This was a two-part question of a type that comes up a lot. I could sum it up as: Christ has set us free, but how free are we? Paul has a fair amount to say to this matter.

The questions

> Can you help me with a couple of questions on Christianity that I have? > 1.Do Christians have any food or clothing restrictions?

Not specifically. The operative principle in such things is found in 1 Corinthians 8 and Romans 14: we are free to eat, wear etc. whatever conscience allows, but not at the expense of making someone else stumble in their faith. A good example is alcohol. Nothing in Scripture condemns moderate use of it, and in fact fermentation was about the only way that people in biblical times had of preserving things like grape juice to keep it from spoiling. I have a good friend who's an alcoholic, and taking a single drink could send him out of recovery and back into disaster. Hence, when we're together, even though I would feel perfectly free in my conscience to have a wine cooler now and then, I refuse to indulge because it might incite him to have something too, and for him it would be a major stumbling block. The example that crops up again and again in the New Testament is eating meat offered to idols. A little background: people would bring an animal to a pagan temple for sacrifice to the deity of the temple; the priests would sacrifice the animal, take their portion of the meat, and then sell the rest of the meat in the marketplace. As a rule, this meat cost a lot less than what was sold by the local ranchers. Since most of the Christian populace came from the lower/poorer classes of society, this inexpensive meat allowed them to get the most for what money they had. However, some people were conscious of the fact that this meat had previously been used in idol worship, and in their conscience they felt that to partake of the meat would be the same as partaking of the idol worship. Hence, for those people, eating that meat violated their conscience toward God. Others could eat it with a clear conscience, because they recognized that (a) they were free in Christ to eat anything with thanksgiving, and (b) the idols had no true substance anyway. Paul says that the latter group are the "stronger" ones, because they have a more developed awareness of their standing in Christ than the "weaker" ones who were sensitive to such things. Nevertheless, he urges the "strong" to abstain for the sake of the "weak," because if a weaker brother sat down with a stronger one and saw the stronger one eating meat that he knew had been offered to idols, the weaker one could easily be emboldened to go ahead and eat as well, thus violating his conscience. Paul says that the strong are not to do this, but to be sensitive to the consciences of their weaker fellows. That's the only real restriction. > 2.What are Important Days/Celebrations for Christians?

The earliest celebration was the Lord's Day (see Revelation 1) when Christians came together to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. This is why we worship on Sunday rather than Saturday; Christians don't celebrate the Sabbath, they celebrate the Lord's Day when Jesus rose and set us free and reconciled us to God. The other holidays are pretty negotiable. Some complain that the dates of Christmas and Easter were set up to coincide with pagan holidays and hence we shouldn't celebrate them; I see these dates as turning a sow's ear into a silk purse. That is, our predecessors took special days that celebrated pagan deities and rites and transformed them into events that glorify Christ. Since each Sunday is supposed to celebrate the Resurrection, neither holiday is particularly "important" or crucial. However, I find that having a special day of the year to commemorate the resurrection of my Lord helps me to renew my faith and my committment to Him; likewise for Christmas. Your mileage may vary :-) As with the eating, these things are a matter of personal conscience and we have no real commands either way. As Paul says in Romans 14:5, "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind."