Clean and Unclean Meats

1. Eating in the Orient

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)

The news media reported that in China there is a saying that, "Anything with four legs, other than a table, is good to eat." Actually, Chinese people also eat things without legs, such as snakes; and things with more than four legs, such as octopuses. In 2003 there was an outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS in China's Guangdong province. A World Health Organization (WHO) team noticed that 5 percent of those infected in the south China province happened to be food handlers, such as chefs working with exotic menu items such as snake or monkey brains. As well, a shrimp salesman who was infected was one of the area's known "super spreaders," who passed on the disease to 90 health workers in three hospitals. The SARS virus is believed to have been out there in some animal until it mutated and somehow got into humans. Some scientists now believe that it likely jumped to humans from civet cats, which are considered to be a delicacy by many people in southern China.

Should civet cats be considered a delicacy by anyone? Many oriental people do eat cats and dogs. But, should they? In the Bible it is recorded that God told the Israelites, "Of all the animals that walk on all fours, those that walk on their paws are unclean for you" (Leviticus 11:27, NIV). With this law God told His own chosen people not to eat cats and dogs.

SARS quickly spread to over two dozen nations around the world, with over 8,300 known cases of infection and over 770 known deaths. Most people seem to think that they can eat anything and that their eating will not even harm themselves, much less harm anyone else. The individuals in China probably never imagined that what they eat could have such serious worldwide consequences. This could give new meaning to the instruction, "Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died" (Romans 14:15, NIV).

Avian Influenza or Bird Flu

A more recent concern in Asia is something called Avian Influenza or Bird Flu. The H5N1 strain of this virus has killed more than 70% of the people that it is known to have infected. The longer the virus circulates, and the more poultry and people it infects, the greater the chance it will mix with a human influenza strain and trigger a global flu pandemic. This could potentially kill many millions of people all around the world. One case of bird flu in early 2005 involved an 81-year-old man from the Thai Binh district in northern Vietnam who drank raw duck blood, a traditional Vietnamese dish, during their Lunar New Year celebrations. Shortly after, in February 2005, a couple of his grandchildren, age 21 and 14, also developed symptoms and were hospitalized in critical condition.

Is drinking blood a good tradition for anyone to have, or is it a custom best left to female mosquitoes? God's own law in the Bible says, "And wherever you live, you must not eat the blood of any bird or animal" (Leviticus 7:26, NIV). Those who fear and obey the LORD will not drink blood.

A team of Japanese researchers reported a form of the H5N1 virus was found in duck meat exported from China's Shangdong province into Japan in 2003. Health officials said this was another reminder of how easily the disease can cross borders and how hard it is to kill. However, the World Health Organization said processed poultry meat poses no risk to consumers as long as precautions are taken during preparation, such as frequently washing hands and countertops and making sure all meat is thoroughly cooked and no blood remains.

2. Eating in Africa

Ebola

The news media has also reported on a very scarey and deadly disease in Africa. Ebola is a hemorrhagic fever that kills most of its victims within a few days. Depending on the strain, Ebola kills between 50 and 90 percent of patients. The Ebola virus has killed large numbers of chimpanzees and gorillas in west-central Africa, and researchers say sick animals harvested as meat may be the source of some recent outbreaks of the disease in humans. Many people in Africa depend on apes and monkeys, called bush meat, for food. A doctor from the Wildlife Conservation Society said a study of outbreaks of Ebola disease in west-central Africa showed that the virus is introduced into the human population most often by hunters who handle meat from infected animals. His team noticed that human outbreaks were almost always preceded by Ebola-related deaths of animals.

The medical profession cannot always be counted on to help. Too often, it actually harms. The health-care system in poor countries sometimes contributes to the spread of Ebola by re-using hypodermic needles.

One investor and author spent a few years travelling around the world and visiting over one hundred countries. In an interview he said that he ate whatever animals the people in those countries ate. However, he said that he "drew the line at monkeys" because he thought they were "too close to home." The guy believed in evolution and didn't want to eat what he thought was such a close relative. While he was mistaken about being related to monkeys, he was right not to eat them.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS)

In May 2006, a newspaper article said, "Twenty-five years after the first AIDS cases emerged, scientists have confirmed that HIV, the virus plaguing humans, really did originate in wild chimpanzees, in a corner of Cameroon." The article went on to say that, "Presumably, someone in rural Cameroon was bitten by a chimp or was cut while butchering one and became infected with the ape virus. That person passed it to someone else."

So, a deadly plague like AIDS came from chimpanzees in Africa, and possibly originated with people eating chimpanzees--an animal that, according to the Bible, people should not eat. God instructed His servants Moses and Aaron to tell the Israelites, "Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat: You may eat any animal that has a split hoof completely divided and that chews the cud" (Leviticus 11:1-3, NIV). Chimpanzees don't make the cut, and neither should you cut them up for supper. "Every animal that has a split hoof not completely divided or that does not chew the cud is unclean for you; whoever touches the carcass of any of them will be unclean" (Leviticus 11:26, NIV).

Just how unclean do things get? Well, one common way that AIDS is spread today is by men having sex with multiple other men--another thing that, according to the Bible, people should not do. God's laws about sexual relations say, "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable" (Leviticus 18:22, NIV). The way many people behave today is enough to make one wonder if AIDS originated with someone having sex with a chimpanzee (or trying to have sex with a chimp and getting bitten)--yet another thing that, according to the Bible, people should not do. God said, "Do not have sexual relations with an animal and defile yourself with it. A woman must not present herself to an animal to have sexual relations with it; that is a perversion." (Leviticus 18:23, NIV).

