‘Why Some Christians Are Eating Biblically Clean’
Breaking Israel News had a link titled Why Some Christians Are Eating Biblically Clean. Here is some of what that article stated:
December 19, 2018
“And the swine — although it has true hoofs, with the hoofs cleft through, it does not chew the cud: it is unclean for you. Leviticus 11:7
But anything in the seas or in the streams that has no fins and scales, among all the swarming things of the water and among all the other living creatures that are in the water—they are an abomination for you Leviticus 11:10
Because of the clear Biblical directive regarding avoiding pork and shellfish, some Biblically faithful non-Jews observe diets they call Biblically clean or Biblically kosher. …
Tom Washburn lives with his family in rural Tennessee. Raised in “a good Christian home,” he told Breaking Israel News that, 25 years ago, after a period of deep Bible study, he and his wife Annie changed the way they ate and began observing a range of other Biblical laws and feasts.
“We believe that we should observe and obey the commandments we find in Scripture. I should probably clarify that we do not follow the Jewish kosher laws. Although we do not eat any pork in any form, our home would not be considered kosher. For example, I will eat meat and cheese together, because I don’t find the prohibition in Scripture,” he explained. …
Lisa Girouard from Cedar Park, Texas also looks to the Bible exclusively for guidance about her food choices. “My understanding of the Bible has caused me to eat according to Leviticus 11:1-23 and Deuteronomy 14:3-21. I do not eat pork or shellfish or any of the other things listed in those chapters. I believe this instruction from God tells us what He made that is food for man to eat, and what is not for food.” …
For Dr. Patricia Duke from Tampa, FL, eating Biblically clean began in the late 1990s, coinciding with her understanding that “it truly did make a difference which day I kept as the Sabbath. I had read of all the dietary laws in the Original Covenant but thought them only applicable to the Jewish people. Little did I know I would soon discover how wrong I was!”
Inspired by a book that described the unclean habits of shrimp and pigs, she began to look more deeply at “the dietary laws in Leviticus, Exodus and Deuteronomy. From there I launched into intense research of the function of each unclean animal to find out why God would say not to eat them.
“At the end of my research journey, I was convinced that God had a specific purpose in creating each species of animal. I discovered the key of what to eat or what not to eat is what He considers food, not in what we humans consider as food. I came to realize that since God made my body, He certainly knew what food was best for me to eat.
“I concluded that the dietary laws are still valid today because He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, so I eliminated eating anything unclean from my diet. When I was growing up eating [Biblically prohibited foods] was just what we did. I used to like the taste of these ‘forbidden foods’. Now, just the thought of eating them is repulsive to me.” …
Greg Cornelius of Ellijay, Georgia has spun his personal commitment to a Biblical diet into something more. Cornelius has a Facebook profile under the name Torah Chef, where he shares “clean recipes and ideas, and hopefully opening up to greater dialogue and study.”
Cornelius explained, “I follow Scriptural instructions as best as I can read and comprehend them. Mostly vegetables, clean fish, poultry, ruminants, game birds, fruit, grain, seeds etc. I abstain from pork, shellfish, and the other ‘critters’ mostly described in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. I tend to worry less about certifications and additional comprehensions unless I can point it to Scripture.” https://www.breakingisraelnews.com/118961/biblical-diet-nations/
So, the two basically listed reasons for not eating biblically-unclean animals in the above article is because the Bible says not to and there seem to be habits of unclean animals that suggest they should not be eaten by humans. On that latter point, there are various diseases that humans have gotten from eating unclean animals (like Ebola and trichinosis).
Let me also mention a scripture from the New Testament:
3 … contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. (Jude 3)
One of the ways you contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints is by following their example of not eating biblically unclean meat.
The Apostle Paul wrote:
1 Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ. (1 Corinthians 11:1)
Jesus did not eat biblically unclean meat (cf. Luke 11:11-13; John 15:10).
The Apostle Paul did not eat biblically unclean meat (cf. Acts 28:17).
All should realize that the Apostle Paul did not want Gentile Christians to participate in uncleanness and that is something that they should repent of. Paul also wrote:
For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them (Ephesians 5:5-7).
Is eating biblically prohibited foods or not eating them a sign of disobedience? Is not consuming what the Bible prohibits covetous?
Although some feel that Christians can eat unclean meats, Paul wrote:
7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness (I Thessalonians 4:7).
The Apostle Peter added:
9…the Lord knows how…10 to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority (II Peter 2:9-10).
