Do you believe that the Dietary Laws of God tell Christians not to eat certain meats?
115152
There were different viewpoints in the early Christian church on this issue.  Some felt that in order to be a Christian, you had to first become Jewish and keep all the Jewish laws with perhaps the exception of the sacrifices.  Others felt that you did not have to follow all the Jewish laws, but that certain ones ought to be kept, such as the Jewish calendar (Holidays), the moral laws, and dietary laws.  Others, and Paul is in this group, felt that one did not have to keep any of the Jewish laws except for the laws of morality.  \n\nPaul has the largest influence in the New Testament, and therefore most Christians do not feel any obligation to keep the dietary laws.  But understand that Paul did not view the Torah (Law) as totally bad.  He felt that it was good for teaching us what sin is.  And he also felt that it was not bad in itself, but Paul did object to the way the "Judaizers" (those of the first 2 groups I mentioned) VIEWED the law.  Paul taught that the law is well and good, but it does not lead to salvation.  You are justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  And that is your salvation, not works of the law.\n\nSo here is my advice:  If you agree with Paul, then I think you may keep the dietary laws or other laws of the Torah, JUST AS LONG as you do not begin to think that it is by the performance of that law that you have salvation.  Salvation is by the grace of God through your faith in Jesus.\nThat's Paul.\n\nNow, my opinion:  Our body is a temple (Paul also agrees with this concept) and therefore we are to take care of it and keep it pure.  So if you believe that by keeping the dietary laws, you will be healthier, then I say by all means, you should do that.  But honestly we do not know for sure why those Laws were ever given.  The Bible does not say to follow those dietary laws so that you will be healthier, but so that you will be "holy."  If the Bible was trying to give you a diet for good health, it should have prohibited eggs and poison mushrooms.  But it does not.  And furthermore, eating meat is not considered the healthiest diet.  The original plan of God in the Bible seems to be vegetarianism.  Remember that before Noah, God gave the people "every herb of the trees, etc" as food.  It was a vegetarian system.  But after Noah, then God allowed meat-eating, but it can almost be seen as a concession.  The Jewish interpretation is that God saw how wicked man was and that he just wasn't good enought that God could expect them to be strict vegetarians.  So he said, Ok, you can eat meat, just so long as you do not eat the blood, etc.\n\nThe only reason that the Bible gives for the dietary laws is so that "you will be holy, as I the Lord your God am holy."  In Hebrew, the word holy carries the connotation of set apart.  It has been speculated that God was trying to set the Jewish people apart from the surrounding nations.  Many of them sacrificed pigs for example.  And God forbade the Israelites from this, so that they would not be like the surrounding nations, and perhaps because the pig was seen as dirty (understandably!).  \n\nIn some times and places, people have to rely on meat-eating to survive.  But I think that the ideal is vegetarianism.  According to the Bible, God gave humans dominion over the animals......but does dominion mean we have to be cruel rulers?  I think that if we are capable we should be vegetarians.  But if you are in a time and place where that is not possible, then God of course would understand.  But that is just my opinion.\n\nMy brother has a neat little book called, "What Would Jesus Eat?"  You might really enjoy that!  It talks about the diet of that time period.  And it was a whole lot healthier than what we eat!  They ate little meat, and a lot of whole grains and legumes.  They did eat a lot of fish of course, being in the Galilee.
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Who is their God? Not the God of the Bible who was in to BBQ and called it a "sweet smelling savor".\n\nAnd then there is also this in 1 Timothy 4:3...\n"...speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth."
