouth, develop an instant brain fever, and drop dead. Johnson, however, dressed in black, did indeed eat the entire basket filled with fruit, and he survived!

He not only survived, but showed not a single ill effect. The “toxic” fruit contained in the Colonel’s basket was none other than the tomato. For many years, dire warnings about the poisonous quality of the tomato had been universally accepted. Thanks to the brave actions of the Colonel and a number of others, today we regularly enjoy the flavor and health benefits of the tomato. Where would the world be without the BLT?

A lot of grave warnings about all kinds of things have in time been demonstrated false. It was commonly believed for a time that any human being moving at a speed in excess of 35 miles per hour would instantly die. And most of us can still remember all those warnings about Y2K.

Although some warnings are bogus, we should not become numb to all of them. There are some very destructive things out there. When Paul writes to his friend Titus, he delivers a warning that should certainly be heeded by all who are members of the family of God. It has to do with individuals who have slipped into the practice of constant controversy and criticism. For some reason, these people have developed a pattern of never-ending nit-picking. For such people, life is a succession of problems and dilemmas. Their negative attitude is infections. If left unchecked, the church goes nowhere. If it was up to them, we never even would have had the tomato!