Do Pentecostals Eat Pork? Examining This Denomination’s Stance

People who really believe the Bible will sometimes ask us if the Bible doesn’t say that pork is dirty and, therefore, if Christians should eat it. “Now that’s a good question,” as my brother-minister R. C. Sproul says. So let’s go to the Bible and ask, “is eating pork unclean?”.

One of the early names we considered for our ranch was “Thousand Hills Ranch. The idea comes from Psalm 50:10, which says, “All the animals in the forest are Mine, as well as the cattle on a thousand hills.” What a beautiful truth that is! The cattle on a thousand hills belong to God, not anyone else. He created them and they are His. A thousand hills’ worth of cattle belong to the Lord God. So do all the hills’ cattle in the whole world. He also owns all the horses, chickens, sheep, goats, pigs, and all the cattle. They are His, too!.

Of course, all animals and plants belong to God. The only reason we humans are allowed to eat them is because God gave us that right. If we read the Bible carefully, we can see that God did give people the right to eat, which is God’s property. At that point, when God made man, He told him, “Look, I have given you every plant on the earth that makes seeds and every tree whose fruit makes seeds. This will be your food” (Genesis 1:29). But, you may ask, I see that God did not give mankind permission to eat meat only plants. Maybe we’re supposed to be vegetarians!.

But let’s not be too hasty. It was only after Noah’s flood that God gave men the privilege of eating flesh. To Noah and his descendants God said, “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs” (Genesis 9:3).

So, starting with Noah, both good and bad people were allowed by God to eat flesh, such as meat, fish, and other foods. And not just some kinds of flesh. God said, “every moving thing that lives… all things,” no animals excluded. So, everyone, including Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the Twelve Patriarchs, and others, liked eating cows, sheep, goats, and even pork! Abraham eating pork?

A few hundred years later, during Moses’ life, God told the Jews they could no longer eat certain kinds of animals. You can read about these and many other Jewish ceremonial rules about what foods are clean and what foods are not clean in Deuteronomy 14 and Leviticus 11. In Leviticus 11:7, God’s people are told for the first time that they can’t eat pork: “…and the pig, though it splits the hoof, having cloven hooves, but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you.” ” This is where and when pork in all its forms (including ham, bacon, sausage, etc. was deemed unclean, along with rabbit and any seafood that doesn’t have fins or scales, like shrimp, lobster, crab, clams, and so on. Jews were to consider all these foods unclean and to totally abstain from them.

All of these ceremonial laws were given to govern the lives of all Jews. For how long? Until God would say otherwise.

God did indeed say otherwise. When Jesus, the Son of God, walked the earth, He said that God had thrown out the Old Testament rules about what foods were clean and what foods were not. In Mark 7:18–19, Jesus tells His disciples, “Do you not understand that whatever goes into a man from the outside cannot defile him? For it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is thrown out?” This is how He said that all foods are clean. )” (NAS).

This idea that “all foods” are clean because of Jesus’ work to save people is made even clearer to Peter in the Acts of the Apostles. You may remember that strange event where Peter is praying on top of a house and goes into a trance. He then sees a big sheet full of “all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things (!) and birds of the air” (Acts 10:12). “All kinds” of animals were included—clean as well as unclean. Then God startled Peter, who had always been scrupulously kosher. God commanded Peter to “kill and eat” (Acts 10:13). As I translated Peter’s answer, the Apostle who could get irritable says, “No way, Lord! I’m kosher!” (See verse 14). Peter is reminding God that, since the time of Moses and the ceremonial laws given at Mt. Sinai, it has been a sin for Jews to eat anything which God had declared to be unclean. As if God needed reminding. “What God has declared clean you must not call common” (Acts 10:15). This is a pretty harsh way for God to correct Peter.

That’s the answer to our first question: Is Eating Pork Unclean? It’s still the same answer that was given to Peter all those years ago. What God has declared clean let no man call unclean. And so pork is clean.

On occasion, it has been said that God sent this vision to show that He was calling both Jews and non-Jews to become Christians and cleansing them with the blood of Christ. Of course that is true, but the reason for that is that God has said that Gentile foods, including pork, are clean. And, in addition, God DID say, “kill and eat. ” He was not talking directly about Gentile, but about pigs!.

The Old Testament’s ritual laws have ended with Christ. There are no longer any sacrifices, priests, or rules about keeping things clean. Those “walls” (see Ephesians 2:14–16) that kept Jews and Gentiles apart have been taken down by Christ and His one-time sacrifice. Why would you keep the ceremonial shadows of Christ when the Real One has come? This is something that the author of Hebrews says over and over again.

So, through Christ, Peter and all Christians are free from the rules that the Jews had to follow for ceremonies until Messiah comes. It was okay for Noah, Abraham, and all of God’s people before the Law of Sinai to eat “every moving thing” (Genesis 9:3). Now, through Christ, God’s people have that same freedom again. Christians may eat pork because God has declared it once more to be clean.

Some foods, like pork, were made by God so that people who believe and know the truth would eat them with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:3).

When we Christians finally sit down at table with Abraham, pork may well be on the menu!

Grass-fed beef, pastured pork, pastured chicken, pastured eggs, pastured turkey.

People who really believe the Bible will sometimes ask us if the Bible doesn’t say that pork is dirty and, therefore, if Christians should eat it. “Now that’s a good question,” as my brother-minister R. C. Sproul says. So let’s go to the Bible and ask, “is eating pork unclean?”.

One of the early names we considered for our ranch was “Thousand Hills Ranch. The idea comes from Psalm 50:10, which says, “All the animals in the forest are Mine, as well as the cattle on a thousand hills.” What a beautiful truth that is! The cattle on a thousand hills belong to God, not anyone else. He created them and they are His. A thousand hills’ worth of cattle belong to the Lord God. So do all the hills’ cattle in the whole world. He also owns all the horses, chickens, sheep, goats, pigs, and all the cattle. They are His, too!.

