Why don't Christians follow Leviticus 11?

Question

I was just wondering because some Christian denominations do, but most don't, and I know everyones gonna say that this passage is directed at the Jewish people only, but I mean Christians follow everything else in the Old Testament, so why not this?

Answer 1

a Christian that has read and understands the Bible does follow the dietary laws....

it is very sad the number of people who mis read and misinterpret the Bible over that simple application....Does any one stop and think it through??

why would the dietary laws be nailed to the cross??the apostles did not change their eating habits, also those who accepted Christ, Jew and Gentile alike...the Jews maintained their dietary laws...the new Christian Gentiles learned the dietary laws....

Everything that is listed as unclean is still unclean today....It is a health issue!!

If people are going to use that reasoning to eat pig...then why not eat bats? vultures?skunks? squirrels? rats? possum?


And we do not follow the dietary laws to be made righteous or anything ....It is just common sense with the health issues today....

Answer 2

Read the New Testament book of Hebrews. It is explained in there. Also read Acts chapters 10 and 11, where the early church debated and decided this question, and why.

The OT laws were given as "shadows" or "pictures" to help the Jews and others to recognize who Jesus was and what he would do when he came. The avoiding of certain foods because they would make you "unclean" is a picture of how Christians are to avoid sin because it makes them unclean.

Jesus himself prepared his followers for the removal of those bans when he said to them "It is not what goes into a man that makes him unclean, but rather what comes out. For anything he eats passes through his stomach and is gone".

But there are also health and sanitations reasons for the laws. God did not just pick something and say "don't do it". It picked these foods because they were (in the time and culture) the ones most likely to spread food poisoning and other diseases. So it made sense to ban them.

So while Christians are no longer required to keep those laws, they still make sense from a health prespective. So many Christians still use them as guidelines rather then "rules".

Answer 3

This chapter treats of the distinction between clean and unclean meats, which entered largely into Jewish habits of thinking and acting. It cannot be reasonable doubted that the clean animals here allowed were those which, to the people of that region, furnished the most wholesome diet. But the distinction had a much deeper meaning. It typified the inward difference which God's servants should make between clean and unclean affections, and the holy of unholy acts that proceed from them. Another end of these distinctions was to keep the Hebrews separate from all other nations, as a people devoted to Jehovah.

1Co 10:31
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Answer 4

The Ten Commandments were given to the nation of Israel at Mt. Sinai after they left Egyptian slavery. The laws of the Old Testament were also given only to the children of Israel. The Old Testament laws do not apply to Christians today. The New Testament (new commandments, Christ's commandments) replaced the Old Testament.

The New Testament tells us, "In that He says, 'A new covenant,' He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away" (Hebrews 8:13). "For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of its weakness and unprofitableness, for the law made nothing perfect..." (Hebrews 7:18,19). "Then He said, 'Behold, I have come to do Your will, 0 God.' He takes away the first that He may establish the second" (Hebrews 10:9). "For the priesthood being changed, of necessity, there is also a change of the law" (Hebrews 7:12). The apostle Paul wrote: "Having wiped out the handwriting of requirements (the Law of Moses) that was against us, which was contrary to us, And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross" (Colossians 2:14).

Answer 5

Acts 10:10-16 (referring to the Apostle Peter):

10 But he became very hungry and wanted to eat. While they were preparing, he fell into a trance 11 and beheld heaven opened and some sort of vessel descending like a great linen sheet being let down by its four extremities upon the earth; 12 and in it there were all sorts of four-footed creatures and creeping things of the earth and birds of heaven. 13 And a voice came to him: “Rise, Peter, slaughter and eat!” 14 But Peter said: “Not at all, Lord, because never have I eaten anything defiled and unclean.” 15 And the voice [spoke] again to him, the second time: “You stop calling defiled the things God has cleansed.” 16 This occurred a third time, and immediately the vessel was taken up into heaven.



God established certain guidelines for the nation of Israel with regard to what animals the could and could not eat. He lifted that along with the many other specific laws after Jesus' death. The fact the Cornelius (an uncircumsized Italian /GENTILE) was converted right after this vision shows that God had put aside the Mosaic Law (which he gave directly to the Jews anyway) and had made provision for his Christian servants to be more free with regard to diet and other matters.

