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 ² One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. ³ The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. ⁴ Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

⁵ One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. ⁶ Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. ⁷ For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. ⁸ If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. 

¹⁰ You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. ¹¹ It is written:

¹² So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

¹³ Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. 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. ¹⁵ If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love.  ¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,

¹⁹ Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. ²⁰ Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. ²¹ It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.

²² So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves

6 ... not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!

10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory[of Jesus*].

11 And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

10 And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:
9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

¹² Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?

¹³ But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.

Salaam,

Caringheart

² And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault.

³ For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.

⁴ And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brassen vessels, and of tables.

⁵ Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him[Jesus], Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?

⁶ He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

⁸ For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.

⁹ And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

¹³ Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

¹⁴ And when He had called all the people unto him, He said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand:

¹⁵ There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.

¹⁶ If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.

¹⁷ And when He was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.

¹⁸ And He saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;

¹⁹ Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?  (*see below)

²⁰ And He said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.

²¹ For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

²² Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:

²³ All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

1) Camel

2) Goat

3) Sheep

4) Buffalo

5) Stag

6) Rabbit

7) Cow 

8) Wild-ass

9) Fish

10) Deer/Antelope/Gazelle

11) Duck

12) Heron

13) Nightingale

14) Quail

15) Parrot

16) Francolin

17) Locust

18) Partridge 

19) Lark

20) Sparrow

21) Goose

22) Ostrich

23) Dove

24) Pigeon

25) Stork

26) Rooster

27) Chicken

28) Peacock

29) Starling

30) Hoopoe

Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem.

² And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault.

³ For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.

⁴ And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brassen vessels, and of tables.

⁵ Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him[Jesus], Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?

⁶ 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.
⁷ Howbeit in vain do they worship me,
    teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

⁸ For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.

⁹ And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

^...

¹³ Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

¹⁴ And when He had called all the people unto him, He said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand:

¹⁵ There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.

¹⁶ If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.

¹⁷ And when He was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.

¹⁸ And He saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him;

¹⁹ Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?  (*see below)

²⁰ And He said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man.

²¹ For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

²² Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness:

²³ All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

I understand where you’re coming from; although I’m not sureI understand the emphasis put on it. Why is it always pig? What about horse,rabbit, cats, dogs, monkey brains, etc?

If I was to take it a step further and only eat what Jesusate then I’d be on a diet of bread and boiled fish. As I recall, that’s theonly foods mentioned that Jesus ate.  Toemulate Jesus would be very difficult. I’d have to curl my hair and get a deepsuntan, but then we don’t really know that either. A purple seamless robe wouldbe hard to find and I’d need a few wraps. Sandals wouldn’t work very well inthis snow either.

The Jews could care less, matter of fact, Acts 21 explains.In verse 17 you have Paul and entourage arriving in Jerusalem to meet with theelders. The elders are happy to hear about Paul’s ministry with the gentiles,but have some concerns brought up by the Jews that live amongst the gentiles,one of which is dietary laws. Over the course of the discussion the elders tellPaul in verse 25 what they have decided…

Paul, knowing that even though the elders had made adecision that does not mention pork, etc. that it would still be a point ofcontention around the Jews that were zealous for the law, (as stated in Acts21:20) that he better come up with a solution which he stated in Romans 14.

This is in keeping with Paul’s statement “Be all things toall men”. I hear Muslims say “Whaaa, he just told everybody to be a hypocrite”,but not so. His emphasis was on not causing a brother to stumble.

Put it this way. If you and I were to pick up a Jewishfriend and go to a restaurant that served a monstrous buffet of everything,what would we eat? Let’s just say our Jewish friend is as zealous about it asyou are.

Being all things to all men, I would do better to staywithin your dietary laws. Not because of “the” laws but because I wouldn’t wantto cause you or our friend any grief by doing so.  Pork would turn your stomachs. If you were topick up a spoonful of (halal) locust, (sorry, lack of examples here but thatwould turn my stomach already) and our Jewish friend would ask you what type oflocust they were. If not the one and only type that are kosher you’d turn hisstomach as well. I wouldn’t care if you had a pile of shrimp, but our friendwould. How about a steak and a tall glass of milk? The OT says not to boil agoat in its mother’s milk. That’s been expanded to not include milk and meat atthe same time, (not so Biblical, but kosher…) therefore our Jewish friend wouldnot be impressed. I bring back a plate of lasagna. All beef, tomatoes, etc.,smothered in mozzarella cheese, (making myself hungry here) but now I have ourJewish friend scowling at me because cheese is still dairy. So when our Jewishfriend came back to the table with a glass of wine, I would not be impressed,not because of any laws but because of past experience. You, on the other hand,(and I’m not totally sure on this, but because of what Muslim friends have toldme) would either have to ignore it, move to another table, or leave therestaurant. In order to appease each other’s diets, would we all end up eatingbread and boiled fish? Better we pick a kosher restaurant next time.

According to Paul’s direction, bringing pork, horse, rabbit,snails, w/e to the table would be my sin. Knowing your convictions and eatingit in front of you would be another sin. Tempting you to try it would yet againbe another sin. If I tempted you until you tried it, whoa… I’d best stay home.Look at the trouble I’m already in for mentioning I’ve eaten pork.