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Dear Arthur and Sandra:
I was talking to a friend (the "cultural", not "religious"
Jewish person...) and some other school friends today during
a govt. project. Somehow the topic of religion came up, and
we started talking about eating kosher. She said that she
didn't eat certain types of food, and said to me, "don't u
also follow the first five books?" and I know that later on
in the Bible God cleansed those "unclean" animals, right?
But then when we were talking about it, it crossed my mind
that somehow God "changed His mind." Is that really what happened?
How do I explain why some of the laws are not followed today?
(such as the not-working-on-the-Sabbath thing...) well, thanks
again!!!! Bye.
God didn't change His mind. He told His people not to eat
certain types of meat that were typically sacrificed to idols.
Inherently, meat is neutral but it's what they represent that
God abhorred - they represented an appeasement to false God's
violating that most great of laws - thou shall not have any
gods before me.
Paul talks a lot about the practice of eating/not eating
meat in 1Corinthians. Study it. The Pentateuch is followed
by Christians in light of the whole counsel of God. The law
serves to establish God's perfection and to show beyond a
doubt that no one could even come close to keeping them. Thus,
the need for grace, and much of it. Much of the laws Jews
keep to are extra biblical; that is, they took a concept like
that of keeping the Sabbath and wrote volumes as to exactly
what activities were considered work and what was considered
rest. God never stated these. The Jews spoke where God remained
silent. Jesus came and showed that the spirit of the law was
necessary first before trying to fulfill the letter of the
law.
With respect to the types of animals that were considered
lawful and unlawful for the Jews to eat (Leviticus 11), the
health and dietary reasons were secondary to the spiritual
reasons. First, the laws represent God's law to the Israelites,
not the rest of the world. They were to obey God regardless
of the reason or whether they understood them or not (just
because God said it). Second, these dietary laws ensured that
social contact with the Gentiles would be kept to a minimum.
This also was a sign that Israel was God's chosen people and
that they were to be holy (which literally means "separate
from of set apart"). Third, the animals prohibited were carnivorous
which means they ate blood, which was prohibited to the Jews,
as it represented life. These were considered unclean animals.
The acceptable foods were considered clean and suitable for
sacrifice and eating. The unclean animals represented the
Gentiles and the clean ones represented the Jews.
When Jesus fulfilled the Law on our behalf and after the
Gentiles were included into the household of faith, the distinctions
were abolished. Mark 7:19 and Acts 10:15 show the abolition
of the dietary laws and also showed the spiritual intent and
lesson.
Hope that helps somewhat. It's not a full answer but maybe
it's a starting point for you. Do some cross referencing and
research yourself. 1 Corinthians may be a good place to start
or the passage where Jesus healed on the Sabbath.
Arthur
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