3. Eating in Europe

People in Europe tend to be influenced by the religion of their churches. This leaves them in a similar situation as the people in Asia and Africa, since most churches today that profess to be Christian actively reject what God said about clean and unclean meats in Leviticus 11:1-47 of the Bible. The Roman Catholic church and its Protestant daughter churches that came out of it in the Protestant Reformation like to teach that God's laws regarding which animals one can and cannot eat are "done away." It is noteworthy that the Catholic church and almost all Protestant churches also teach that people should observe Sunday (the first day of the week) and trample on the biblical Sabbath (the seventh day of the week). Most religious leaders today are just like the bad priests in the time of Ezekiel. God said, "Her priests do violence to my law and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common; they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean; and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them" (Ezekiel 22:26, NIV). People in Europe, and throughout the whole world, would do well to obey what God said in the Bible and to reject the detestable things, and the pagan-based nonsense, that most churches would like to feed them. The biggest drawback that people would find about obeying God's laws might be the opposition, and even violent persecution, that they could suffer at the hands of the large churches that hate God's laws.

Many people think that lobsters, oysters, and even snails are something great to eat. But, notice what God said in the Bible about how to distinguish between good clean creatures that may be eaten and detestable creatures that should not be eaten: "Of all the creatures living in the water of the seas and the streams, you may eat any that have fins and scales. But all creatures in the seas or streams that do not have fins and scales--whether among all the swarming things or among all the other living creatures in the water--you are to detest. And since you are to detest them, you must not eat their meat and you must detest their carcasses. Anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales is to be detestable to you" (Leviticus 11:9-12, NIV).

Some people carelessly assume that snotty chefs know what is high-class. But, even fancy schmancy chefs, who like to pass themselves off as culinary experts, do not know what is good food and what is not. In many cases, what they consider to be rich food really just shows poor taste. Often, they try to charge a small fortune for disgusting things that should have been thrown in the slop pail and never put on a plate. When one of those low-class French chefs with the poor taste of the godless tries to pass off his escargots (snails) as a high-class dish, just remember that Jesus once said, "What is highly valued among men is detestable in God's sight" (Luke 16:15, NIV). It would be better to eat "freedom fries" than to taste their detestable dishes.

4. How religions that profess to be Christian deceive people

In the Old Testament of the Bible, the king was anointed, and so was known as haMashiach (the Messiah in Hebrew, or the Anointed One in English). The messianic hope was that a future king would come and establish God's kingdom on earth. After His death and resurrection, Jesus appeared over a period of forty days to the apostles He had chosen and spoke about the kingdom of God. So, they asked Jesus, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts 1:6, NIV). Jesus answered that, "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority" (Acts 1:7, NIV).

In general, Jews have rejected Jesus as being the prophesied Messiah (in Hebrew), or Christ (in Greek), or Anointed One (in English), or King (in plain English) who was prophesied to come. As a result, most Jews reject the New Testament of the Bible and just have what Christians call the Old Testament of the Bible. The Jewish Bible consists of what is commonly called the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, but with the books arranged in a different order. Like the Protestant Bible, it does not have any of the Apocryphal books that are found in the Catholic Bible. Jews call their scripture the Tanakh, which is derived from T, N, and K, the first letters of the Hebrew words Torah (law, or guidance and instruction), Nevi'im (prophets), and Kethuvim (writings). The Law, Prophets, and Writings are the three sections into which the books of the Jewish Tanakh are divided. The Law is made up of five books, including the book of Leviticus which in chapter 11 tells which animals may and may not be eaten. God concluded by saying, "You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between living creatures that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten" (Leviticus 11:47, NIV).

As mentioned above, the Jews divide the books of what Christians call the Old Testament of the Bible into three sections: Law, Prophets, and Writings. In the New Testament, Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them" (Matthew 5:17, NIV). This illustrates that things just cannot be stated clearly enough or emphasized strongly enough. Today, most people who think of themselves as Christians like to argue that Jesus fulfilled the law, and that by doing so He abolished it. Even though Jesus clearly said not to think that He came to abolish the Law, people like to think that by keeping the Law Jesus somehow did away with it.

Mark 7:1-23 tells of some Pharisees and teachers of the law complaining that Jesus' disciples ate without first giving their hands a ceremonial washing according to the tradition of the elders. Notice that they were not caught eating ham sandwiches or breaking any of God's other laws. Mark 7:4 mentions that the Pharisees observed many other such traditions as well. Jesus did not seem to think very highly of these man-made traditions when He said, "They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men." (Mark 7:7, NIV). Jesus explained that, "You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men" (Mark 7:8, NIV). Jesus went on to say, "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions" (Mark 7:9, NIV). Then, He gave an example of how by their tradition they nullified one of the Ten Commandments that says to honor your father and your mother. He added, "And you do many things like that" (Mark 7:13, NIV).

Today, the ham-eating, Sunday-keeping crowds that want to pass themselves off as Christians continue in the same habit of rejecting the commands of God in order to keep their own unbiblical, pagan-based, man-made traditions. For example, in another one of the Ten Commandments, God had said, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God" (Exodus 20:8-10, NIV). Yet, today, most churches trample all over the biblical Sabbath that was given by God Himself in order to keep their tradition of observing Sunday. Furthermore, God had said, "The pig is also unclean; although it has a split hoof, it does not chew the cud. You are not to eat their meat or touch their carcasses" (Deuteronomy 14:8, NIV). But, even though God commanded people not to eat pigs, people have a tradition of eating them. Like the Pharisees of old, religious people today have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men. Like the Pharisees, people today do many such things. And, just like in the past, these traditions of men contradict and nullify the commands of God.