Of course, all animals and plants belong to God. The only reason we humans are allowed to eat them is because God gave us that right. If we read the Bible carefully, we can see that God did give people the right to eat, which is God’s property. At that point, when God made man, He told him, “Look, I have given you every plant on the earth that makes seeds and every tree whose fruit makes seeds. This will be your food” (Genesis 1:29). But, you may ask, I see that God did not give mankind permission to eat meat only plants. Maybe we’re supposed to be vegetarians!.

But let’s not be too hasty. It was only after Noah’s flood that God gave men the privilege of eating flesh. To Noah and his descendants God said, “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs” (Genesis 9:3).

So, starting with Noah, both good and bad people were allowed by God to eat flesh, such as meat, fish, and other foods. And not just some kinds of flesh. God said, “every moving thing that lives… all things,” no animals excluded. So, everyone, including Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the Twelve Patriarchs, and others, liked eating cows, sheep, goats, and even pork! Abraham eating pork?

A few hundred years later, during Moses’ life, God told the Jews they could no longer eat certain kinds of animals. You can read about these and many other Jewish ceremonial rules about what foods are clean and what foods are not clean in Deuteronomy 14 and Leviticus 11. In Leviticus 11:7, God’s people are told for the first time that they can’t eat pork: “…and the pig, though it splits the hoof, having cloven hooves, but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you.” ” This is where and when pork in all its forms (including ham, bacon, sausage, etc. was deemed unclean, along with rabbit and any seafood that doesn’t have fins or scales, like shrimp, lobster, crab, clams, and so on. Jews were to consider all these foods unclean and to totally abstain from them.

All of these ceremonial laws were given to govern the lives of all Jews. For how long? Until God would say otherwise.

God did indeed say otherwise. When Jesus, the Son of God, walked the earth, He said that God had thrown out the Old Testament rules about what foods were clean and what foods were not. In Mark 7:18–19, Jesus tells His disciples, “Do you not understand that whatever goes into a man from the outside cannot defile him? For it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is thrown out?” This is how He said that all foods are clean. )” (NAS).

This idea that “all foods” are clean because of Jesus’ work to save people is made even clearer to Peter in the Acts of the Apostles. You may remember that strange event where Peter is praying on top of a house and goes into a trance. He then sees a big sheet full of “all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things (!) and birds of the air” (Acts 10:12). “All kinds” of animals were included—clean as well as unclean. Then God startled Peter, who had always been scrupulously kosher. God commanded Peter to “kill and eat” (Acts 10:13). As I translated Peter’s answer, the Apostle who could get irritable says, “No way, Lord! I’m kosher!” (See verse 14). Peter is reminding God that, since the time of Moses and the ceremonial laws given at Mt. Sinai, it has been a sin for Jews to eat anything which God had declared to be unclean. As if God needed reminding. “What God has declared clean you must not call common” (Acts 10:15). This is a pretty harsh way for God to correct Peter.

That’s the answer to our first question: Is Eating Pork Unclean? It’s still the same answer that was given to Peter all those years ago. What God has declared clean let no man call unclean. And so pork is clean.

On occasion, it has been said that God sent this vision to show that He was calling both Jews and non-Jews to become Christians and cleansing them with the blood of Christ. Of course that is true, but the reason for that is that God has said that Gentile foods, including pork, are clean. And, in addition, God DID say, “kill and eat. ” He was not talking directly about Gentile, but about pigs!.

The Old Testament’s ritual laws have ended with Christ. There are no longer any sacrifices, priests, or rules about keeping things clean. Those “walls” (see Ephesians 2:14–16) that kept Jews and Gentiles apart have been taken down by Christ and His one-time sacrifice. Why would you keep the ceremonial shadows of Christ when the Real One has come? This is something that the author of Hebrews says over and over again.

So, through Christ, Peter and all Christians are free from the rules that the Jews had to follow for ceremonies until Messiah comes. It was okay for Noah, Abraham, and all of God’s people before the Law of Sinai to eat “every moving thing” (Genesis 9:3). Now, through Christ, God’s people have that same freedom again. Christians may eat pork because God has declared it once more to be clean.

“What God has declared clean you must not call common” (Acts 10:15).

Some foods, like pork, were made by God so that people who believe and know the truth would eat them with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:3).

When we Christians finally sit down at table with Abraham, pork may well be on the menu!

Can Christians Eat Meat? | Mar Mari Emmanuel

FAQ

Which Christians do not eat pork?

What does Jesus say about eating pork?

What religion does not eat seafood?

What does the Bible say not to eat?

Do Christians eat pork?

Many Christians do abstain from pork and other unclean meat. Seventh Day Adventists are perhaps the most famous, but they are far from alone in this belief. There is plentiful literature on the subject, such as What Does the Bible Teach About Clean and Unclean Meats?, from a non-SDA church.

Can you eat pork in the Bible?

One of the most well-known references to the consumption of pork can be found in the Old Testament book of Leviticus, which lists a number of laws and regulations that were given to the ancient Israelites. In Leviticus 11:7-8, it is written: “And the pig, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you.

Can Orthodox Christians eat pork?

Orthodox believers may not eat pork or meat from animals that do not have cloven hoofs or chew their cud. Many Catholics who diligently observe other elements of the fast indicate that they do not feel bound by the obligation not to eat pork. Other families insist on the injunction.

Do Christians eat camels?

There are no contradictions like eating pork. Of course, they do not eat camels too. the reason pork and all other foods can be eaten is found in the New Testament. @egor You’re not wrong; there are a bunch of Christian groups that discard important parts of Christian doctrine. It’s just that this isn’t one of them.