Answer 6

If you see the bible in terms of revelation, almost every aspect in both written word and prescribed law is an attempt to bring people along in wisdom and revelation. Accepting Leviticus at the time had many social, agricultural, and medical benefits that became unnecessary as rituals in the new covenant as revelation had brought us the wisdom to understand these events in context and apply them properly. The bible says you must be as a child to accept the kingdom of God and we see the raising of people as a society in the books of the bible and the passage of time. Most people today see themselves as so informed that they no longer want to consider that they made have knowledge and choice, but not wisdom.

Answer 7

http://bibleresources.bible.com/passagesearchresults.php?passage1=Mark+7:19&version=31
http://bibleresources.bible.com/passagesearchresults.php?passage1=1+Corinthians+8%3A6-8&version1=31
http://bibleresources.bible.com/passagesearchresults.php?passage1=Matthew+15%3A16-19&version1=31

These are links to Scripture pertaining to what Jesus said about eating, Jesus did what the laws of the Old Testament couldn't do, and so they are no longer necessary to be approved by God. The Old Testament was the Old Covenant and necessary until Jesus Christ, who was the coming Messiah, who perfected it.

Through Christ there is freedom from the laws because Jesus made a New Covenant, so that it would no longer be required to keep these laws, but through Him, be reconciled to God and made righteous through His Perfect sacrifice.
"He whom the Son sets free, is free indeed."

Paul teaches that because there are some that still believe they can win God's approval by what we eat or not, that even though we know we are free to eat it and all things from God are good, we must not eat it in front of those who might have a weaker conscience and cause them to stumble.
http://bibleresources.bible.com/passagesearchresults.php?passage1=Matthew+15%3A16-19&version1=31

Those who follow Christ know all foods are good to eat and that it is not through eating certain foods or not, that makes a person's heart clean and approved of by God because Christ's death and ultimate sacrifice to God on our behalf changed this, through the blood He shed for the world's sins. He said,"Behold, I make all things new"

That's why Jesus said, it is not the type of food and whether it is clean or not that goes into a man that defiles him and makes him unclean, it's what comes out of the heart that defiles a man, out of the evils in his own heart.

http://bibleresources.bible.com/passagesearchresults.php?passage1=Matthew+15%3A16-19&version1=31

Just as in the 10 Commandments, Jesus gave "a New Commandment, that you love one another" and to "Love your neighbor as yourself" because Love fulfills the law. By loving others, you won't kill, lie or steal from them etc. and keep the whole law.

Some denominations still follow the laws in effort to be made righteous,because they try to be perfect. But no one can be perfect and righteous and keep all the laws except Jesus Christ Himself. That's why we need a Saviour.

And because of what He has done for us, we don't have to do that any more. Just some people don't know that yet and so they still believe they do.

It's not that they are wrong, they just don't know. Jesus said, it is in knowing the truth that He brings, that makes a man free. "... the truth shall make you free."

Answer 8

Christians follow everything else in the OT??? Really?

There are many other books of the OT that contain commands that were directed to the Children of Israel prior to the coming of Christ. Christ's ultimate sacrifice did away with these OT laws of worship.

Answer 9

According to the New Testament, like Acts 15, for example, the only parts of the Law of Moses that apply to the gentile church under the NT are the commands which are purely moral in nature, and not those which only served to set Israel apart as a nation (I.E.: those commands which were specifically addressed to Israelis only, for example).

If you are having trouble telling which is which, Jesus, Peter and Paul give lists of which commands are still in effect, and which ones are not.

Some people accuse modern Christians of "picking and choosing" which commands to obey, and which ones not to, but in truth, it was Jesus, Peter, and Paul that did the picking, not us.

See, for examples, Mark 7:1-20, Acts chapters 10, 11 & 15, Romans 13 & 14, the entire book of Galatians, etc.

===edit===
Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.' "

After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. "Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")

He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' "

~Mark 7:14-20 (NIV)

Answer 10

They just love their pork....


It's based on an intentional misinterpretation of acts 10... taking a vision literally when it's correct interpretation is given just a bit further down the page...