What was the purpose of the food laws?

[Tania11]

2 Peter 3:3
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

Will you lose your salvation if you eat pork? What saves you?

 

[Dkh587]

Will you lose your salvation if you eat pork? What saves you?

eating pork is defiling, abominable, and unholy.

Why would anybody that desires salvation want to willingly eat unclean animals?

active faith is what saves, but faith does not negate obedience to God’s law.

 

[Redwingfan9]

Were they to make the Jews a distinct people?

Food laws were nothing but a foreshadowing of the perfection found in Jesus Christ. They were forward looking, which is why they are done away with in Christ. Health really isn't the focus, there's nothing unhealthy about lobster. They're a bottom feeder though, which made them unclean. Again, this is merely foreshadowing Christ.

 

[Sabertooth]

Will you lose your salvation if you eat pork?

No, but you could get sick when you didn't need to. If you have right standing when you die, you are still going to Heaven. (You might get a "Told ya' so!" )

If you don't die eating unhealthy things, you're in for a bumpy ride.

 

[RaymondG]

I dont buy the "to keep His people healthly" idea....For we serve a God who said that we shall be able to drink poison and not be affected..... I serve a God who states that, by His strips, we are healed.....not by our good eating habits. I serve a God who is fully capable of sustaining our health, no matter what we eat.... So trust in horses.....some in Chariots.....some in good eating habits.... But we will remember the name of the Lord Our God....For they are brought down and fallen.....But we are risen and stand Upright.

I believe the Laws are a good contrast to the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. Some must see sickness before appreciating health. Yet the Law is good and has great benefits to those who learn and follow them.... Our goal is to find life in spirit....after which, we can say to the laws like that of gravity...I am not longer under your control...and I can walk atop the water, if I so choose.....

 

[timothyu]

The Jews were spared from the bubonic plague

Huh?

 

[Sabertooth]

I dont buy the "to keep His people healthly" idea...

So, you wouldn't wash your hands in a corona virus or ebola zone?

Good, disciplined diets are beneficial, not mandatory.

Is it okay for a Christian to be a vegetarian? Yes.
MUST we be vegetarians?? No, it is optional.

Is it okay for Christian men to be circumcised? Yes.
MUST Christian men be circumcised?? No, it is optional.

Just because you don't like kosher laws (and they have been abused) doesn't mean that you can impede another believer's right to consider them for practical reasons. You are free to reject them. I am free to consider them (without imposing them on others).

 

[Sabertooth]

Huh?

Jewish casualties from the Black Death were minimal because they regularly washed their hands. The down side was that they were persecuted by their (less hygienic) Gentile neighbors who wrongly believed that was due to witchcraft. (Those stupid, stupid people.)

 

[RaymondG]

So, you wouldn't wash your hands in a corona virus or ebola zone?

Hand washing is a habit that I picked up as a child, and see no benefit or reason to abandon this habit.

However, If I were in an area of disease and had no means to wash, I would have full confidence in my Saviors ability to keep me healthy.... And if there is water and soap wherewith to wash.....I would do so because of my habit, and not because I am putting trust in creations to keep my healthy instead of the one who created all things.....

Just because you don't like kosher laws (and they have been abused) doesn't mean that you can impede another believers right to consider them for practical reasons. You are free to reject them. I am free to consider them (without imposing them on other believers).

Did you not read my full post, or are you practicing deception? Did you take a section of my post and left out the below section, because it would leave your argument void?

Yet the Law is good and has great benefits to those who learn and follow them

I'll assume that you just didnt read my full post since I do not know you to have practiced deception in the past. Please, in the future , read the whole matter before answering.

 

[Kaon]

Were they to make the Jews a distinct people?

Yes, and to keep them alive and healthy as much as possible.

Would you use regular unleaded in a Porsche? If His people are a holy people, they wouldn't put just anything in their bodies since consumption, as its purpose, absorbs the consumed into the consumer. If you eat feces, you become feces.

 

[RaymondG]

Yes, and to keep them alive and healthy as much as possible.

Would you use regular unleaded in a Porsche? If His people are a holy people, they wouldn't put just anything in their bodies since consumption, as its purpose, absorbs the consumed into the consumer. If you eat feces, you become feces.

Do you believe that God could have kept them alive and healthy if they were on a pork only diet? Or would this have been impossible for Him.....therefore He had to teach them to monitor their eating habits?

 

[Kaon]

Do you believe that God could have kept them alive and healthy if they were on a pork only diet? Or would this have been impossible for Him.....therefore He had to teach them to monitor their eating habits?

Of course, He could do anything. But, He wouldn't set someone up to have mixed signals about His Laws, and how they should use them. Additionally, there were men of faith (like Daniel) that specifically rejected unclean and sacrificed meats specifically because of the Law. This was done with the understanding that such a rejection would constitute death.