Some, sadly, despise biblical authority to eat whatsoever they lust after.
Most who profess Christianity, however, will claim to believe that Jesus declared all animals to be clean to eat, even though He did not.
I would also add that even Roman Catholic scholars realize that it was not until about a century and a half after Jesus was resurrected that their church accepted the consumption of unclean animals.
According to the Liber Pontificalis, the acceptance of unclean meat came about 150 years AFTER Jesus was resurrected and was pushed by the Roman Bishop Eleutherius:
He also decreed that no kind of food in common use should be rejected especially by the Christian faithful, inasmuch as God created it; provided it was a rational food and fit for human kind (Book of the Pontiffs (Liber Pontificalis) 2nd edition. Translation by Raymond Davis. Liverpool University Press – Translated Texts for Historians, Liverpool, 2001, p.17).
The Catholic Encyclopedia states:
The “Liber Pontificalis” ascribes to Pope Eleutherius a decree that no kind of food should be despised by Christians (Et hoc iterum firmavit ut nulla esca a Christians repudiaretur, maxime fidelibus, quod Deus creavit, quæ tamen rationalis et humana est).
It should be noted that Roman bishops were not called Popes that early (that did not happen until the late fourth century). Anyway, according to Lopes book The Popes, Eleutherius was bishop of Rome from 175-189 AD. This book (which I purchased at the Vatican itself) states this about Eleutherius:
He dispensed with the obligations of Christians to follow dietary laws of Judaic origin (page 5).
The above book should have said the obligations of biblical origin as the dietary restrictions began with God and not Jews (the distinction between clean and unclean animals was known by at least Noah’s time, since God so declared in Genesis 7:2-3). Perhaps it needs to be stated that no one called of God in the Old Testament is ever shown to have consumed unclean meat. Hence the Catholics (and the Protestants that follow this edict) are relying on a possible pronouncement of a bishop of Rome for justification of eating unclean meats more than they may realize. And this alleged decree did not happen until about 150 years after Jesus was resurrected.
Now, I should add that the Liber Pontificalis was composed in the fifth/sixth centuries and has a reputation, even among Roman Catholic scholars, for arbitrarily assigning events with certain “popes” (some of this is documented in the article What Does Rome Actually Teach About Early Church History?). It would seem, however, that this could not have been assigned any earlier than 175 A.D. because of Irenaeus’ writings. Hence, it is clear that well into the second century, the laws concerning clean and unclean meats were considered to have been in force for Christians in general (exceptions including the apostates in Alexandria and the apostate Justin). And that it is due to a later Catholic tradition that unclean animals became food for Roman supporters.
Consider that in the third century an elder named Pionius of Smyrna, who claimed to be part of the ‘catholic church,’ refused to eat unclean meat:
3. It was Saturday and after they had prayed and taken the sacred bread with water, Polemon the temple verger came in on them with his men in order to seek out the Christians and drag them off to offer sacrifice and to taste forbidden meats. “Surely you are aware,” said the verger, “of the emperor’ edict commanding us to sacrifice to the gods.” “We are aware,” said Pionius, “of the commandments of God ordering us to worship him alone.”
Polemon said: “Come then to the market-place; there you will change your minds.”
Sabina and Asclepiades said: “We obey the living God.” He led them off then without restraint and as they walked along everyone saw that they were wearing their chains, and such a crowd rushed up in haste as it were for a strange sight, that they jostled one another. As they came into the forum, by the eastern Stoa and the double gate, all the forum and the upper storeys of the porches were crowded with Greeks, Jews, and women. They were on holiday because it was a great Sabbath. They drew near, looking towards the tribunal steps and the voting urns.
6. There was a lawyer by the name of Alexander, a wicked man, who spoke: “Listen to us, Pionius.”
“You should be concerned,” said Pionius, “to listen to me. What you know, I know; but what I know, you are ignorant of.” Alexander was minded to make sport of him, for he said to him ironically: “Why are you wearing these chains?” “First of all,” said Pionius, “so that though we are passing through your city, we mlght not be suspected of having come to eat forbidden foods…
9. Then he interrogated him for the sake of the record, while a notary took everything down. “What is your name?” he asked him.
“Pionius,” was the answer. “Are you a Christian?” asked Polemon
“Yes,” said Pionius.
Polemon the verger said: “What church do you belong to?”
