Is it okay for a Christian to eat pork?

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coachkfan1 said:
Well for one thing it is one of the worst meats for you to eat being a prime source of hypertension and high cholesterol. It is a scavenger and the only animal that will eat it own dead young. As some one else said it can cause trichinosis if not cooked well. Worms will literally crawl out of the meat if left to rot. I mean, I said its acceptable for Christians to eat it, but I believe that the Old Testament is a reflection of God’s perfect will. Does God condemn the Christian for eating it? Obviously not. Did He originally intend for us to eat it? In my humble opinion, no.
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Why did he not intend it? For fear it would not be cooked well? That is fine. But what changed that situation?
 
Rau said:
Why did he not intend it? For fear it would not be cooked well? That is fine. But what changed that situation?
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My opinion is that He created it to eat garbage like other scavengers, like vultures. What changed is that the Gentiles were eating it and God said (not verbatim obviously) thru the Holy Spirit, this will not stand in the way of the world’s salvation. You would have to consult the Magisterium as to any other details about what changed
 
coachkfan1 said:
My opinion is that He created it to eat garbage like other scavengers, like vultures. What changed is that the Gentiles were eating it and God said (not verbatim obviously) thru the Holy Spirit, this will not stand in the way of the world’s salvation. You would have to consult the Magisterium as to any other details about what changed
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Actually, that’s a fair point. We are not forbidden, however it may not be the best choice. Also, with other foods forbidden to Orthodox Jewish people, like lobster (which are a - albeit delicious - filter of the garbage in the ocean).

Still, I’m down with Dee Burk: mmmm… bacon!
 
coachkfan1 said:
My opinion is that He created it to eat garbage like other scavengers, like vultures. What changed is that the Gentiles were eating it and God said (not verbatim obviously) thru the Holy Spirit, this will not stand in the way of the world’s salvation. You would have to consult the Magisterium as to any other details about what changed
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That a creature might serve one purpose - even that of garbage collector - would not stand in the way of it being food for another, unless the food were tainted, or perhaps if by being eaten, the creature face an extinction risk.
 
grasscutter said:
Actually, that’s a fair point. We are not forbidden, however it may not be the best choice. Also, with other foods forbidden to Orthodox Jewish people, like lobster (which are a - albeit delicious - filter of the garbage in the ocean).

Still, I’m down with Dee Burk: mmmm… bacon!
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This is basically all that I am saying. There have been several books written which espouse the health benefits of a “Biblical” diet. That is just practically speaking, not theologically.
 
Bacon is proof that God loves us and wants us to eat good things.
 
Rau said:
God’s prohibitions are not arbitrary, but four our good. What good was/is served by a prohibition on eating pork?
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Under the Old Covenant, God wanted to make a distinction between His chosen people, and other races and nations. So He provided them with a particular culture of their own, including their own special food, music, art, and story-telling.

Now that the Old Covenant has been fulfilled in Christ’s Sacrifice on the Cross, we are under a New Covenant that includes all races and nations; thus, those cultural distinctions are no longer necessary.
 
Rau said:
God’s prohibitions are not arbitrary, but four our good. What good was/is served by a prohibition on eating pork?
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The prohibition only came after the rejection of God by the Israelites at the base of Mt Sinai.

Prior to that, faithful Jews, such as Abraham, Isaac and Joseph were under no prohibition regarding the eating of pork. Abraham could have sat in his tent with a nice juicy BLT and not been in disobedience to God.

He, like all the other pre Exodus Patriarchs, served God under the commandments given to Noah.
Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
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Gen 9:3

So the prohibition on eating pork, as well as the entire law of clean\unclean, came as a response to the Israelites rejection of God when they worshiped the Golden Calf ( an animal)

It was their disobedience that brought about the fasting from pork, not any actual moral fault in the consumption of pork. A disobedience that was rectified by Christ’s complete obedience to the Father.
 
Rau said:
God’s prohibitions are not arbitrary, but four our good. What good was/is served by a prohibition on eating pork?
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As a Catholic of Jewish heritage, I can attest that even Jews don’t have an agreed upon answer for that.

Some Jews will say that observing kashrut (keeping kosher) was only necessary to prevent people from eating food that wasn’t healthy in the past (there was no way to ensure that a person eating pork would not get trichinosis, is one reason you hear a lot).

Other Jews cite that it was a matter of obedience, such as in the case of telling Adam and Eve not to eat of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the Garden of Eden. The fruit wasn’t bad for them, per se, but disobedience that would go along with eating it was. It’s a matter of discipline.

Others see a combination of health, moral, and mystical reasons for the kosher restrictions.

Whatever the exact reason–and even if we don’t know it–Jews don’t believe that God owes us a reason for every command he gives humans. Perhaps that’s part of it.

The Catholic Church has no official teaching on the matter as to “why” the demands of kashrut either.
 
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