The original Greek New Testament of the Bible nowhere says that it is all right to eat unclean animals. So, those who wanted to eat them took matters into their own hands. In one Greek manuscript, unscrupulous and dishonest people influenced by their religious denomination actually added words to the New Testament that were not in the original Greek manuscripts. Today, the translators of the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible grasped at this fraud to include this explanation in parentheses: "(In saying this, Jesus declared all foods 'clean.')" (Mark 7:19, NIV). Adding some such "explanation" to English translations of the Bible is a common tradition of men today. The entire explanatory, parenthetical sentence is included in some English translations to make it appear that Jesus approved of people eating unclean animals, even though such an explanation clearly contradicts what Jesus had just finished saying. It is one of the truly outrageous twistings of scripture that people take the very verses where Jesus warned against rejecting the commands of God and say that by these very verses Jesus did away with the commands of God.

5. Twisted scriptures

Mark 7:1-23 is the story of Jesus pointing out how religious people can end up rejecting the commands of God in order to keep the traditions of men. Many people have been so mixed up by their churches that they think that the Ten Commandments (especially the Sabbath commandment) and the other laws (such as the law against eating pigs) that were given by God Himself in the Bible itself are actually the traditions of men. Then, they go do some unbiblical, pagan-based things (such as observing Sunday and eating pigs), and think that they are keeping the commandments of God.

What kind of people could be so mixed up and hostile to the laws of God? In the New Testament of the Bible, the apostle Paul explained that, "The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God" (Romans 8:6-8, NIV).

Paul said many things in his writings, such as: "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires" (Romans 6:12, NIV). "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! (Romans 6:15, NIV). "When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!" (Romans 6:20-21, NIV). "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 6:6-10, NIV). Incredibly, many religious people today who imagine that they are Christians like to think that the apostle Paul taught against the laws of God, and that sinning is now OK. This is not a new error.

Even in New Testament times, the apostle Peter wrote that ignorant and unstable people were already distorting the writings of Paul. To counter this error of lawless men, Peter wrote, "Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position" (2 Peter 3:15-17, NIV).

6. More verses that people like to twist

At the pain of having to write more, something needs to be said about the story in Acts chapters 10-11 of Peter's vision. When told in a vision to kill and eat, he replied the way good guys do. "'Surely not, Lord!' Peter replied. 'I have never eaten anything impure or unclean'" (Acts 10:14, NIV). This is an interesting response, considering that many people like to say that Jesus had previously taught in the Mark 7 incident that all foods were now clean. Acts chapters 10-11 contains Peter's explanation of the meaning of the vision: "But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean" (Acts 10:28, NIV). This does not mean that cannibalism is allowed now. And Peter did not say that God had shown him that unclean animals were now clean.

7. How Muslims do the twist

While Muslims don't eat pork, they do eat other creatures that the Bible lists as unclean, such as shrimp. Just as Catholics, and most Protestants, around the world reject the biblical Sabbath (the seventh day of the week) that was given by God Himelf, so do Muslims. But, while Catholics around the world like to observe Sunday (the first day of the week), Muslims around the world like to imagine that Friday (the sixth day of the week) is something special. They go to the mosque (which means "place of prostration") to bow down in prayer, especially on Friday, their Day of Assembly. Most people hate the laws of God revealed in the Bible, and refer to them contemtuously as "Jewish customs."

The Muslim religion, called Islam, was founded by a false prophet named Mohammed. He claimed that while meditating on Mount Hira just outside Mecca (in what is now Saudi Arabia) in 622 C.E., he began to receive revelations from God, brought by the angel Gabriel. These revelations were later collected into the Koran, the Islamic Holy book. Notice that this new "revelation" came well over five hundred years after the New Testament of the Bible was written. Notice also that it contradicts what the Bible teaches. Yet, Muslims think that the Koran contains the original truth of God. After the death of Mohammed in 632 C.E., the Muslim community split into two branches: the Sunni Muslims and the Shia Muslims. Altogether, there are now about a billion Muslims.

8. Eating in Britain and North America

The United States and Britain have done more than any other nations on earth to translate the original Hebrew language of the Old Testament and the Greek language of the New Testament into other languages, and to distribute the Bible around the world. Of course, they also translated the Bible into their own English language. A translation of the Bible into English in 1611, called the King James Version (KJV), is famous. The New International Version (NIV) of the Bible is a recent popular translation of the Bible into modern English. Some people might, therefore, carelessly assume that these great nations would know about God's ways by now, and that they could be an example of them to the rest of the world. However, it is a truly amazing fact that these great nations that translated the Bible into all sorts of languages, and spread the Bible all around the world, do not really obey what is actually taught in the Bible. Rather, they are actually opposed to what it teaches!

In a book called The Bible in Translation: Ancient and English Versions by Bruce M. Metzger, a revealing little story is told about the Reader's Digest Bible of 1982. The final result was that the Old Testament was cut by about 50% and the New Testament by about 25 percent. Bruce Metzger was invited to serve as the general editor. His responsibilities were to advise which block cuts could be made in a given biblical book. He said that, "Other passages, such as the genealogies in Genesis, I Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, as well as many of the dietary laws in Leviticus were judged to be of reduced relevance in a condensed edition of the Scriptures." Actually, he should have seen the importance of keeping the dietary laws in a condensed version. If someone thinks that he does not have time to read the whole book, and just has time to touch on the high points, he needs to know about these laws so that he can follow them in his daily life. The way it was done, readers may not even know that these laws exist.

Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) or Mad Cow Disease

Unfortunately, the churches in the United States and Britain that profess to be Christian have actually kept these nations ignorant of God's ways. This ignorance has led to such disgusting practices as the feeding of the unwanted parts of dead cows to other cows. When it is feared that this practice might be causing mad cow disease (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy or BSE), dead cows are fed to pigs while dead pigs are fed to cows! Cows just aren't left alone anymore to chew on the grass like they were designed to do. Cows were designed by God to be herbivorous (grass-eating) animals, not carnivorous (flesh-eating) animals. Yet, some cattle abusers seem determined to try to turn their cows into pigs. Pigs, unlike cows, were designed to eat all sorts of garbage, and then God told man not to eat any pigs. In its greed for more profits, the cattle industry has resorted to forcing cows to eat the ground-up brains, spinal cords, etc. of other cows, sheep, and even pigs. Instead of drinking milk like God designed them to, calves get fed the blood from other slaughtered cattle. This sort of disgusting and greedy behavior is passed off as being thrifty and as "not wasting" any parts of the animals. A more sensible view is that anyone who makes his herd of cattle eat such things should not be allowed to own any cattle. Clearly, these are not righteous people behind such actions. As the Bible said long ago, "A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel" (Proverbs 12:10, NIV).

variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD)

A man who wants to enjoy a fine steak should not have to worry that he might get the human form of mad cow disease (variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease or vCJD), which emerged in Britain in the 1990s. People who eat ground up beef products do have something to worry about. When the beef industry grinds up all sorts of parts of all kinds of animals to feed to cows, consumers are right to be concerned about what the beef industry might try to grind up and feed to people in the form of sausages, hot dogs, and even hamburgers. When the practices in the cattle industry make consumers afraid of beef products, the cattle industry goes crying for government help and handouts. Any cattle producers who have no concern for either what their animals are forced to eat or what the final consumer ends up eating need to realize that they deserve to go broke for this kind of attitude and behavior.

Scientists are not certain where mad cow disease came from. One theory suggested that it was caused when cattle were fed the remains of sheep infected with the brain-wasting disease known as scrapie. Now, a report published in a medical journal called The Lancet suggests that human cadavers from India that ended up in animal feed in Britain and other countries may have been the original source of mad cow disease. Human and animal corpses are disposed of in India in accordance with Hindu custom. An estimated 40,000 funeral ceremonies a year take place at two main sites on the banks of the Ganges river. After floating down river, bone collectors gather the remains that wash ashore and take them to processing mills, which have for decades exported bone and tissue for use in the production of animal feed and fertilizer. Hundreds of thousands of tonnes of bones and other tissue, made from mainly animal but also human remains, have been exported from India and used for the production of animal feed. While this might seem disgusting to any sensible people, it might not bother the Roman Catholic church or its Protestant daughter churches that came out of it in the Protestant Reformation. They like to teach that God's laws regarding which animals one can and cannot eat are "done away." Maybe they will twist what Peter said in Acts 10:28 to mean that feeding people to cows, and even cannibalism, is acceptable now. The grass that God caused to grow does not seem to be considered good enough for animal feed.

9. Not eating in India

In India, there are many cows walking through the streets of the towns and cities because people there tend to think it would be wrong to eat them. Notice that this idea that it is wrong to eat cows did not come from God. In the Bible, it is recorded that God said, "Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat: You may eat any animal that has a split hoof completely divided and that chews the cud" (Leviticus 11:2-3, NIV). The Bible also says, "These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep. You may eat any animal that has a split hoof divided in two and that chews the cud" (Deuteronomy 14:4-6, NIV).

Even though cattle are biblically clean animals that God gave permission to eat, many people in India do not eat them. The religion in India plays a major role in this decision. Remember, though, that the religion of India is not the religion of the Bible. In fact, the Bible suggests that the idea that it is wrong to eat biblically clean animals--such as cows--is something taught by demons (see 1 Timothy 4:1-3, NIV). Holy cow? No! A great steak is something to be savored, not worshiped.

One author from that part of the world wrote that he could not recommend eating beef. He said that the reason he could not recommend it was that the fat burning on a barbecue could cause cancer. But, it seemed like he was just trying to find health-related reasons to support the non-cow diet that he already believed in for some other reason. The Bible had this concern of his about fat causing cancer already covered. The answer is that people should not eat the fat of animals. In the Bible, God said, "Do not eat any of the fat of cattle, sheep or goats. The fat of an animal found dead or torn by wild animals may be used for any other purpose, but you must not eat it. Anyone who eats the fat of an animal from which an offering by fire may be made to the LORD must be cut off from his people" (Leviticus 7:23-25, NIV).

10. Seventh Day Adventist ideas

Even some people who profess to be Christians suggest that it is wrong to kill any "innocent animal" to satisfy one's taste buds. A Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) magazine tried to use the mad cow scare to push its vegetarian agenda. An article in the magazine mentioned the names of famous and supposedly great people who were vegetarians, like Mahatma Gandhi of India, for example. The author of the article seemed to forget that Jesus was an even greater and more famous person, and that He ate clean fish even after being resurrected (see Luke 24:40-43). Naturally, the article didn't bring up the names of any infamous vegetarians, like Adolf Hitler. The SDA's own self-appointed prophetess, Ellen G. White, went from being a pork eater to being a vegetarian. It is no wonder that many SDAs conveniently forget that the sacrifice of clean animals in Old Testament times was God's idea.

