Organ meats

[Hopeful4cure]

Hello,

I was hoping for some advice on this. Is eating organ meats and/or taking glandular supplements a sin?

For example, there are medicines made out of the organs of cows. Is that in some way related to baal worship or food sacrificed to idols?

Is it better to take chemical drugs as a Christian than those made out of animals?

 

[Sophrosyne]

I don't see anything generally wrong with it myself as Christians can eat meats and as long as the rest of the meats in the cow are likewise used the organs that would possibly be left and wasted can be used.

I see no difference in chemical vs animal/plant based drugs generically speaking as long as there is no abuse of the animals.

 

[pescador]

Hello,

I was hoping for some advice on this. Is eating organ meats and/or taking glandular supplements a sin?

For example, there are medicines made out of the organs of cows. Is that in some way related to baal worship or food sacrificed to idols?

Is it better to take chemical drugs as a Christian than those made out of animals?

It makes no difference. You can eat (or ingest) anything you want, as Jesus said that all foods are permissible.

 

[Hopeful4cure]

So I was reading that Jesus didnt actually make all foods clean but that those verses were actually talking about washing your hands as a religious Jew as opposed to not washing hands. And that Jesus was saying it was ok to not wash your hands.

Could eating the organs be associated with baal worship or some kind of pagan practices?

 

[BobRyan]

You can eat whatever the Bible approves of.

I am not aware of organs not permitted to eat among the animals the Bible says "are for food".

 

[BobRyan]

So I was reading that Jesus didnt actually make all foods clean but that those verses were actually talking about washing your hands as a religious Jew as opposed to not washing hands. And that Jesus was saying it was ok to not wash your hands.

Could eating the organs be associated with baal worship or some kind of pagan practices?

That is true .. "read in context" Mark 7 (and Matt 15) are not talking about eating "rat sandwiches", or eating dogs or eating kittens. It is a heated debate about "eating bread" with hands that were not ceremonially "baptized" -- dipped to cleanse them of sin (supposedly).

In Acts 10 we have a direct command given to Peter by God - to "rise kill and eat" regarding a sheet full of rats,cats,bats, snakes etc shown to him "in a vision" (so not real animals in front of him). Peter responds to all 3 times this is presented to him - with "Oh no Lord! I have never done such a thing". Which tells us that the disciples did not start having daily "rat sandwiches" after the Mark 7:6-13 dispute over "eating bread" -- (also recorded in Matt 15).

In Acts 10 and 11 Peter explains the meaning of the vision a number of times saying the true meaning was "call no MAN unclean" as in - "Go evangelize gentiles" -- it was not "start eating rats".

 

[bèlla]

No one can advise you about your diet or health. There’s too many unknowns which could impact their advice. Speaking to a physician is best to pinpoint challenges and the impact you’ll experience adding or removing things. It isn’t simply a matter of conscience.

We eat nose to tail and try to use everything. Our meat is organic and grass-fed. I work directly with the farmer. They’re believers and simple folk. I don’t worry about the problems you’ve raised.

 

[Hopeful4cure]

That is true .. "read in context" Mark 7 (and Matt 15) are not talking about eating "rat sandwiches", or eating dogs or eating kittens. It is a heated debate about "eating bread" with hands that were not ceremonially "baptized" -- dipped to cleanse them of sin (supposedly).

Right, so are we actually permitted to eat the organs for purposes of medicine?

Supposedly there will be baal worship going on at the time Jesus comes back and people will be eating food sacrificed to idols. If you look up Ancestral Supplements on amazon, this is what Im talking about. Is it sinful?

 

[Hopeful4cure]

No one can advise you about your diet or health. There’s too many unknowns which could impact their advice. Speaking to a physician is best to pinpoint challenges and the impact you’ll experience adding or removing things. It isn’t simply a matter of conscience.

We eat nose to tail and try to use everything. Our meat is organic and grass-fed. I work directly with the farmer. They’re believers and simple folk. I don’t worry about the problems you’ve raised.

I appreciate your response. Just trying to gain some perspective.

 

[Torah Keeper]

I can't see how eating organs could be linked to idolatry. Which organs are you eating for medicine?

 

[BobRyan]

Right, so are we actually permitted to eat the organs for purposes of medicine?

