The
Bible Diet:
Which Foods were Created to be Eaten by Man?
(Part 2)
What animals are "clean" and
"unclean"?
Besides giving the Israelites a list of which
animals, fish and birds were "fit to eat," he also gave them general
guidelines for recognizing those animals which would be acceptable to eat. In
In
God regarded humans to be "defiled"
or "unclean" if they ate the flesh of "unclean" animals. He
expected the Israelites to refrain from unclean meats to maintain a state of
"holiness" in his sight. As noted earlier, the early New Testament
church obeyed God's instructions in
Interesting! While writing
to a congregation in a Gentile community, Paul quotes God's (Old Testament)
instructions to "touch not the unclean thing" as part
of a commentary on maintaining Christian holiness. In citing the
scriptures of the Hebrew Bible, Paul was likely referring to forbidden meats as
"unclean things," especially since his fellow Apostle, Peter,
specifically used the word "unclean" to describe forbidden meats
(Acts 10:14). Even as the Israelites were forbidden to eat unclean meats as
part of their "holiness" obligation toward God, Paul told early
Christians to also avoid "unclean things" as part of their
"holiness" obligation toward God. In other words, Paul was telling
Corinthian Christians they would be defiling their bodies ("the temple
of the living God") if they "touched unclean things."
The above passage indicates that even Paul,
the "apostle to the Gentiles," affirmed that the animal meat
restrictions of the Old Testament were binding on New Testament Christians.
Somehow, this fact has been overlooked by virtually all of modern Christendom.
Unclean Meats and the "end
time"
Did God still expect Christians to obey
his dietary restrictions even after the Christian church became more
"Gentile" and less "Jewish" in later centuries? What about in our modern time? Do the meat
restrictions matter to God any more? For our answer, let us consider God's
attitude on the subject as found in a prophecy about the latter day period
preceding the return of Jesus Christ (or "the coming of the Lord" in
Old Testament parlance.)
This directly parallels
How many Christians realize that
prophecy reveals that one of the sins which provokes God's wrath in the latter
days is mankind's eating of pigs and Other unclean
meats? The answer is very few, indeed.
We have now examined scriptures confirming
that God forbids and condemns the eating of unclean animal flesh in (A)
the Old Testament period, (B) the early New Testament church, and (C)
the latter-day time period as well. There are no scriptures in the New
Testament which clearly permit Christians to eat unclean meats. The conclusion
of the entire biblical discussion on this subject is that God still forbids the
eating of "unclean meats." What an affirmation of
and
The unmistakable biblical teaching is that
those Christians who wish to obey God should abstain from eating the flesh of
animals which are identified in the Bible as "unclean."
Scientific evidence about unclean meats
So far, we have examined only biblical
evidence of God's position on unclean meats. However, if God made this physical
world (as the Bible asserts), then we should also be able to see physical,
empirical evidence that unclean meats are somehow harmful for human beings.
Conversely, if God "purified unclean foods," the physical world
should reflect an absence of risk in consuming them. Therefore, let us examine
physical evidence on the subject.
It is well known that the flesh of animals
dubbed "unclean" for human consumption pose unique risks to humans
who eat them. The Webster's Dictionary definition of "trichinosis"
states:
The Encyclopedia Americana adds this
warning:
The
Interesting! In spite of widespread measures
to protect the public from pork-related trichina infections, approximately
"15%" of Americans have become "infested" anyway. Consider
the
In an adjacent article, the
It is a well-established scientific fact that
the flesh of pigs and shellfish pose special infection risks to humans. If 15%
of Americans are infested with trichina as a direct result of eating pork, one
wonders how many unexplained cases of "cardiac or respiratory"
problems could be a result of trichina infestations. One also wonders how
many cases of unexplained diarrhea or vomiting attributed to mysterious
"bugs" are actually caused by eating shellfish.
It is worth noting that while the health
risks of eating pork and shellfish (forbidden meats according to the Bible) are
so well known that they deserve their own listings in encyclopedias, there are
no such special diseases associated with biblical "clean meats." It
is, however, possible for clean meats to harm humans as well if animals are not
properly fed, slaughtered or processed. Clean meats can also be harmful to eat
if they have consumed toxic chemicals in their habitat (for example, otherwise
"clean" fish can pose a health threat to humans if they have ingested
mercury or other toxins in their habitat).
