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In other words, if clean meats offered
to idols were not polluted, you could
eat of them unless it offended sorne–
ene. Under those circumstances the
meat became common, not to you,
but to the other person who raised
the question about idols. Notice:
"Conscience,
1
say, not thine own,
but of the other" (verse 29).
That is why Paul said in Romans,
"But to him that esteemeth any thing
to be common [margin], to him it is
common" (Romans 14:14)
Prophecy for the Future
What does the Bible say the people
would be doing today? Notice: They
tha t eat "swine's flesh"-that is
what most people are doing today–
"and the abomination, and the
mouse, shall be cons umed to–
gether"- in the wrath of God–
"saith the Lord" (lsaiah
66:
17).
This is the fate of those who lust after
the foods which God forbids us to eat
because those meats will har111 us. This
is the fate of those "whose God is their
belly" (Philippians 3: 19).
Is it any wonder today, that with all
our scientific knowledge, we have
more doctor bills, more sickness than
ever before in the history of the world?
lt
is time we returned to God and
began to obey His laws. He is our
Creator. He made us. He knows what
our bodies were made to utilize as
good, healthful foods. He set the laws
in motion regulating clean and
u·nclean meats.
Jt
is time we began to
obey them as Jesus and the apostles
did!
God forbids also the eating of
animal fat, or blood ( Leviticus 3: 17;
7:23-27). Butter, olive oil, and sorne
vegetable oils and shortenings are
acceptable, but animal fat should be
cut off before eating meat. Cheaper
hamburger is not good because it is
mixed with much fat. Lard should
never be used. These things will
wreck any stomach in time.
What About Fish and Fowl?
The Bible itself defines which sea life
is good food: "Whatsoever hath fins
and scales in the waters, in the seas,
and in the rivers, them shall ye eat"
(Leviticus 11 :9). In verse 1
O
it is
further clarified: "And all that have
not
fins
ANO
scales in the
seas ... they shall be an abomination
unto you."
February 1980
"But which fish have both fins and
scales?" is the question asked by
many readers.
First, let us name the commonly
known
unclean
fish-these are scale–
less fish- which are not fit for food:
catfish, eels, paddlefish, sculpins,
sticklebacks and sturgeons.
These fish do not have true scales.
Together with these creatures a re ·
other forms of sea life unfit for
human consumption: abalone, clams,
crabs, lobst·ers, oysters, scallops,
shrimp, whale.
The most important clean fish–
having both scales and fins- are:
albacore, anchovy, barracuda, bass,
blackfish, bowfin, buffalo, carp,
characin, cod, croaker, darter, floun–
der, gaby, grayling, haddock, hali–
but, herring, jack, mackerel, min–
now, mooneye, mullet, needlefish,
perch, pike, salmon, sardine, shad,
silverside, smelt, snapper, sole, suck–
er, sunfish, surf fish, tarpon, trout,
tuna, weakfish, whitefish.
lf
any
question arises, consult such books as
Field Book of Freshwater Fishes
by
Ray Schrenkeisen, which may be
found in public libraries.
Sorne people, who are not compe–
tent to judge fish, have thought cer–
tain of these clean fish were without
scales, but this is not true. One point
to remember is that many fish have
very small or minute scales near the
head and the tail fin. In either case,
such fish are clean and fit for food.
The second part of the question
concerns fowl. Which birds are fit for
human consumption? The answer is
found in Leviticus 11:13-19 and Deu–
teronomy 14:11-20.
Each of these sections lists specific
varieties of birds
unftt
for human
consumption. No clean birds are
listed. Only about two dozen unclean
birds are listed out of thousands
found the world over. These unclean
birds illustrate the characteristics of
all unclean birds. They fall into
types, each of which is unclean "after
its kind." The question is, how do
these unclean birds differ from those
known to be clean or fit for human
consumption? The characteristics of
clean fowl are, of course, determined
by the dove and the pigeon (Luke
2:24 and Leviticus 1: 14-17) which
were anciently used for sacrifice.
By comparing the differences be–
tween these clean birds and those
listed as unclean, we can arrive at the
following six characteristics of clean
birds: 1) . they must not be birds of
prey;
2)
they catch food thrown to
them in the air, but they bring it to
the ground, where they divide it with
their bills, if possible, before eating
it; whereas unclean birds devour it in
the air, or press it with one foot to the
ground and tear it with their bills; 3)
they must have an elongated middle
front toe and a hind toe; 4) they must
spread their toes so that three front
toes are on one side of a perch and
the hind toe on the other side;
5)
they
must have craws or crops;
6)
they
must have a gizzard with a double
lining which can easily be separated.
(Consult articles in
Jewish Encyclo–
paedia
under " Poultry," and "Clean
and Unclean Animals.")
Clean birds have all these charac–
teristics; unclean birds lack one or
more of these characteristics.
If
a
bird lacks any one of these character–
istics, it is unclean.
Besides the pigeon and dove, the
following birds are clean: chicken,
pheasant, quail, partridge, grouse,
turkey, all song birds, ducks and
geese.
Unclean birds not listed specifical–
ly in the Bible are roadrunners,
woodpeckers and the parrot family
(which divide their toes so that two
are on either side of a perch), aquatic
and wading birds and gulls which
have no crops or craws, no double
lining of gizzards, and often no hind
toe or no elongated middle front
toe. ·
lt
may not be spiritual sin to eat
biblically unclean foods. Yet, if one
deliberately does it out of lust of
appetite, that breaks the tenth com–
mand and becomes sin. But in all
events wrong food injures the body,
which is the temple of the Holy
Spirit. It defiles the
BODY
if not the
man,
a nd íf we continue to defile our
bodies God will destroy us
(I
Corin–
!hians 3: 17). o
AOOITIONAL READING
And now you should read the following
free booklets:
What Do You Mean . . . Salva/ion?
The Seven Laws of Radian/ Heallh
Why Were You Born?
Coming-A New Age!
To obtain your copies. simply write to
our office nearest you (see addresses on
inside front cover).
·
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