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"major sin?"  What gives you that idea?\nYes, in the bible it says for a man to lie with another man is abominable.  However, in the same book of the bible (leviticus), it says women must hide from the world during their periods, and not be touched by anyone or they are all declared "unclean" and are to be punished.\nIt also says there that you should stone adulterers and fornicators, that you must offer various sacrifices of meat and blood several times a week...why do christians choose to follow the prohibition against homosexuality (and foist that view on everyone else), and not the other prohibitions and laws in the same book?  Selective enforcement at its worst.\n\nIn the new testament, jesus said that his new law replaced the old law (Mosaic law from the old testament).  His new commandment was to love one another, to do good to those who use you, to turn the other cheek, to not judge anyone.  \n\nHow sad it is that the vast majority of christians choose to ignore the person they claim to follow, and instead choose to selectively pick parts of the "old law" to use as their rallying cry against "immorality."  Jesus would be ashamed of those who do so.
1159472
you are posing the same idea that Lucifer did to Eve. That God had some evil intent in His edict. Why or why not eat of the tree is not the issue. God could have just as well of said "Do not pee where the grass does not grow" The real issue is whether to obey God or not. The exercise of free will as according to Gods plan was initiated here so that after the full consequence of self interest is evident and the world is impacted as it has been God could then show that the exercise of the will by choosing to Love God through Christ would be possible, to the intent that the manifold wisdom of God might be known by the church to the principalities and powers in heavenly places.
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Jesus himself said "You must eat my flesh and drink my blood to enter the kingdom of heaven" It is a spiritial food, not a food to curve our hunger. Only the devil himself would ask a deceiving question like that.
158534
Yes it does. But the part of it that does is Jewish law. It is not meant to apply to Gentiles. So if you are Jewish, you would avoid eating shellfish, a thing modern Orthodox Jews do avoid.
442611
Sure, why not?  \n\nSociety determines what is and isn't morally wrong, not the bible. American society says that christians can eat pork, even though the bible forbids it. The bible says that women shouldn't wear jewelry, yet christian women wear it to CHURCH. The bible says you should kill a disobidient child, but we know that to be wrong.\n\nThe bible DOESN'T say that you can't marry an 8 year old girl, but we know it to be wrong. So, we do and avoid things because of social taboos, not biblical.
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IT DEPENDS ON WHAT MEAT YOU EAT. GOD HAS CHOSEN ONLY CERTAIN FOODS TO EAT.\n** TEXTS THAT INVOLVE THE CLEAN AND UNCLEAN MEATS:\nGEN.18:7-8; LEV.11; 20:25; DEUT.14; ISAIAH 66:17; EZEK.22:26; DAN.1:8; MATT.3:4; LUKE 24:41-43; ACTS 10:10-14; 1COR.3:16-17; 9:27; 2COR.6:17; AND REV.21:8.\n\n**ALSO YOU CAN'T EAT THE BLOOD OF THE MEAT (LEV.17:14).\n \nJUST A NOTE FOR OTHERS----TO ME; IF THE CLEAN AND UNCLEAN MEATS WEREN'T VALID FOR TODAY; THEN WHY OH WHY WOULD THE LORD PLEAD WITH FLESH NOT TO EAT UNCLEAN MEAT--(ISAIAH 66:15-17). ALSO NOTICE DEUT.14:4 "SHALT NOT EAT ANY ABOMINABLE THING" AND REV.21:8 "...THE ABOMINABLE SHALL HAVE THEIR PART IN THE LAKE WHICH BURNETH WITH FIRE AND BRIMSTONE: WHICH IS THE SECOND DEATH."
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I reckon you're wrong. I have been a Christian all my life and would rather eat a cow turd than think homosexual thoughts.
446223
The bible may say an eye for an eye. But one of the 10 commandments is Thou shalt not kill. No exceptions!