Whoever gave the Israelites the dietary
laws in
No wonder God said in
God didn't give his laws to arbitrarily
assert power over human beings. He gave his laws (including the meat laws)
"that it might be well with them."
While God didn't reveal the scientific
reasons for his meat commands, a scientific basis is easily postulated. God's
law generally forbids the consumption of
Pigs, vultures, raptors, etc. are capable of
eating (and thriving) on diseased or decaying flesh. Predatory animals (lions,
raptors, etc.) often prey on the weak (and sometimes diseased) animals in the
herds of prey animals. Regarding seafood, bottom-dwelling shellfish (clams,
lobsters, oysters, etc.) eat decaying organic detritus which sinks to the sea
floor. A common denominator of many "unclean" animals is that they
can thrive on decaying and diseased flesh which would sicken or kill a human
being. When humans eat carrion or prey eating animals, they are partaking of a
"food chain" which includes things harmful to humans. A humorous
modern motto on identifying "unclean" animals and birds might be:
"if it eats roadkill, don't eat it."
While it is documented that unclean meats can
pose "acute" risks to humans, mankind is very inventive in trying to
find ways around God's laws. Even as the invention of birth control devices has
lessened (but not eliminated) the unwanted pregnancy and venereal disease risks
involved in fornication and adultery, mankind has invented food processing
techniques to minimize the acute risks of catching diseases from unclean flesh.
As proof of this, it is now uncommon in the western world to have acute
trichinosis outbreaks.
However, are there chronic risks (not
yet discovered) of eating unclean animal flesh? Even as we know a body can recover from a short
exposure to cigarette smoke but long-term use of tobacco can be fatal, are
there long-term risks in consuming unclean meats that are not yet known? We do
know that our modern world (which eats large amounts of unclean meats) has
developed many degenerative diseases, the causes of which are not
well-understood. It may not be possible to conduct scientific tests on the
chronic risks of eating unclean meats because the tests would literally have to
span lifetimes, and people would have to practice the same meat-eating habits
over those lifetimes before correlations could be made on which groups
developed more degenerative diseases. However, this author believes that given
the known short-term health risks of eating unclean meats, it is likely that
eating unclean meats also poses long-term health risks which are not yet
appreciated. God told the Israelites that they would be "blessed" and
"prolong their days" if they obeyed his laws (including the meat
laws). Since Christ declared that God's laws were not "done away,"
this argues that if Christians obey God's laws on clean and unclean meats, it
will lead to a healtheir, longer life for them as
well.
The Bible claims to be God's
"instruction manual" for mankind, listing for mankind what is good
and what is harmful in virtually every aspect of human lifestyle choices. When
you buy a car, you receive an "instruction manual" with the car
telling how it should be fueled, oiled, serviced and maintained if you want it
"to have a healthy, long (mechanical) life." This instruction manual
is the manufacturer's "revelation" to the owner. If these
instructions are disregarded, bad things happen. So it is with mankind and our
bodies. If we disregard God's "instruction manual" (The Bible), bad
things happen. Therefore, it behooves us to know and obey God's instructions
in the Bible, his revelation to us.
God's Laws on health
There is another powerful piece of empirical
evidence that God's dietary laws are still in effect, although this particular
piece of evidence does not directly involve meats. God's laws included many
instructions about personal conduct which we now understand are important,
scientifically based sanitation and hygienic regulations. While the ancient
Israelites could not have known the scientific basis for God's instructions,
they were nevertheless "blessed" if they obeyed them.
These health-related regulations included
quarantining the sick
All the above laws are easily recognized as
scientifically-based instructions to prevent the spread of disease-causing
bacteria. What is profoundly significant is that these instructions were
given three millennia before mankind attained sufficient skills to learn the
scientific basis for God's regulations. This is, again, powerful evidence
that the Bible was authored by the Creator God as only a Creator God could have
then understood the science of microbiology underlying these hygienic
regulations. Whoever gave these regulations to Moses understood how the
transmission of bodily fluids can spread diseases as many of the Levitical laws were designed to stop the spread of
contaminated body fluids. Quarantines, prompt burial of fecal and animal
slaughter wastes, washing the clothing and cookware of the sick (as well as
their attendants), and regular bathing of the human body are sound scientific
principles to stop the spread of diseases.
