“FOOD FOR THOUGHT”
UK
The Laws in Leviticus and Deuteronomy were given to us by God, our loving Heavenly Father.
God gave the Dietary Laws to us to maintain healthy bodies and minds.
Referring to the Dietary laws; anatomically wise I can’t give a breakdown of every beast that can and cannot be consumed, but from my understanding and experience I can tell you why I will avoid certain foods such as Pig, shell-fish, and scavengers.
Why? Because they are nature’s dustmen/garbage collectors. They live off dying and dead matter and poisonous bacteria (not to them of course, but to man). The rubbish they eat is absorbed into their own systems, then transferred to humans for our consumption. They can’t be cleansed and purified, and man can’t change that. They are unclean.
From my experience of animal husbandry I have witnessed the full lifecycle of the pig, from birth to slaughter. I have seen pigs eating decomposing rubbish, dead rats and other vermin and excrement. I have visited abattoirs and seen to my surprise the maggots, tape worms and parasites in the guts of slaughtered pigs, and was assured this was standard for all pigs.
I also compared them to the carcases of the cattle and sheep which were clean of these parasites.
Of course there are many others within the animal kingdom both in the sea and on land which should not be consumed.
God was fully aware of other nations and races and He knew their short comings and evil practices. Israel was to be separate from them!!
Obeying the Laws, Israel was to have a divinely moral, social and healthy structure to live within and these Laws were to give happiness, safety and prosperity to a faithful nation.
The dietary laws still provide us with a wonderful variety of food to eat, fruit, nuts, vegetables, fish and meat, all good healthy stuff that nourishes our bodies and protects us against disease and illness.
Why do we have a desire for food that could kill us in the long term? I have had a few close friends who have died from bowel and stomach cancer. Was it because they ate unclean food? Beware, these cancers are on the rise in Britain.
I wonder who benefits from all this, it wouldn’t be the food industry and the pharmaceutical companies of this world, would it? Most of the food we can buy is good and wholesome, but there are some that could destroy our bodies, if we don’t take preventative action and stop consuming them. Possibly the same applies to the drugs we are prescribed, generally pretty good, but some I’m not so sure about! Still, both are profitable industries.
Back to the Bible, it is important for us to take on board what is actually being stated and to understand the true meaning of certain passages that are often taken out of context:-
- God’s dietary laws, Deuteronomy 14: 1-21
- Exodus 15: 26 – “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give heed to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you.”
- Moses tells Israel all sacrifices to God will be of cattle, sheep, goats and turtle doves; but there is no mention of unclean animals like pigs to be sacrificed.
- What does our Lord say about the Law, in Matthew 5: 17 – 19, also in Matthew 22: 35, and Paul in Romans 3: 31, that the Law still exists. The wonderful fact is as Christians we live under grace but we still must obey the Laws God gave us. The Law is not cancelled or forgotten about, it exists to keep us on the straight and narrow. Grace is the all embracing love, power and forgiveness of our sins given by our Lord who shields and protects us when we commit our lives to Him.
- Let us not be confused here, there are sacrificial laws, temple rituals and ordinances which no longer apply because through Christ’s death and sacrifice for mankind, His resurrection and ascendance into Heaven they are done away with. To my knowledge there are no other laws that don’t apply!
- As a matter of interest let us not forget when Christ and the disciples sailed across Galilee to the country of the Gadarenes where they met a man possessed by unclean spirits. Christ cleanses the man and casts out the unclean spirits which went into a herd of pigs which ran down the hillside into the sea and drowned. Not much love for pigs on that occasion!
I am often quoted certain text in the New Testament implying the dietary laws are no longer relevant but I personally believe there is a hint of misinterpretation where the true meaning can only be apparent when the whole text or chapter is considered rather than one verse. When we read Acts 10, Peter has had a long journey, while a meal is being prepared he goes onto the house top to pray, he then falls asleep. God knowing Peter is tired and hungry comes to him in a dream, and brings down from Heaven a sheet with every unclean animal for Peter to eat. Peter says “no Lord I will not eat that which is common and unclean”, and God’s reply was, “that which I have cleansed call not common”. The sheet was taken back into Heaven. This was undoubtedly a parable by God showing Peter the importance that the Word of the Lord is for all people and not just the Jews, because later Peter was to go to the home of Cornelius a centurion of the Roman army. The Jewish law forbad Jews to enter the homes of foreigners, who were considered common. Peter then understood the relevance of the dream that the Word must be taken to all people who must not be called unclean or common; God was not testing Peter’s resolve, and the Bible tells us Peter did not eat the unclean common food, it was taken back into Heaven.
Other examples where we find the message can be taken out of context are in Colossians 2, and I Corinthians 8, and also in I Timothy 4, where Paul makes it quite clear we must not allow ourselves to be distracted and involved with other issues in the pursuit of our total commitment to the Lord. Beware of alternative teachings which attempt to side track us away from our true Christian faith by using references to worshiping of angels, forbidding marriage, mysterious beliefs and even the food we eat; these are dangerous teachings which have to be avoided at all costs
I have also included Mark 7, where Jesus is ridiculing the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and some of their evil practices, and then later in the same chapter Jesus confirms God’s Laws, that should still be obeyed.
This whole chapter is connected to the Pharisees objecting to the disciples eating without washing their hands according to the Pharisees’ traditions in verses 2 – 5, and Jesus was taking them to task for concerning themselves too much with the outward show of their traditions while not honouring God’s commandments, also from verses 17 – 23 Jesus states that all that comes out of the man (verbally) defiles him and gives vent to evil. It has nothing to do with actually eating food except in that they were eating with unwashed hands. It is more important what comes out of a man’s heart and mind rather than the traditions of washing pots, hands etc. Or even dedicating things to God and neglecting their own parents, verses 10 – 12, God would rather they looked after their parents. All these things were showing that the Pharisees were allowing their traditions to make void God’s commandments.
At should be noted, these passages do not question the validity of the dietary laws, but are misinterpreted when used to confuse the minds of Christians and put into doubt God’s Word.
Our Lord wants the best for us, and will cleanse us in Body, Mind and Spirit. Just trust in Him.
I should state, when I was young I occasionally ate pork at home and also at school for lunch. My mother enjoyed bacon, pork sausages, chops and liver and so did I. Dad’s diet was Biblical, maybe not so tasty but far healthier. It wasn’t until later when I realised I was contaminating my body that I changed my diet for the better.
At a young age when you are fit and healthy you don’t appreciate the quality of food you consume and how your body has to breakdown and process what you eat; most food is healthy stuff, just what the body needs to grow and flourish by, but on the other hand “as tasty as they may be”, pork, shell food, offal etc, will have the opposite effect and are gradually poisoning your body which may not initially be obvious but later in life after years of absorbing these dangerous toxins then you could be confronted with a whole host of illnesses detrimental to life.
For the passed forty five years we have followed the Dietary Laws to the best of our ability, and I can stand up and say we are pretty healthy in comparison with many others whose diets have been less selective and have suffered as a consequence!
On a personal basis, if I am invited to eat at someone’s house and they are not aware of my dietary preferences and they give me pork or prawns etc, I will ask the Lord to cleanse the food, which He will; then tuck in!
I do not make a habit or practice of eating such food. My wife and I have always attempted to eat healthy food and encouraged our children from babes to eat the same, with excellent results.
Possibly, food for thought!