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Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the scriptures demonstrate a clear pattern indicating the sacredness with which Jehovah God (and thus god-fearing humankind) views all creature blood.\n\nPredates Mosaic Law.\nFor example, over a thousand years before the birth of Moses, the pre-Israel, pre-Jewish, pre-Hebrew man Noah received what the scriptures record as only the second restrictive command on humans (after Garden of Eden's tree):\n\n"Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning; of every beast I will require it [that is, lifeblood] and of man" (Genesis 9:3-5)\n\nJewish Law.\nLater, God's feeling regarding blood was codified into the Mosaic Law. This part of the Law dealing with blood was unique in that it applied, not just to Israel, but also to non-Jewish foreigners among them. It's also interesting that besides forbidding the consumption of blood, the Law also mandated that it be 'poured out on the ground', not used for any purpose.\n\n"No person among you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger who sojourns among you eat blood. Any man also of the people of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among them, who takes in hunting any beast or bird that may be eaten shall pour out its blood and cover it with dust." (Lev 17:12,13)\n\nBy comparison, it's significant that the Law also forbid the consumption of ceremonial animal fat, but that didn't apply to non-Jewish foreigners and it DID allow the fat to be used for other purposes.\n\n"The LORD said to Moses, "Say to the people of Israel, You shall eat no fat, of ox, or sheep, or goat. The fat of an animal that dies of itself, and the fat of one that is torn by beasts, may be put to any other use" (Lev 7:22-24)\n\nEarly Christian era.\nThe Christian era ended the validity of the Mosaic Law, but remember that the restriction on eating blood preceded the Mosaic Law by over a thousand years. Still, does the New Testament indicate that Jehovah God changed his view of blood's sacredness?\n\n"[God] freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses" (Eph 1:6,7)\n\n"[God's] beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins... and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood" (Colossians 1:13-20)\n\n"we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the pollutions of idols and from unchastity and from what is strangled and from blood." Acts 15:19,20\n\n"For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from unchastity." Acts 15:28,29\n\n\nFor most Jehovah's Witness parents, they would never "let their child die" but would work with every health care professional they could find to pursue every non-blood treatment they could think of.
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jews are also forbidden.\ni'm a seventh day adventist christian , and a vegetarian diet is encouraged but not compulsory , if we eat meat we take our advice from leviticus , 'cloven hoofs & cud chewing animals '.\npigs are there with vultures etc: as scavengers to clean up what has become unclean so therefore themselves are unclean\nhope this helps cheers:\npaul :-}
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Actually the Bible only condemns certain foods for Jewish people, later in the New Testament it says that all things are cleansed by God's grace with the giving of thanks. Basically the premeal prayer
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The bible was written by man and has been interpreted and twisted many times over.  Nobody really knows what the original books looked like.  Some of these things were surely taken out of context.  You can take anything and twist it into something it isn't.  Also lets face it times change.  Many believe the part of the bible (forgive me I cant give you an exact place) that tells you not to eat certain things such as animals with a split hoof (pork) were written for the protection of the people at the time.  Can you imagine what food poisoning rates must have been like before the fridge and stove?  Not to mention the safety practices of the FDA keeping our meat safe for us.  So the church asked us not to eat unsafe things.  Food poisoning still happens but I don't believe that I am going to hell for eating the pork chops in my freezer.  (of course some religions hold this belief very dear...please excuse me no offense intended) With religion you must have faith in what you believe.  God also gave us the wisdom to choose what we believe.  Are you asking us to tell you what to believe?  It sounds like you are having issues with your faith and are unsure where to place your belief.  I suggest you seek counseling within the church.  They can answer these questions for you.
414453
In Acts 10, God lowers a sheet down in front of Peter, in the sheet is all sorts of animals, clean and unclean, God tells Peter to kill and eat them... Peter tells God he has never eaten unclean meat and God tells Peter "Everything I have created is clean" and Paul also teaches us that no food is unclean in and of itself but if someone feels something is unclean, then to them it is and we shouldnt offend them. Basically eat what you want, Jesus said its not what goes into our bodies that makes us unclean but what comes out of the heart. I think thats all the Bible needs to say in answer to the question.
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Leviticus 11:7 - And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you. \n\nThis chapter talks about what you can eat.
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Of course, the bible itselfs states that a Christian shall not suffer a witch to live.  This was used as the justification for many witch burnings by Christians.