When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He nailed the Old Testament law to the cross to die with Him. (Colossians 2:14) As a result, the regulations about clean and unclean foods were abandoned, along with some other religious rules and regulations. Under the New Law of Christ, it is no longer “wrong/unlawful” to consume pork or bottom feeders.
With that said, I don’t eat pork (or bottom fish). Pigs are the scavengers of their own environments and carry a variety of parasites in their bodies. They have been known to eat batteries (along with the acid), dead carcasses and even their own dung. Even though other animals may also have an unhealthy diet or eat dung, the difference is that pigs cannot push the toxins out of their bodies like chickens, cows, deers, etc. Pigs don’t have sweat glands which the body uses for toxin removal. The digestive process is also key to rid the body of excess toxins and pigs digest their food rather quickly, so the toxins end up being stored rather than eliminated. That means that any viruses or worms that pigs eat do not get filtered out of their bodies. So, whatever the pigs ingest—intentionally fed or accidentally—is passed onto you. I don’t know about you, but I find it interesting that it’s actually the way God made them.
Therefore, my reason for not eating pork is not about what is “lawful/unlawful”, but rather what is best for my temple. God tells us specifically that the swine are unclean (Lev 11:7), not just for Israel, but for us today as well. I believe they are still, if not more, unclean than in Bible days. Have you ever eaten pork and noticed you were thirsty after? That’s because our body is naturally trying to flush toxins from pork out of our system.
Occasionally I will consume a piece of crisp bacon but that’s a whole different post I’ll write later! When I do, I don’t feel like I’m breaking a law or a rule. I don’t feel like I’m doing something spiritually wrong. I not only live by grace, but I know just because I know all things are lawful to me, they may not be beneficial. (1 Corinthians 6:12)
So, when it comes to pigs, I think they are cute in the pen—not on my plate.