“The Catholic Church,” was the answer; “with Christ there is no other.” (The Martyrdom of Pionius and his Companions, Chapters 3,6, & 9. Text from H. Musurillo, The Acts of the Christian Martyrs (Oxford, 1972), 137-167. http://archive.is/abf7S accessed 07/25/15)
While some associated with the Greco-Romans, like Justin, apparently ate unclean meat, Pionius (who seems to have had a connection to Polycarp of Smyrna) did not. (As far as the ‘Catholic Church’ goes, the first two times this appears in the literature it is a reference to the Church of God in Smyrna. It was not until the late 4th century that the Church of Rome and its Eastern Orthodox confederation had it for its exclusive legal use because of a decree of the Emperor Theodosius related to the Council of Constantinople he called for in 381. Pionius was obviously NOT part of the Roman Catholic Church since he would not eat unclean meat decades after Bishop Eleutherius supposedly authorized it, plus he also kept biblical Holy Days, etc.) I should also add that the Church of Rome considers that the presbyter Pionius was a saint, hence the fact that he did not even wish to be accused of eating it in the mid-third century should show that those that considered themselves faithful Christians did NOT eat biblically unclean meats in the third century.
The Continuing Church of God is produced a video sermon which is at its ContinuingCOG channel.
Christians and Unclean Meats
Does the Bible teach that Christians should eat the flesh of animals that the Old Testament called unclean? Did Jesus purify all animals? Did Jesus teach that there were animals that were not good to be eaten? Does the Bible show that anyone called of God ate biblically unclean animals? The acceptance of eating unclean meats was endorsed by the falsely named ‘Epistle of Barnabus’ (he did not write it) and supposedly in the late second century by the Roman Bishop Eleutherius. Is uncleanness a New Testament concept? Are pork products dangerous? What should faithful Christians do?
1:16:37 The Continuing Church of God also produced a shorter video which is available at its Bible New ProphecyYouTube channel:
20:16
Many have claimed that Jesus declared all animal flesh as food in Mark 7. Mulvane Brethren Pastor Jack Wellman cited this verse as partial proof that Jesus declared that all animals were clean for Christians. Is this what Jesus really said? What did early Christians believe about this? Were faithful Christians still avoiding unclean meats after Jesus was resurrected? What did the Apostle Peter do? What did the third century martyr Pionius do? When did the Church of Rome claim it changed to allow promotion of biblically unclean animals? Were any unclean animals mentioned in the New Testament after Mark 7?
A written article of related interest is titled: Unclean arguments overlook biblical and historical facts.
In at least three books of the Bible, eating the flesh of pigs (an unclean animal) is prohibited–and a couple of references in the Book of Isaiah are negative and prophetic–that means that unclean meats are still unclean.
Thus, those who rely on the Bible realize that the prohibitions against pork were NOT nailed to the cross or otherwise done away with (see also Which Laws were Superceded? Which Remain?). Jesus’ death did NOT change the flesh of pork or reduce its ability to pass on health problems (more details are in the article The New Testament Church, History, and Unclean Meats.
It may also be of interest to note that in the New Testament, Jesus also makes negative comments towards pigs/swine. Notice:
6 “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces. (Matthew 7:6)
The Bible also teaches:
2 … Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good (Isaiah 55:2).
God did not intend pork, or the flesh of other unclean animals, to be food for human beings.
Even the Church of Rome admits that early Christians did not consume pork (some details are in the article The New Testament Church, History, and Unclean Meats).
Early Christians did not consume pork.
We in the Continuing Church of God do not consume pork–and the Bible supports this position.
Some items of possibly related interest may include:
The New Testament Church, History, and Unclean Meats Are foods considered to have been unclean in the Old Testament considered to be food in the New Testament? This article discusses this from the perspective of the New Testament. It also has a list of clean and unclean animals. It also answers the question, is pork healthy or is pork dangerous? There is also a sermon-length video on this: Christians and Unclean Meats.
Did Jesus declare all animal flesh food? Many have claimed that Jesus declared all animal flesh as food in Mark 7. Mulvane Brethren Pastor Jack Wellman cited this verse as partial proof that Jesus declared that all animals were clean for Christians. Is this what Jesus really said? What did early Christians believe about this? Were faithful Christians still avoiding unclean meats after Jesus was resurrected? What did the Apostle Peter do? What did the third century martyr Pionius do? When did the Church of Rome claim it changed to allow promotion of biblically unclean animals? Were any unclean animals mentioned in the New Testament after Mark 7?
