What is God's stance on the things Gentiles were told to abstain from?
God's stance is that Gentiles who turn to Him must abstain from pollutions of idols, fornication, things strangled, and blood. These prohibitions still hold true today; God has never given humanity permission to do any of them, and they remain anathema to Him.
In this unit, James, the moderator, cites Simeon/Peter's declaration that God first visited the Gentiles to take out a people for His name, and he agrees with the prophets that afterward God will return and build again the tabernacle of David at His Second Coming. On that basis James decides not to trouble Gentiles turned to God, yet writes that they abstain from pollutions of idols, fornication, things strangled, and blood. Les teaches these prohibitions were repeated and still hold true today; God has never given the human race permission to do any of these things, and they remain anathema to Him. Verse 21 gives the reason.