Leviticus 11
Clean and unclean animals. It has been so many generations that we have been consuming unclean animals it is hard to tell any more why we do. Whenever I am asked by someone why God put these restrictions on food, I am aware that maybe my response is at least partly biased by the fact that I do indeed eat unclean food. My response in effect is an attempt to justify my actions. I have used Acts 10 and the story of Peter's vision of clean and unclean animals and a voice telling him to eat when he was hungry. Peter protested, but he was told “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” (Acts 10:15)
Actually, that one story from Acts, I use almost exclusively to justify my eating food which is declared as unclean. Now, having said that I will also say that I actually don't eat much food that is on that list of unclean foods. Some of it is just plain repulsive to me, maybe because of the culture I have grown old in. I would never consider eating any of the birds listed as unclean. They just don't seem like creatures that one should eat. The prohibition on pork makes a lot of sense to me. It makes me ill. Not deathly ill, but ill enough that after I have consumed some of it, I wish I hadn't.
I don't know why God decided that some animals were clean and others unclean. Maybe it was just because he is God and he can. Maybe it's because we were not created to consume these types of food and still live long and healthy lives. It's been suggested that among the creatures there are many creatures who they themselves eat meat and the blood that is in the other animals that they consume. Maybe, some of it goes back to the prohibitions about eating blood. But, even if some of it does, not all of the creatures listed eat the blood of other living creatures. I'm pretty sure that shrimp don't eat any kind of meat or consume the blood of other animals, yet the laws in Leviticus prohibits eating any sea creature that does not have scales and fins. Yet, there are people who cannot eat shrimp without becoming ill. Also, thinking on the life-style of the people of the Bible we should remember that in those days, there was no good means of refrigeration. How many of the foods on that list would go bad quickly without it?
Honestly, knowing how much God loves us, I tend to think that any rules or laws that God handed out are not just for his sake, but for our sake. Take a look at this list again. Think about these various creatures. Think about the ones you would not eat, unless you were lost in the wilderness and had to eat them in order to live. I would be hard pressed to eat a vulture or any bird that eats meat that has has been laying on the side of the road dead for a few days. Think about the various meats you actually consume that you've been told or learned from experience that they actually are not all that good for you. I tend to think that what God does and says is for the good of us, not our harm. Eating unclean foods may not always be in our best interest. On the other hand as the voice told Peter, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
Pretty ambiguous this morning... It has been ages (more than ages) since any culture that I am connected to as a whole has kept strict compliance with these food restrictions and it is hard to say why it has all changed so much from the days when they were given. All I can say is look at the whole text in context with what you know about the whole of scripture, including New Testament teachings, and discern for yourself, with the help of God, what is good, what is God's will for you.
Clean and unclean animals. It has been so many generations that we have been consuming unclean animals it is hard to tell any more why we do. Whenever I am asked by someone why God put these restrictions on food, I am aware that maybe my response is at least partly biased by the fact that I do indeed eat unclean food. My response in effect is an attempt to justify my actions. I have used Acts 10 and the story of Peter's vision of clean and unclean animals and a voice telling him to eat when he was hungry. Peter protested, but he was told “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” (Acts 10:15)
Actually, that one story from Acts, I use almost exclusively to justify my eating food which is declared as unclean. Now, having said that I will also say that I actually don't eat much food that is on that list of unclean foods. Some of it is just plain repulsive to me, maybe because of the culture I have grown old in. I would never consider eating any of the birds listed as unclean. They just don't seem like creatures that one should eat. The prohibition on pork makes a lot of sense to me. It makes me ill. Not deathly ill, but ill enough that after I have consumed some of it, I wish I hadn't.
I don't know why God decided that some animals were clean and others unclean. Maybe it was just because he is God and he can. Maybe it's because we were not created to consume these types of food and still live long and healthy lives. It's been suggested that among the creatures there are many creatures who they themselves eat meat and the blood that is in the other animals that they consume. Maybe, some of it goes back to the prohibitions about eating blood. But, even if some of it does, not all of the creatures listed eat the blood of other living creatures. I'm pretty sure that shrimp don't eat any kind of meat or consume the blood of other animals, yet the laws in Leviticus prohibits eating any sea creature that does not have scales and fins. Yet, there are people who cannot eat shrimp without becoming ill. Also, thinking on the life-style of the people of the Bible we should remember that in those days, there was no good means of refrigeration. How many of the foods on that list would go bad quickly without it?
Honestly, knowing how much God loves us, I tend to think that any rules or laws that God handed out are not just for his sake, but for our sake. Take a look at this list again. Think about these various creatures. Think about the ones you would not eat, unless you were lost in the wilderness and had to eat them in order to live. I would be hard pressed to eat a vulture or any bird that eats meat that has has been laying on the side of the road dead for a few days. Think about the various meats you actually consume that you've been told or learned from experience that they actually are not all that good for you. I tend to think that what God does and says is for the good of us, not our harm. Eating unclean foods may not always be in our best interest. On the other hand as the voice told Peter, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”
Pretty ambiguous this morning... It has been ages (more than ages) since any culture that I am connected to as a whole has kept strict compliance with these food restrictions and it is hard to say why it has all changed so much from the days when they were given. All I can say is look at the whole text in context with what you know about the whole of scripture, including New Testament teachings, and discern for yourself, with the help of God, what is good, what is God's will for you.
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