American foods that gross out foreigners A study done in the Fall of 2014 found out which foods that non-USA Americans considered weird or gross that Americans eat. This video discusses those foods, ingredients in some of those foods, and warns against consuming ‘that which is not bread’ (Isaiah 55:2). Dr. Thiel also warns about synthetic vitamins and some of the issues associated with them. He also discusses something promoted by the late Seventh-day Adventist, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. This is a video. A partially related written post is titled American ‘foods’ that gross out foreigners.
Obesity, processed foods, health risks, and the Bible Does the Bible warn about the consequences of being obese? Is overeating dangerous? Is gluttony condemned? What diseases are associated with eating too much refined foods?
Eating Right, Eating Too Much, and Prophecy Are there disadvantages to being overweight? Is junk food really bad for you? Does the Bible discuss overeating and/or obesity? Is overeating having an effect on the US military? What are the ramifications of personal and national health for overeating? What should you eat? This is a sermonette-length YouTubevideo.
GMOs and Bible Prophecy What are GMOs? Since they were not in the food supply until 1994, how could they possibly relate to Bible prophecy? Do GMOs put the USA and others at risk? Here is a related YouTube video GMO Risks and the Bible.
Chimeras: Has Science Crossed the Line? What are chimeras? Has science crossed the line? Does the Bible give any clues? A video of related interest is Half human, half pig: What’s the difference?
Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse What is the pale horse of death and pestilences? What will it bring and when? Spanish: El cuarto jinete de Apocalipsis, el caballo pálido de muerte y pestilencia.
Messianic Judaism Beliefs Differ from the Continuing Church of God Both groups keep the seventh-day Sabbath, but have important differences in doctrines and practices. Here is a link to a related sermon: Messianic Jewish Beliefs.
SDA/CCOG Differences: Two Horned Beast of Revelation and 666 The genuine Church of God is NOT part of the Seventh-day Adventists. This article explains two prophetic differences, the trinity, differences in approaching doctrine, including Ellen White. Did Ellen White make prophetic errors? Did Ellen White make false prophecies? Here is a version in the Spanish language: SDA/COG Diferencias: La bestia de dos cuernos de Apocalipsis y 666. Here is a sermon in the English language: CCOG and SDA differences and similarities.
Ten Simple Rules that Lead to Health Herbert Armstrong gives his opinions on this.
Does God Heal Today? What does the Bible teach? Herbert Armstrong tries to explain this.
UK Study Supports Daniel Diet Daniel and his companions looked better eating more vegetables and avoiding strange meats. Has modern science confirmed this?
Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God differ from most Protestants How the real Church of God differs from mainstream/traditional Protestants, is perhaps the question I am asked most by those without a Church of God background. As far as some changes affecting Protestantism, watch the video Charismatic Kenneth Copeland and Anglican Tony Palmer: Protestants Beware! [Português: Esperança do salvação: Como a igreja do deus difere da maioria de protestantes]
Which Is Faithful: The Roman Catholic Church or the Continuing Church of God? Do you know that both groups shared a lot of the earliest teachings? Do you know which church changed? Do you know which group is most faithful to the teachings of the apostolic church? Which group best represents true Christianity? This documented article answers those questions.
Where is the True Christian Church Today? This free online pdf booklet answers that question and includes 18 proofs, clues, and signs to identify the true vs. false Christian church. Plus 7 proofs, clues, and signs to help identify Laodicean churches. A related sermon is also available: Where is the True Christian Church? Here is a link to the booklet in the Spanish language: ¿Dónde está la verdadera Iglesia cristiana de hoy? Here is a link in the German language: WO IST DIE WAHRE CHRISTLICHE KIRCHE HEUTE? Here is a link in the French language: Où est la vraie Église Chrétienne aujourd’hui?
Continuing History of the Church of God This pdf booklet is a historical overview of the true Church of God and some of its main opponents from Acts 2 to the 21st century. Related sermon links include Continuing History of the Church of God: c. 31 to c. 300 A.D. and Continuing History of the Church of God: 4th-16th Centuries and Continuing History of the Church of God: 17th-20th Centuries. The booklet is available in Spanish: Continuación de la Historia de la Iglesia de Dios, German: Kontinuierliche Geschichte der Kirche Gottes, French: L Histoire Continue de l Église de Dieu and Ekegusii Omogano Bw’ekanisa Ya Nyasae Egendererete.
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