While the SDA church is aware of the biblical laws about clean and unclean animals, the official SDA position is to push vegetarianism. In the beginning, God had given people, and animals, a vegetarian diet. God had told Adam and Eve, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground--everything that has the breath of life in it--I give every green plant for food." (Genesis 1:29-30, NIV). The thinking of many SDA writers is that they are doing things the way they were done in the garden of Eden and for the first approximately 1656 years of human history, until the flood in Noah's time.

God had Noah bring the animals into the ark in different numbers depending on whether they were clean or unclean. After the flood, Noah built an altar and sacrificed some of all the clean animals and clean birds on it. Then, God told Noah and his three sons, "The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it" (Genesis 9:2-4, NIV). Even though the clean and unclean designations clearly existed at this point, some people like to read this verse to say that God allowed all animals to be eaten, including unclean ones. But, just as God did not give people poisonous mushrooms (fungi) for food, just all good green plants, neither did He give unclean animals for food, just good clean ones.

Eating clean meats has not become wrong, even though it might be a good idea to try to avoid some of the clean animals that have been polluted by wicked people. The clean meats were created by God to be received with thanksgiving, as explained in the New Testament of the Bible: "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth" (1 Timothy 4:1-3, NIV). Of course, the unclean animals were not created to be received with thanksgiving.

There is always money to be made. Some SDA's have vegetarian food companies that produce imitation meats from such things as soybeans. Interestingly, these meat substitutes are often designed to resemble various unclean meats, such as pork, scallops, etc. They don't seem to have heard about avoiding even the appearance of evil.

Seventh Day Adventists, as their name suggests, observe the Sabbath commandment by remembering the correct day of the week. Since they claim to believe in keeping the commandments of God, it is interesting to note that they insist on ignoring and breaking the commandment against idolatry. Many SDA books, magazines, calendars, church bulletins, etc. are full of freaky hippy pictures that they try to pass off as representations of Jesus. The SDAs today seem to be trying to outdo the Roman Catholic church at spreading idolatry.

11. Jewish teachings

Even many religious Jews who believe in the Tanakh (what Christians call the Old Testament of the Bible) tend to think that the original intent of the dietary laws in the Tanakh was "religious and ethical, not medical." A book called The Kosher Companion by Trudy Garfunkel mentioned what she called some of the "unintended" and "unexpected" health benefits that following the Biblical laws "might" have:

"The ban against eating pork might also have led to a lower incidence of trichinosis. Undercooked pork and pork products are a major source of this serious disease caused by eating foods infected by a parasitic roundworm."

"The prohibition of shellfish, which sometimes grow and feed in polluted bottom waters, might also have had health benefits. Raw shellfish can contain naturally occurring toxins such as paralytic shellfish toxin; they can also cause illness from viruses, salmonella, or other bacterial infections. According to the National Academy of Sciences, 'no other commercially available food poses a greater health risk.' Raw shellfish, including oysters, mussels, and clams, account for 66 percent of the cases of food poisoning in the United States each year."

Now, this is very interesting. God said, "Of all the creatures living in the water of the seas and the streams, you may eat any that have fins and scales. But all creatures in the seas or streams that do not have fins and scales--whether among all the swarming things or among all the other living creatures in the water--you are to detest. And since you are to detest them, you must not eat their meat and you must detest their carcasses. Anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales is to be detestable to you" (Leviticus 11:9-12, NIV). But, people either don't even know about God's laws, or else do know about them but choose to ignore them. The result is that: "Raw shellfish, including oysters, mussels, and clams, account for 66 percent of the cases of food poisoning in the United States each year."

Actually, it is probably silly to think that any health benefits that "might" come from obeying the laws of God were "unintended." Everybody should have expected that God knew what He was doing and that His laws--including His laws about clean and unclean meats--were health related when He told the Israelites, "'If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you'" (Exodus 15:26, NIV). The Israelites were also told, "'Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land. I will give you a full life span'" (Exodus 23:25-26, NIV). The Israelites were told to obey God's laws so that things would go well with them and their children: "Eat them as you would gazelle or deer. Both the ceremonially unclean and the clean may eat. But be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat. You must not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water. Do not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the LORD (Deuteronomy 12:22-25, NIV). All the details of why God gave His laws about clean and unclean animals, and other laws, are probably just far too numerous to list.

Commands, warnings, and explanations from God have been ignored from the beginning. In the garden of Eden, God told Adam and Eve not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or else they would die. DIE!!! This sort of made it a matter of health. They ate of it anyway in spite of God's command and warning, and they did eventually die even though Satan had said that they would not surely die. Can you imagine getting evicted from the garden of Eden, and later actually dying, for eating something that God had said not to eat? Well, to this day, Satan is still trying to get people to eat the things that God told them not to eat! Many people who imagine themselves to be Christians have wondered how Adam and Eve could have made such a colossal blunder. They have wished that these two had not eaten of the forbidden fruit (which was not an apple, in spite of how it is often pictured in artwork). Yet, these same people who wonder why Adam and Eve disobeyed God will themselves unthinkingly continue to disobey God and eat all sorts of things that God said not to eat, including things that are nowhere near as tempting as the forbidden fruit was. It was "good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom" (Genesis 3:6, NIV). People today will disobey God to eat things that are not good for food, that are repulsive to the eye, and that are undesirable for mental health.

