Pork, crustaceans, shells, and fish without scales - unclean foods

[alitaptap]

In the absence of science, how come OT called pork, crustaceans, shells, fish without scales, etc unclean foods? Modern science has found out that these foods have high toxicity.

 

[SunnaB16]

God knows everything in Eternity, so…His instructions to the Israelites reflect that.

 

[Alan55]

In the absence of science, how come OT called pork, crustaceans, shells, fish without scales, etc unclean foods? Modern science has found out that these foods have high toxicity.

What makes you think that pork, shellfish, etc. are highly toxic?

 

[alitaptap]

What makes you think that pork, shellfish, etc. are highly toxic?

Pork has more toxins than other meats. Crustaceans and shells are the scavengers of the sea. Fish without scales have slightly more toxins since fish release their toxins through their scales.

 

[Petergee]

In the absence of science, how come OT called pork, crustaceans, shells, fish without scales, etc unclean foods? Modern science has found out that these foods have high toxicity.

That’s not “modern science”, that’s propaganda by fundamentalists of Orthodox Judaism and a few Christian sects which demand their members comply with OT dietary rules. These foods are no more likely to be toxic than any others. The main purpose of the OT dietary rules was for God to establish in the minds of the Israelites that they were different from other people, they were set aside for Him.

A bit like how priests and religious do not marry because they are dedicated to God and His Church, but that doesn’t mean that there is anything wrong with marriage - on the contrary.

The OT dietary rules were about **spiritual **health and cleanness, not physical health and cleanness.

 

[puzzleannie]

In the absence of science, how come OT called pork, crustaceans, shells, fish without scales, etc unclean foods? Modern science has found out that these foods have high toxicity.

they are toxic mainly because of chemicals and elements that have found their way into the food chain through human mining and manufacturing operations that have polluted the water, they probably were not toxic when God gave his laws to the Jews subsequent to the Decalogue. They did not obey the first 10 so he gave them the rest of the dietary and other laws to teach them obedience, not primarily because the proscribed foods had health risks.

 

[Filioque]

In the absence of science, how come OT called pork, crustaceans, shells, fish without scales, etc unclean foods? Modern science has found out that these foods have high toxicity.

Then from a purely Biblical standpoint what is your opinion of Swordfish?

Wandering a little (Biblically) would you eat green grapes at the same meal or snack as red?

How do you handle clothing of a poly cotton blend?

 

[rdscheirer]

Please site your reference as to why these foods are "toxic:. In Acts God tells Peter to take and eat of all of the providence of the eath, there is no longer a prohibition on what one can eat and still remain reconciled to God

 

[alitaptap]

In Acts God tells Peter to take and eat of all of the providence of the eath, there is no longer a prohibition on what one can eat and still remain reconciled to God

I’m not saying you shouldn’t eat these delicious foods, but perhaps minimize them in your diet especially pork if you are hypertensive.:tsktsk:

 

[Mailman]

The main purpose of the OT dietary rules was for God to establish in the minds of the Israelites that they were different from other people, they were set aside for Him.

There were no Israelites then at the time of Noah but God’s law on unclean foods was already in effect. God tells Noah: “Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that [are] not clean by two, the male and his female” (Gen. 7:2).

The OT dietary rules were about **spiritual **health and cleanness, not physical health and cleanness.

You are mistaken. God’s law on clean and unclean is not just about spiritual health and cleanness but also physical health and cleanness.

 

[Mailman]

Please site your reference as to why these foods are "toxic:. In Acts God tells Peter to take and eat of all of the providence of the eath, there is no longer a prohibition on what one can eat and still remain reconciled to God

The story in Acts does not show there is no longer a prohibition on meats God calls “unclean.” Notice Peter never “ate” of the animals in the vision, not even after having been instructed to do so three times. After the experience, Peter still “doubted in himself what this vision that he had seen should mean” (Acts 10:17). Unlike many of us today, Peter didn’t carelessly assume that the vision meant it was now ok to eat unclean meats. He knew the importance of contending for the “faith which was once delivered” and so thought about what he saw more deeply. And Peter did understand later what the vision meant.

Addressing the gentile Cornelius and his group, Peter said: “Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me” – now here, in Peter’s own words, is what the vision is all about – “that I should not call any man common or unclean” (Acts 10:28).

It was not about meats, but people – specifically, GENTILES. Because the Jews considered Gentiles “unclean,” the vision was meant to show Peter that they should discontinue referring to them as such and treat everyone the same. Notice what Peter said later in verse 34: “Of a truth, I PERCEIVE that God is no respecter of persons.”