Were God's hygienic laws "done away
with" in New Testament times? Of course not! Modern science
now knows that these laws of God are critically necessary elements in
maintaining proper hygiene in a hospital, community or home. Sadly, mankind has
ignored these vital instructions of God for much of our existence on earth, and
has suffered the consequences of innumerable disease epidemics as a result. Let
us examine just one example.
Consequences of disobeying God's health
laws
While the early Christian church continued to
observe God's laws (so much so that it was seen as a "Jewish" sect in
the 1st century A.D. --Acts 28:22), by Medieval times Christianity had
undergone a radical change from its early Apostolic roots. Collier's
Encyclopedia states:
By universally rejecting the sanitary and
hygienic rules of "the law of Moses," Medieval Europe was inviting
disaster. It is even possible that Medieval Christians deliberately ignored
these Old Testament laws in order to avoid "Judaizing."
In the fourteenth century A.D., disaster struck
Collier's Encyclopedia adds:
This plague flourished in conditions of
widespread disobedience to God's laws on sanitation and hygiene. If there had
been widespread obedience to the Levitical laws
requiring quarantines of the sick, the prompt burial of fecal wastes, the
washing (or burning) of the clothes, eating utensils and bedlinens
of the diseased, the Black Death plague would have been localized or prevented
altogether because widespread sanitary conditions would have vastly lessened
the numbers of disease carrying rats.
Besides the casualties listed above, there
were many more who died in subsequent outbreaks of the
Plague during the next few centuries in Europe, and another 13,000,000 died of
the plague when it spread to
People tend to see God's Old Testament laws
as the burdensome requirements of an arbitrary God. What they fail to
appreciate is that when God gave his laws to the Israelites, he was imparting
to them priceless "insider information" about the workings of the
physical world.
When it became known that the Black Death was
sparing Jews (who were observing the Law of Moses), did Medieval
society go to the Jews to try to learn the reasons why their neighborhoods were
resistant to the plague? No, they superstitiously (and wrongly) blamed and
persecuted the Jews for the plague!
What does all this have to do with the
subject of unclean meats? Plenty. God's sanitation and
hygiene laws are part of the "law of Moses" and are found in the book
of Leviticus alongside the laws about clean and unclean meats. If there was
scientific evidence that the sanitation and hygiene laws of God were no longer
applicable, we might infer that the meat restrictions were moot as well.
However, the opposite is true. We know beyond any shadow of doubt that God's Levitical sanitation and hygiene laws are still binding
(Indeed, we now comprehend the compelling scientific reasons for their
issuance). Consequently, it is logical to infer that God's dietary
restrictions are still in effect today as well. It is a well-established
fact that pork and shellfish can pose acute health risks, and unclean meats
such as these may also pose a long-term risk of degenerative diseases that will
be better understood in the future. The sanitation and hygiene laws of God and
the meat laws stand or fall together as they were both given at the same time
by the same God of Israel to Moses at Sinai.
Conclusion
In summation, we have seen that there is
no biblical basis for believing that the Old Testament dietary laws were
"done away" in New Testament times. Indeed, we have seen that the early Apostolic
church obeyed those meat laws, and several New Testament scriptures openly
affirm the Levitical meat laws. Somewhere between the
Apostolic church and the modern era, the Christian
church stopped obeying God's laws, probably because of a fear of "Judaizing" as there were edicts to persecute or kill
those who did so. Many millions of people have died in the last two millennia
because the Christian church foolishly forsook God's sanitation and hygiene
laws. Who knows how many people have died (or suffered) because they ignored
God's laws regarding what meats are safe to eat. We now know God's laws were
based on scientific knowledge that was 3000 years ahead of mankind's ability to
discover or confirm their wisdom.
Let us conclude with an observation on our
relationship with God. If we believe that God is an all-wise Creator as well as
a loving Father, it logically follows that we should believe that his biblical
instructions represent the wise instructions of a caring Father/Creator who
wishes to guide his children into beneficial behaviors and away from
destructive practices. Any human parent who restricts a child's behavior by
commanding them "Don't play in the street" or "Don't touch a hot
stove" is displaying parental love. God's instructions (and restrictions)
are offered to us in that same spirit of parental love. So this issue also
involves trust. Do we trust God to give us the wisest advise
on a subject, or will we "lean unto our own understanding?"
You, the reader, must now decide whether to eat "unclean meats" in
the future. At least, you now have all the information you need on the subject
to make an informed decision.
Footnotes
Written by: Steven M. Collins