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