Some Jews have a tendency to add all sorts of extra rules to what God clearly said in the Old Testament of the Bible in an attempt to cover every human situation. Even in the first century Jesus disagreed with many of these ideas, and told them, "'You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men'" (Mark 7:8, NIV). By about 500 A.D. this tendency to interpret the law and add extra rules resulted in something called the Talmud. Though probably well intentioned, these extra rules that some Jews came up with have a tendency to contradict the laws of God, and can be safely ignored. The rules that God gave in the Tanakh (the Old Testament of the Bible) cannot be safely ignored.

12. Worldwide Church of God teachings

In the fall of 1926, Loma Armstrong, the wife of Herbert W. Armstrong (HWA), had begun to observe the seventh-day Sabbath. Loma and Herbert ended up learning many things from a small group called the Church of God (COG), which maintained a small publishing house headquarters at Stanberry, Missouri. HWA later wrote in his autobiography that, "I had been astounded to learn that the BIBLE teaches truths diametrically opposite to the teachings of the large and popular churches and denominations today."

Herbert Armstrong eventually left the COG and started his own church, which he at first called the Radio Church of God. Later, he moved his church headquarters to Pasadena, California and changed the name to the Worldwide Church of God (WCG). While HWA ruled over the WCG, it taught about God's laws regarding which animals one can and cannot eat. Not content with the simple teachings of the COG, HWA added some additional teachings that he had picked up from various other sources. Unfortunately, HWA spent the rest of his life coming up with wrong guesses about when the end of the world (age) might be. Since the end always seemed to be so near, HWA spent five decades leaning heavily on his followers for more money so he could warn the world. Television audiences would hear him talk on his World Tomorrow television program about how they would never hear him begging for money from them on the air. However, those who became his followers soon found out that he certainly did want lots of money from them, especially during the time of his building program. This is just the way things are. Unfortunately, Herbert Armstrong never saw any need to warn either the world or his followers in the WCG that his son, Garner Ted Armstrong (GTA), was a sex pervert.

Herbert W. Armstrong wrote an article called Is All Animal Flesh Good Food?, which was available free of charge from his Worldwide Church of God. At the start of his article about clean and unclean meats, HWA wrote that, "This subject is important to your health and well-being!" He taught people to obey God's food laws in the Bible. HWA's article, called Is All Animal Flesh Good Food?, can now be read online at various Web sites, such as Pabco's Home Page.

After Herbert Armstrong's death in January 1986, Joseph Tkach, Sr. took over the Worldwide Church of God and changed virtually all of its teachings, including its teachings about clean and unclean meats. While the WCG has now rejected HWA's teachings and withdrawn all of his literature from print, HWA's writings can still be found at various Web sites on the Internet. Joseph Tkach, Sr.'s son, Joseph Tkach, Jr., is the current head of the WCG. He has followed in his father's footsteps and adopted the traditional Protestant notion that it does not matter what one eats. The Protestants inherited this idea from the Catholic church that they came out of. And the Catholics appear to have inherited most of their teachings from paganism. Now, many current and former members of the WCG have forgotten what HWA had taught about God's laws being given for their own good. They carelessly assume that the food laws in the Bible are arbitrary and meaningless, or even downright wrong. They talk now about how no reason was given for them and that the Bible does not say that they were health related. So, they are ignoring these rules that God gave, even though they cannot find even one single example anywhere in the entire Bible where any good guy ever ate the meat of any unclean animal.

The doctrinal changes in the Worldwide Church of God caused many people to leave it and form many different splinter groups--over three hundred by some counts. It should always be firmly remembered that God's laws (not just suggestions) about which animals one can and cannot eat were written in the Bible thousands of years before the WCG or any of its splinter groups showed up. These laws did not originate with the WCG and will not change along with it. You can read for yourself these amazing laws that God gave in your own Bible, and follow them for your own good, without supporting the endless wrong prophetic guesses and playboys that come around.

Anyone who is interested in reading more articles on the topic of clean and unclean meats, written by various different authors, can check out a Web page called Articles About Unclean Meats at Bill Bratt's Web site. One of the authors said, "Whoever gave the Israelites the dietary laws in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 possessed scientific knowledge that mankind would not learn for three millennia!"

13. Different approaches to the laws of God

Acting like they have no idea at all why God came up with His laws about clean and unclean meats is only one approach that people take to the subject. Another approach that some people take is to think that they know all the reasons for the laws and that the reasons no longer apply. They'll claim that the ancient Israelites didn't have modern fridges and stoves, but that now it is OK to eat pork as long as it is cooked well enough that one does not get trichinosis. Such people might think that fornication and adultery are all right too now that condoms have been invented. Some day it will be discovered that these people did not know anywhere near as much as they thought they did. The very best approach would be to trust God to know what is best and to simply obey what He said in the Bible, but this is usually not considered to be an option. The Bible tells people to, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones" (Proverbs 3:5-8, NIV).

The laws of God were first recorded in the Bible thousands of years ago. They are written in the first five books of the Old Testament of the Bible, or what the Jews call the Torah (law, or guidance and instruction). Generations come and generations go, but these words of God endure through them all. Untold millions of people have been born, lived, and died over the centuries. They cannot change the word of God. Everyone dies sooner or later. Many have died early because they did not obey God's instructions. When the time comes for them to die, most people seem to wish that they had more time.

