Because the Almighty designed and created the human body (soul), mind (heart) and spirit, He is the ultimate Authority on how to keep them functioning properly. He is the One Who can tell us about such things as nutrition, sanitation, hygiene, disease prevention, etc.

One of the errors often committed when excluding certain meats from the human diet comes to light when certain religious groups incorrectly use a Biblical passage when defending their dietary rules. As is often the case when people manipulate the Holy Scriptures to “prove” their point, other Scriptures designed by the Lord to complete and explain the subject are deliberately ignored because they shed much needed light on the subject, light that exposes Scriptural error, light which God calls “darkness.” And should they be shown what the Lord says about the subject, darkness-purveyers fall back on church doctrine. No matter how many Scriptures are presented to them, they dismiss God’s Words outright while clinging to the teachings of man, thereby making the Lord out to be a liar while declaring that the Bible is God’s Spirit-inspired Word. This practice turns God’s Word into a smorgasbord of “truth” offerings. The parishioner assumes the right to choose those “truths” he/she wants to be true “truths. Also provided for selection are Scriptures I refer to as “almost truths” which can be used provided they are altered to make them fit denominational standards. With this in mind, let us study what the Lord says about not eating certain types of meat. Then let us determine how those Scriptures fit into His Truth relative to the eating of meat and meat’s relation to sin.

In Leviticus 11 we find the Lord warning His people (then and now) not to eat certain types of meat, which brings up a couple of questions. One, is it a SIN to eat those meats? And two, if not, why are they forbidden? Let us understand that not everything God tells us not to do results in sin if we do them. In some cases it is simply a matter of health or common sense. The issue of forbidden meats is one such case.

The Lord allows man to eat meat as did Jesus of Nazareth (Lk. 24:41,42) and the ancient Israelites (Lev. 11:1-3,9). Dieticians have known for many years that certain types of food cause certain types of diseases and ailments in the human body. When those affected with such problems stop eating certain types of foods the problems tend to go away. That aside, let us examine the forbidden meat-sin relationship claimed by certain religious groups. First, let us use God’s Word to determine if eating the meats forbidden by Leviticus 11 is a sin? To do this we will turn to other Scriptures which address the question.

But first we need to remind ourselves of God’s definition of sin as presented in His Holy Bible. In 1 John 3:4 we find Him putting forth His singular, straight and to-the-point definition of sin: “To transgress (break) the Law is sin, for sin is the transgression of the Law.” This is the same Law that Jesus told the rich man and the lawyer (and us) they (we) must obey in order to receive eternal life (Mk. 10:17-22/Lk. 10:25-28). In both cases “the Law” referred to the Ten Commandments which summarize the entire Bible. As noted by the lawyer, the first two commandments summarize the following eight. All sins are covered by the Ten Commandments. I never cease to be amazed at the wisdom of the Almighty and the love He has for us which He exhibits by sharing the wisdom we must have in order to be saved. That, dear readers, is pure love. When I consider what man did to His Son (crucifixion) and continues to do (disobedience) to Him, I marvel that He still calls out for us to come to Him. The Holy Bible is indeed His love letter to mankind. L.J.