Supposedly there will be baal worship going on at the time Jesus comes back and people will be eating food sacrificed to idols. If you look up Ancestral Supplements on amazon, this is what Im talking about. Is it sinful?

Although Acts 15 deals with food sacrificed to idols and instructs new believing gentiles not to eat it - in 1 Cor 8 Paul says that since idols are just wood and stone - Jews themselves did not care if food had been sacrificed to idols because they knew there is really just one God - not many competing , rival gods.

1 Cor 8:
4 Therefore, concerning the eating of food sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one. 5 For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, 6 yet for us there is only one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.

7 However, not all people have this knowledge; but some, being accustomed to the idol until now, eat food as if it were sacrificed to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 Now food will not bring us close to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat. 9 But take care that this freedom of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if someone sees you, the one who has knowledge, dining in an idol’s temple, will his conscience, if he is weak, not be strengthened to eat things sacrificed to idols? 11 For through your knowledge the one who is weak is ruined, the brother or sister for whose sake Christ died. 12 And so, by sinning against the brothers and sisters and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food causes my brother to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to sin.


1 Cor 10:
18 Look at the people of Israel; are those who eat the sacrifices not partners in the altar? 19 What do I mean then? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
20 No, but I say that things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become partners with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. 22 Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we? 23 All things are permitted, but not all things are of benefit. All things are permitted, but not all things build people up. 24 No one is to seek his own advantage, but rather that of his neighbor. 25 Eat anything that is sold in the meat market without asking questions, for the sake of conscience; 26 for the earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains. 27 If one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go, eat anything that is set before you without asking questions, for the sake of conscience. 28 But if anyone says to you, “This is meat sacrificed to idols,” do not eat it, for the sake of that one who informed you and for the sake of conscience; 29 Now by “conscience” I do not mean your own, but the other person’s; for why is my freedom judged by another’s conscience?

Paul makes the case that they needed to be sensitive to the issue of food sacrificed to idols and in some cases they could not eat it "for the sake of the other person's conscience" where that "other person" is a newly converted pagan - and still very used to thinking of other gods as real competing gods ...

But you are asking about a different aspect of it - as if food sacrificed to idols has some sort of power even for the one who knows idols "are nothing" - or that it relates to a last-day end-time deception.

Rev 13 does talk about worshiping the image to the beast...But that is not about this 1 Cor 8 issue that Paul already dismissed as "nothing" for the informed believer. Rev 13 is talking about something much more basic and fundamental to God's Law that will not be at all confusing to those who accept what scripture says is right vs wrong.

I am starting a thread on Rev 13 -- related to the image of the beast in Rev 13

Rev 13 and Rev 14 "mark of the beast" details everyone can see

 

[BobRyan]

I can't see how eating organs could be linked to idolatry. Which organs are you eating for medicine?

Animal organs were specifically used even in God's ordained system of sacrifices offered to God.

Lev 3:
3 From the sacrifice of the peace offerings he shall then present an offering by fire to the Lord, the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails, 4 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, which is on the loins, and the lobe of the liver, which he shall remove with the kidneys. 5 Then Aaron’s sons shall offer it up in smoke on the altar on the burnt offering, which is on the wood that is on the fire; it is an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord.

 

[Allen of the Cross]

Hello,

I was hoping for some advice on this. Is eating organ meats and/or taking glandular supplements a sin?

For example, there are medicines made out of the organs of cows. Is that in some way related to baal worship or food sacrificed to idols?

Is it better to take chemical drugs as a Christian than those made out of animals?

There are no Christian dietary laws. There are OT laws (which Jewish people practice/d) but Christians are never required to follow them in the New Testament. There may be a prohibition on eating blood, and food sacrificed to idols was a gray area in Paul's day, however. Besides that, though, eat whatever you want.

 

[Citizen of the Kingdom]

So I was reading that Jesus didnt actually make all foods clean but that those verses were actually talking about washing your hands as a religious Jew as opposed to not washing hands. And that Jesus was saying it was ok to not wash your hands.

Could eating the organs be associated with baal worship or some kind of pagan practices?

Your getting your parables confused. He said it’s not what goes into your mouth it’s what comes out off it, because what comes out comes from the heart. You could word study heart to find what the heart of God or humankind is being expressed BibleGateway - Keyword Search: heart but it seems the only commandment controversy anymore is about the Sabbath, so again that would probably be answered from what comes from the heart study.
Baal worship is selling oneself to slavery like Gomer and Hosea is the best book to again read about the heart of God.
Hth

 

[BobRyan]

There are no Christian dietary laws.