One man who did not see the importance of God's laws said that his grandparents ate pork all their lives and are in their eighties. One could also find examples of tobacco smokers who lived to relatively old ages in spite of their smoking habit. Do you think you will be one of the lucky ones? After all, you can also find many examples of people who died relatively young as a result of their foolishness in adopting the heathen Indian habit of smoking.

14. The writings of Solomon

King David's son, Solomon, was a king over all Israel. Solomon had been given great wisdom by God, though he got into trouble at the end of his life for having too many wicked foreign wives. In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon wrote down his thoughts and observations. Some of his comments about eating and drinking are quoted below.

"A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment" (Ecclesiastes 2:24, NIV).

"I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil--this is the gift of God" (Ecclesiastes 3:12-13, NIV).

"Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him--for this is his lot" (Ecclesiastes 5:18, NIV).

"So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad" (Ecclesiastes 8:15, NIV).

"Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for it is now that God favors what you do" (Ecclesiastes 9:7, NIV).

To be blunt about it, some people are simply foolish and would misread the previous quotes. They would read nonsense and evil into these biblical verses, and try to make them say that Solomon was advocating being a glutton, and drunkard, and sinner. For the sake of any such fools, it needs to be pointed out that Solomon was NOT advocating anything sinful or bad. Good food and drink can be enjoyed in moderation. Nobody should eat or drink too much. In the book of Proverbs, Solomon wrote, "Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat, for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags" (Proverbs 23:20-21, NIV). At the end of the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon summed up everything with these words: "Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil" (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14, NIV).

15. World yet to learn God's ways

People around the world seem to want to eat either everything that moves or else nothing that moves. The biblical position that was given by God Himself gets rejected by almost everyone, including by all sorts of people who profess to be Christians.

People in Asia, Africa, and other places will eat almost any animal. They don't know what God said about clean and unclean animals--animals that may be eaten and animals that must not be eaten. As one of the Psalms in the Old Testament of the Bible explained, God has not yet revealed His ways to the whole world: "He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel. He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws" (Psalms 147:19-20, NIV). Even the supposedly Christian nations in Europe and North America don't really know about God's laws because the Catholic and Protestant churches in these nations have rejected God's ways and taught against them.

However, this international ignorance of God's ways is prophesied to change at some point in the future. "'Those who consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following the one in the midst of those who eat the flesh of pigs and rats and other abominable things--they will meet their end together,' declares the LORD. 'And I, because of their actions and their imaginations, am about to come and gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see my glory'" (Isaiah 66:17-18, NIV). The ham-eating, Sunday-keeping religious leaders of today, who are currently considered to be so holy in their unholy conduct, will then be exposed for what they really are. The apostle Paul wrote, "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve" (2 Corinthians 11:13-15, NIV). The shrimp-eating, Friday-observing Muslims will have some things to learn too.

In the future, many nations will want to learn God's ways and walk in them. "In the last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.' The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem" (Micah 4:1-2, NIV). The churches that today teach against God's laws will not like this turn of events, but they won't be able to stop God. Many nations will then be interested in learning God's ways--not the unbiblical, pagan-based teachings of Satan's ministers who have spent their lives opposing what the Bible clearly teaches.

God will prepare a great feast and show all people how to do things right: "On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine--the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken" (Isaiah 25:6-8, NIV). Today, there are about a billion self-righteous Muslims who would object to the aged wine being served. Lacking proper self-control, they don't realize that it is possible to drink in moderation. They will have to be re-educated by God.

16. YOU can obey God right now

People tend to eat a few times a day, almost every day of their lives. This works out to about 75,000 times over a 70 year lifespan! It seems entirely reasonable to suspect that what they eat could have some effect on their health. If God really exists, and designed and created everything, He ought to know what is best. When God says not to eat any fat or any blood (Leviticus 3:17, 7:22-27) or any pigs (Leviticus 11:7-8 and Deuteronomy 14:8), people should pay close attention. Yet, most religious leaders today who "earn" their money by talking about God don't seem to think that He even really exists, much less knows anything. Rather than appreciating God's good food laws that were given for their own benefit, most people have been taught by their churches to despise God's food laws, and to consider them to be the least important thing around, if not the worst thing around. Considering just how much Satan and his churches hate God's good food laws and try to belittle them at every opportunity, these food laws are probably far more important than anyone realizes!

This presents a very interesting opportunity for you. You personally can read about the laws of God Himself in the Holy Bible itself, and obey them. These food laws alone that God gave give each individual tens of thousands of opportunities in a lifetime to do things the way that God Himself said to.

17. What does God say in the Bible?

To give some guidance about which animals are clean and unclean in God's sight, some text from the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy in the Old Testament of the Bible is reproduced below. The Bible discusses these matters in other places too. All people on earth would be well advised to learn, and to obey, these instructions that were given by God Himself.

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Leviticus 7:22-27, NIV

Eating Fat and Blood Forbidden

The LORD said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites: 'Do not eat any of the fat of cattle, sheep or goats. The fat of an animal found dead or torn by wild animals may be used for any other purpose, but you must not eat it. Anyone who eats the fat of an animal from which an offering by fire may be made to the LORD must be cut off from his people. And wherever you live, you must not eat the blood of any bird or animal. If anyone eats blood, that person must be cut off from his people.'"