Daniel and his friends weren't protected by the Most High because they ate unclean food and hoped in the restorative power of the Most High. They were protected because they were willing to be obedient to the Most High even unto death - no matter how socially, politically or morally dangerous it may be.

There Most High will allow one to be deluded into believing one can disobey His Laws and still prosper. But, I don't believe He would help anyone who knowingly and willingly breaks His commandments and laws with no regard or thought of changing (repenting). This would inclued a pork-only diet.

 

[timothyu]

Will you lose your salvation if you eat pork? What saves you?

Kosher salted bacon puffs?

 

[timothyu]

Jewish casualties from the Black Death were minimal because they regularly washed their hands. The down side was that they were persecuted by their (less hygienic) Gentile neighbors who wrongly believed that was due to witchcraft.

So the fact they were often forced to live isolated from Gentiles and the bulk of the plague had no bearing. Also as they were often the merchants whose imported products brought the infected flea (not a connection at the time) that might have had a bearing on their persecution simply because even the dumbest person knew this death came from somewhere else as it moved across the land. Merchants would have been an obvious target.

 

[Sabertooth]

There Most High will allow one to be deluded into believing one can disobey His Laws and still prosper.

@Tania11 , if you haven't noticed there are three main views on Gentiles eating kosher,

1. Kosher is still in force for everybody and you bug God if you refuse to do so.
2. Kosher is a dead work and you reject Jesus' work on the Cross, if you continue to practice it.
3. Kosher is physically healthful, but of no spiritual value, making it optional, at best. Think of it as health wisdom (to the Gentiles).

Hand washing is a habit that I picked up as a child, and see no benefit or reason to abandon this habit.

Voluntary kosher can be a habit, too.

Does being a habit, mean that isn't beneficial?
Do you compel others to wash their hands??
Do you equate hand-washing to Salvation???

 

[RaymondG]

Of course, He could do anything. But, He wouldn't set someone up to have mixed signals about His Laws, and how they should use them. Additionally, there were men of faith (like Daniel) that specifically rejected unclean and sacrificed meats specifically because of the Law. This was done with the understanding that such a rejection would constitute death.

Yes God can do all things without limitation. Daniel had a strong conviction and belief in what He could and could not eat. I would advice anyone who has a strong belief in something, to follow the positive side of that belief no matter what it is. E.g. If you believe that you must give a certain amount of money to a church or god with remove your finances....you should continue to give it, no matter how many people tell you that your interpretation of the scripture, which formed this belief, is wrong.

I am not in the business of trying to get anyone to go against their beliefs. If you believe pork will kill you or make you sick....you do not need to show me a scripture to get me to believe you....I believe you already......because you believe you.

Daniel and his friends weren't protected by the Most High because they ate unclean food and hoped in the restorative power of the Most High. They were protected because they were willing to be obedient to the Most High even unto death - no matter how socially, politically or morally dangerous it may be.

They were protected because they believed they would be.....And they knew that, even if God did not protect them......He still could. Even if I eat a pork chop and die, it is not because God couldn't save me.....for He is all powerful and is not bound by any laws.

There Most High will allow one to be deluded into believing one can disobey His Laws and still prosper. But, I don't believe He would help anyone who knowingly and willingly breaks His commandments and laws with no regard or thought of changing (repenting). This would inclued a pork-only diet.

Yes this is a very natural thought......I told you to do this and you disobeyed therefore I will not help you.

Yet if we only Help those who help us.....how are we any better than the rest of the world? God is not like Man. You can ask for your inheritance.....go out and waste it, and He will still be happy to see you come back to Him. His love is incomprehensible....and not at all comparable to the love of man....

 

[Sabertooth]

So the fact they were often forced to live isolated from Gentiles and the bulk of the plague had no bearing.

Instead of arguing from conjecture, why don't you just read articles on the matter?

The Black Death « Jewish History

 

[timothyu]

Kosher soft drinks have a lot less syrups so it can't be all bad. The fizz is more effervescent than the tar bubble of syrupy soda.

 

[Tania11]

Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,
Romans 4:4‭-‬5

 

[dqhall]

eating pork is defiling, abominable, and unholy.

Why would anybody that desires salvation want to willingly eat unclean animals?

active faith is what saves, but faith does not negate obedience to God’s law.

While eating pork may seem bad, eating beef is also risky as the World Health Organization categorizes red meat as a Group 2 carcinogen. At one time beef was defiled by mad cow disease. Nitrite processed meats are a Group 1 carcinogen like tobacco. Some bacon, ham, salami, pepperoni and lunch meats are in this group. A diet high in saturated fat and cholesterol increases risk of arteriosclerosis, heart attacks, strokes and dementia. A high sodium diet increased blood pressure in some people.

Vegans may be at risk of B-12 deficiency.