Well... there are in Acts 15 - and one of them deals with eating food offered to idols.

 

[BobRyan]

Your getting your parables confused. He said it’s not what goes into your mouth it’s what comes out off it,

True - they were debating about "eating bread" from the market place without first ceremonially baptizing fingers, pots, pans etc to "remove sin" supposed acquired by coming in contact with gentiles in the market place.

Has nothing to do with eating rat sandwiches.

 

[coffee4u]

Hello,

I was hoping for some advice on this. Is eating organ meats and/or taking glandular supplements a sin?

For example, there are medicines made out of the organs of cows. Is that in some way related to baal worship or food sacrificed to idols?

Is it better to take chemical drugs as a Christian than those made out of animals?

No, we are free to eat all forms of meat. It is wise to be careful however as some was not eaten due to health. For example pork not properly cooked can cause a nasty disease and I do know overeating organ meats contain a lot of cholesterol. So meats should be eaten with normal precautions.

No food eaten is a sin unless you view it as a sin or if your faith in eating it causes a weaker brother or sister to stumble.


1 Corinthians 8


8 Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. 2 Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. 3 But whoever loves God is known by God.


4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.


7 But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. 8 But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.


9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? 11 So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12 When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.

But just for yourself
9 About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. 11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. 12 It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. 13 Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

14 “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”

15 The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

Romans 14:14
I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean.

So it is for you to decide where you are in your walk. The fact you are asking says that you may not yet be at the point where you can't be troubled, showing more growth is needed. This is not meant as a put down we all have a walk to do and you can't simply feel things you have not reached maturity for. If it makes you uneasy at this point in your life then don't. If however the posts here have eased your mind and you can eat with a clear consonance then do so. No one can know this but you.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Hello,

I was hoping for some advice on this. Is eating organ meats and/or taking glandular supplements a sin?

For example, there are medicines made out of the organs of cows. Is that in some way related to baal worship or food sacrificed to idols?

Is it better to take chemical drugs as a Christian than those made out of animals?

Why would it be sinful? How would it be related to the worship of idols? I'm not sure how you've made this connection.

The answer is no. It's not sinful, and there's no connection between these--I can't even comprehend how a connection could be made.

What you eat is up to you. If you want to eat liver and onions, or go wild trying haggis, then more power to you really. I'm not the biggest fan of organ meats, though I am tempted to at least try haggis one of these days. Want to go vegan? Go vegan. Love bbq pork ribs? Then eat bbq pork ribs. Want to eat turkey gizzards? Eat turkey gizzards.

As far as anything medical goes, you should go with what your physician says, go with what trained and educated medical experts say. Listen to the science.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[coffee4u]

Why would it be sinful? How would it be related to the worship of idols? I'm not sure how you've made this connection.

The answer is no. It's not sinful, and there's no connection between these--I can't even comprehend how a connection could be made.

As far as supplements go, while there are benefits to some things, for example fish oil with omega-3 fats are, theoretically good (though there is a better argument to be made that rather than supplements we should be getting our nutrition from a more well-balanced diet).

If it is approved by the FDA (or comparative government body in other nations), then there's at least some oversight over pharmaceuticals. I would prefer more oversight personally, including more strict price regulations. But that's a different debate and conversation.

While there's no sin in taking supplements; there's also no reason to do so unless a medical professional (a real medical professional, not an alternative medicine sort) says so--usually because there is a significant deficiency.

What you eat is up to you. If you want to eat liver and onions, or go wild trying haggis, then more power to you really. I'm not the biggest fan of organ meats, though I am tempted to at least try haggis one of these days.

As far as anything medical goes, you should go with what your physician says, go with what trained and educated medical experts say. Listen to the science.

-CryptoLutheran

Because for those newer/weaker in the faith things like this can be a struggle.

7 But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.

Romans 14:14
I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean.

And those of us who see no sin but can simply give thanks to God for it have matured further.

 

[Allen of the Cross]

Well... there are in Acts 15 - and one of them deals with eating food offered to idols.

Yep, and blood as well - which I covered in my comment