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Notice below in the quote from Leviticus 11:4 about the camel that the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible says that it is "ceremonially unclean." What does that mean, "ceremonially unclean"? Well, it simply means that the sinful, ham-eating, Sunday-keeping translators of the NIV hated God's laws so much that they were up to their usual unclean tricks again. The original Hebrew in Leviticus 11:4 simply says "unclean," not "ceremonially unclean."

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Leviticus 11:1-47, NIV

Clean and Unclean Food

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Say to the Israelites: 'Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat: You may eat any animal that has a split hoof completely divided and that chews the cud.

"'There are some that only chew the cud or only have a split hoof, but you must not eat them. The camel, though it chews the cud, does not have a split hoof; it is ceremonially unclean for you. The coney, though it chews the cud, does not have a split hoof; it is unclean for you. The rabbit, though it chews the cud, does not have a split hoof; it is unclean for you. And the pig, though it has a split hoof completely divided, does not chew the cud; it is unclean for you. You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses; they are unclean for you.

"'Of all the creatures living in the water of the seas and the streams, you may eat any that have fins and scales. But all creatures in the seas or streams that do not have fins and scales--whether among all the swarming things or among all the other living creatures in the water--you are to detest. And since you are to detest them, you must not eat their meat and you must detest their carcasses. Anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales is to be detestable to you.

"'These are the birds you are to detest and not eat because they are detestable: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture,the red kite, any kind of black kite, any kind of raven, the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl, the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey, the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.

"'All flying insects that walk on all fours are to be detestable to you. There are, however, some winged creatures that walk on all fours that you may eat: those that have jointed legs for hopping on the ground. Of these you may eat any kind of locust, katydid, cricket or grasshopper. But all other winged creatures that have four legs you are to detest.

"'You will make yourselves unclean by these; whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean till evening. Whoever picks up one of their carcasses must wash his clothes, and he will be unclean till evening.

"'Every animal that has a split hoof not completely divided or that does not chew the cud is unclean for you; whoever touches any of them will be unclean. Of all the animals that walk on all fours, those that walk on their paws are unclean for you; whoever touches their carcasses will be unclean till evening. Anyone who picks up their carcasses must wash his clothes, and he will be unclean till evening. They are unclean for you.

"'Of the animals that move about on the ground, these are unclean for you: the weasel, the rat, any kind of great lizard, the gecko, the monitor lizard, the wall lizard, the skink and the chameleon. Of all those that move along the ground, these are unclean for you. Whoever touches them when they are dead will be unclean till evening. When one of them dies and falls on something, that article, whatever its use, will be unclean, whether it is made of wood, cloth, hide or sackcloth. Put it in water; it will be unclean till evening, and then it will be clean. If one of them falls into a clay pot, everything in it will be unclean, and you must break the pot. Any food that could be eaten but has water on it from such a pot is unclean, and any liquid that could be drunk from it is unclean. Anything that one of their carcasses falls on becomes unclean; an oven or cooking pot must be broken up. They are unclean, and you are to regard them as unclean. A spring, however, or a cistern for collecting water remains clean, but anyone who touches one of these carcasses is unclean. If a carcass falls on any seeds that are to be planted, they remain clean. But if water has been put on the seed and a carcass falls on it, it is unclean for you.

"'If an animal that you are allowed to eat dies, anyone who touches the carcass will be unclean till evening. Anyone who eats some of the carcass must wash his clothes, and he will be unclean till evening. Anyone who picks up the carcass must wash his clothes, and he will be unclean till evening.

"'Every creature that moves about on the ground is detestable; it is not to be eaten. You are not to eat any creature that moves about on the ground, whether it moves on its belly or walks on all fours or on many feet; it is detestable. Do not defile yourselves by any of these creatures. Do not make yourselves unclean by means of them or be made unclean by them. I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any creature that moves about on the ground. I am the LORD who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy, because I am holy.

"'These are the regulations concerning animals, birds, every living thing that moves in the water and every creature that moves about on the ground. You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between living creatures that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten.'"

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Leviticus 17:10-14, NIV

Eating Blood Forbidden

"'Any Israelite or any alien living among them who eats any blood--I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from his people. For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one's life. Therefore I say to the Israelites, "None of you may eat blood, nor may an alien living among you eat blood."

"'Any Israelite or any alien living among you who hunts any animal or bird that may be eaten must drain out the blood and cover it with earth, because the life of every creature is its blood. That is why I have said to the Israelites, "You must not eat the blood of any creature, because the life of every creature is its blood; anyone who eats it must be cut off."

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Deuteronomy 14:1-21, NIV

Clean and Unclean Food

You are the children of the LORD your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead, for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession.

Do not eat any detestable thing. These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep. You may eat any animal that has a split hoof divided in two and that chews the cud. However, of those that chew the cud or that have a split hoof completely divided you may not eat the camel, the rabbit or the coney. Although they chew the cud, they do not have a split hoof; they are ceremonially unclean for you. The pig is also unclean; although it has a split hoof, it does not chew the cud. You are not to eat their meat or touch their carcasses.

Of all the creatures living in the water, you may eat any that has fins and scales. But anything that does not have fins and scales you may not eat; for you it is unclean.

You may eat any clean bird. But these you may not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the black vulture, the red kite, the black kite, any kind of falcon, any kind of raven, the horned owl, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk, the little owl, the great owl, the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey, the cormorant, the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe and the bat.

All flying insects that swarm are unclean to you; do not eat them. But any winged creature that is clean you may eat.

Do not eat anything you find already dead. You may give it to an alien living in any of your towns, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner. But you are a people holy to the LORD your God.

Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.