Eating pork (among other things)

[gunther]

Do you make a practice of not eating pork, or do you believe that prohibition no longer applies? I quit eating it quite a long time ago, although I have occaisionally because it's hard to keep away from in our society. It is put in so many things, especially in restaurants in such things as green beans or baked beans.
It's quite eye opening to do a little research on pork and what it can do to you, however I've known some old pioneer stock that grew up on the farm and ate it probably every day of their lives and lived to close to a hundred years old.

[Iris]

According to Dr. J. D'Adamo, who wrote a few books on the way different people should eat and live according to their blood types, pork is bad for everyone, especially my blood type (AB). So yeah, I try to avoid it, but only for that reason.

Do you only avoid it for health reasons?

[Iris]

OOPS I posted twice.


According to Dr. J. D'Adamo, who wrote a few books on the way different people should eat and live according to their blood types, pork is bad for everyone, especially my blood type (AB). So yeah, I try to avoid it, but only for that reason.

Do you only avoid it for health reasons?

[gunther]

I quit eating it because I read in the Bible that you aren't supposed to. I believe in the whole Bible and think it was prohibited for a reason. I believe that the Laws were made for our benefit, not to punish us. Later, when I started doing a little research, I found out why it's not good to eat.

[AllanS]

I don't wear cotton/polyester shirts because the OT says we're not to mix fibres. I won't even touch a person who's wearing one in case I also become unclean.

If I bump into someone accidentally, I go home and wash myself ceremonially, just in case. Then I kill a pigeon and sprinkle its blood as a sin offering.

[Theo]

[Noontidal]

[Boromir]

[gunther]

[Amy]

I wanted to chime in here to clear up the misunderstanding of Scripture that God prohibits stuff because it's bad for us. Not true--the OT laws were to set the Israelites apart as pure, unlike their pagan neighbors. A good example of misapplication is the law regarding milk and meat. There is no such law--the law says not to cook a kid in its own mother's milk. There is not a ban on eating meat and milk together, that is a modern Kosher rule (there are more like that one).

You can avoid pork if you don't like it, or because modern science has determined it's bad. But don't do it because you believe God says it's unhealthy. What Paul in the NT says is basically that if you choose to obey the Law, then you must obey the whole Law, and it must be for the right reasons--not to buy a ticket to Heaven. One of the things that was happening was that Gentile believers were wanting to be circumcised. Paul warned them that this wouldn't earn them a spot in the Kingdom. Although it wasn't specifically Paul who abolished the food laws (this was Peter, see Acts for the full scoop), Paul did speak about eating meat sacrificed to idols. He warned that some people found this to be a great stumbling block, but for others, it was no problem. I think both of these examples apply here. If your faith will be weakened if you eat pork, by all means, go ahead and avoid it. But be warned that your motives must be pure.

[AllanS]

I'll never touch pork. God's laws are best. I choose bugs over bacon any day.

I enjoy a hearty breakfast of beetle and eggs, on toast. I like wild locust lightly fried with garlic, tho my wife eats them raw. Cockroaches dipped in chocolate are a real treat too. At Christmas.

Some people pull faces as I crunch away but I fix them with an earnest eye. "Don't you call unclean what God has made clean!" I say. That usually shuts them up.

[jo]

[Mary]

What can I say except that I am a total Gentile. I eat pork, I have a tattoo, my sons are uncut, and I shake men's hands. But, I have a lot of respect for Orthodox who follow those rules out of obedience to God, and I find that people who do so for that reason are not usually inclined to insist that others do the same. What I don't have resepct for is people who follow these or any other dietary restrictions and make a point of commenting on how other people eat. Seems like I have dealt with this a lot.....maybe it's Northern CA and the vegans etc. Likewise, I am sure it's aggravating to be Orthodox and have people constantly asking you to explain yourself. Although, when I've seen this happen, the conversation was both lively and upbeat.

[jo]

What kind of tattoo do you have ? :)

I think that yeah, it's up to individuals and the problem comes when you start telling others how to live. That said, I don't think that there is a requirement to not eat pork to be Christian so if that's why Gunther is doing it I think that that is misguided..

[Mary]