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Clean To Eat or Unclean?

Recently, a well-known person spoke on television of his personal distain for pork – giving justification for his decision to not eat it by describing the unclean habits pigs are characterized by; “They will eat anything, they are scavengers; what they eat is digested in only forty minutes leaving many harmful toxins in their meat,” etc.  What he said is all true – check it out for yourself, just Google the facts. Do you eat pork chops? Ham, bacon, and sausage? A lot of people do. I must confess, I enjoy eating this other white meat. Is it good for you and me? Hmm…I can’t really say; I’m no medical expert or dietician.

In the Old Testament, many foods were considered to be unclean and the people were commanded to not eat them. The Pharisees of that time strictly upheld these laws. In the New Testament, Jesus was quizzed by some Pharisees (Mark 7:1-20) about why His disciples didn’t live according to the traditions of the elders instead of eating with “unclean hands.” He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites as it is written:

‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’”

Later, after leaving the crowd, His disciples asked Jesus about; "clean-unclean." Jesus said to them: “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’?” He went on to say it is what comes out of a man that makes him unclean.

Okay, so do we eat pork or not? It should be a personal decision I guess. Certainly, all that is known about the ‘unclean’ habits of pigs is enough to turn a person away from this meat choice. Some (experts) say, as long as the meat is properly handled, stored, and cooked it is safe to eat. It’s your call! I’ll probably still have some bacon every once in a while, and I’ll probably have a second, or third helping of that delicious, spiral-cut ham at Thanksgiving. 

However, I’ll refrain from wishing you “bon-appetite!” You be the judge whether it's clean or unclean to eat.


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