Peter’s vision was to show that salvation was now open to Gentiles: “… in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him” (verse 35). The promise of salvation was originally for the Jews only: “… salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22). Now Gentiles have that same promise: “… salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew FIRST, and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16). That was the whole point of Peter’s vision.

 

[Cristian_B]

The New Testament tells us to eat only clean food.

*For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. *~1 Timothy 4:4-5

ὅτι πᾶν κτίσμα θεοῦ καλόν, καὶ οὐδὲν ἀπόβλητον μετὰ εὐχαριστίας λαμβανόμενον, ἁγιάζεται γὰρ διὰ λόγου θεοῦ καὶ ἐντεύξεως. ~1 Timothy 4:4-5

It is a miss translation, does it? Because some people would just love for that ‘and’ to be an ‘or’, but it is ‘and’. καὶ means “and, also, even, indeed, but”. There is no other way around. The food must be consecrated by the Word meaning considered clean and by prayer. It is a requirement to have both. You can’t just obey the Word and not pray, and you can’t just pray and disobey the word hoping it would be the same.

God commands us what to eat because we are what we eat. Our brains are what we eat, and God communicates with us trough our brains. Our brain is the ‘holy of holies’. In the Old Testament not everything could enter the Temple. And now we are the Temple. We must take care of it.

A good example would be why doesn’t God allow us to get drunk? Because it affects our brain, and if our brain is damaged we can’t hear Him properly. Why do we have legs? To carry our brain around. Why do we breathe? To give oxygen to our brain and to the organs and cells that keep the brain alive. Why do we have a heart? Mainly to keep the brain alive and the organs and cell that keep in their way the brain alive. And you can go on like this. Everything in our bodies has been made mainly to keep the brain alive directly of indirectly.

God originally made us vegetarians, but because of the hardness of our hearts He allowed us to eat meat. But not any kind of meat. He made animals clean, meaning that they were made for us to eat them, and other unclean animals (rats, pigs, etc.) for the beauty of nature or for other reasons like cleaning to ocean etc.

God made a difference between clean and unclean from the garden of Eden. Only clean animals could be sacrificed, and Cain and Abel brought sacrifice. How did they know what to sacrifice?

The clean and unclean foods were given to Israel and we are Israel now. Nothing is abolished.

I don’t believe that there is something in the Old Testament that God commanded the Israelites to keep and we don’t have to now.

 

[Petergee]

St Peter indeed ate of foods which the Jews regarded as “unclean”, following his Master’s doctrine that “it is not what goes in to a man’s mouth that makes him unclean, but what comes out, from his heart.”

There were no Israelites then at the time of Noah but God’s law on unclean foods was already in effect. God tells Noah: “Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that [are] not clean by two, the male and his female” (Gen. 7:2).

No, the Bible tells us that God did not deliver His laws on ritual cleanliness until thousands of years after Noah. And it tells us that He gave these laws only to the Jews, not to Gentiles. Noah was a Gentile (Abraham was the first Jew.)

 

[Cristian_B]

St Peter indeed ate of foods which the Jews regarded as “unclean”, following his Master’s doctrine that “it is not what goes in to a man’s mouth that makes him unclean, but what comes out, from his heart.”

So… we can get drunk because what enters in us does not corrupt us? You are mistaken. Show me where Peter ate unclean foods.

No, the Bible tells us that God did not deliver His laws on ritual cleanliness until thousands of years after Noah. And it tells us that He gave these laws only to the Jews, not to Gentiles. Noah was a Gentile (Abraham was the first Jew.)

Actually the Bible tells us quite the opposite.

Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate ~Genesis 7:2

So they knew what animals where clean and what animals weren’t. Also another proof would be that only clean animals were commanded to be sacrificed, and Abel sacrifices a clean animal. How did he know?

 

[alitaptap]

The New Testament tells us to eat only clean food.

*For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. *~1 Timothy 4:4-5
Including cockroach? :bigyikes:

 

[Cristian_B]

Including cockroach? :bigyikes:

Read the Bible. If it is not sanctified by the word then it is unclean.

All fowls that creep, going upon all four, shall be an abomination unto you. Yet these may ye eat of every flying creeping thing that goeth upon all four, which have legs above their feet, to leap withal upon the earth; Even these of them ye may eat; the locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind. But all other flying creeping things, which have four feet, shall be an abomination unto you. ~Leviticus 11:20-23

I don’t know if it speaks about cockroaches, but cockroaches are scavengers, so we mustn’t eat them. Scavengers wat garbage, and things are what they eat. Why should we eat garbage?