Eating Blood

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heartoflesh

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[u:f16687bf60]Leviticus 17:10-12[/u:f16687bf60]
10"And whatever man of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell among you, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people. 11For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.' 12Therefore I said to the children of Israel, "No one among you shall eat blood, nor shall any stranger who dwells among you eat blood.'

[u:f16687bf60]Acts 15:28-29[/u:f16687bf60]
28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: 29 that you abstain from things offered to idols, [b:f16687bf60]from blood,[/b:f16687bf60] from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.

Question: Is it okay for a Christian to eat a rare (or medium rare) steak?
 
This may sound wierd but I think it means that he should not take the creature alive and eat it, or tear off any of its members and eat it whilst alive, or eat raw flesh; but should prepare it by roasting or boiling, or some way, in which it might become proper food.

Check out John Gill.

So rare steak is fine.

[Edited on 3-2-2004 by Visigoth]
 
[quote:0a38436397][i:0a38436397]Originally posted by Rick Larson[/i:0a38436397]
[u:0a38436397]Acts 15:28-29[/u:0a38436397]
28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: 29 that you abstain from things offered to idols, [b:0a38436397]from blood,[/b:0a38436397] from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. [/quote:0a38436397]

Putting this verse in a historical context, I believe that James was talking about the practice of Greeks and some Romans to drink blood itself, believing that it added to their lifespan. I don't believe he's talking about kinds of meat.
 
I know some Asian Christians who will not eat meat unless the animal was bled at its slaughter (all the blood taken out as it was killed), believing that if the blood is actually left in the animal then you are eating blood, whether it has been cooked or not.

I myself need to do more research on the question.
 
I think they were talking about the kosher preparation of meat in which the blood is drained out, as the blood was an atonement, so it isn't how rare the steak, it's how well it was drained.

Raw steak, yeccch! But I'm a relativist about steak, whatever works for you, man...
 
My instructions to the cook regarding meat are completely Biblical:

"Well Done, good and faithful servant."

:tongue:
 
Actually, I think 15:21 pretty much makes it clear that this was given to the gentiles because there was such a widespread Jewish presence and they didn't want to be a stumbling block to their Jewish brethren.
 
[quote:1d2db5698a][i:1d2db5698a]Originally posted by pastorway[/i:1d2db5698a]
My instructions to the cook regarding meat are completely Biblical:

"Well Done, good and faithful servant."

:tongue: [/quote:1d2db5698a]



1 Samuel 3:1
"And the word of the LORD was rare in those days"

I try to follow Scripture too!
 
I wonder why sexual immorality is included in this list of things to abstain from, if this is only instruction for table fellowship between Jews and Gentiles?
 
v 21 most naturally modifies the blood in the food prohibition... especially since that is the thing mentioned right before the qualifier in v 20.
Also consider: the other listed prohibitions are spoken of in his letters... he never again mentions the blood thing in any of his letters...

So I'll be enjoying my steak... medium rare.
 
Originally posted by SolaScriptura
Actually, I think 15:21 pretty much makes it clear that this was given to the gentiles because there was such a widespread Jewish presence and they didn't want to be a stumbling block to their Jewish brethren.

Right. Acts 15 was a temporary suspension of Christian Liberty to prevent any offense to the Jewish brethren. So you can with a clear conscience enjoy your delicious blutwurst! Though... didnt God command Noah not to eat blood, before the Law? Isnt this why JWs dont take blood transfusions?
 
Snakes blood

I don't remember details, but my dad travels a lot, and on returning from a trip to some far off land, he told me they served snake blood(or some type blood) to drink at dinner. I wondered about that at the time, if this would be against biblical teaching? Still not sure.

TD
 
Originally posted by luvroftheWord
I wonder why sexual immorality is included in this list of things to abstain from, if this is only instruction for table fellowship between Jews and Gentiles?

The common element in this abstinence list for Gentile Christians appears to be their association with pagan cultic practices. Pagan offerings, blood, strangulation, and I think it reasonable to assume, cultic prostitution and cultic sexual intercourse -- common Gentile culturo-religious practices at the time.
 
I spent some time studying this. Interesting topic. I used to work for a JW and they use these types of verses for their prohibition against blood transfusions. (a stretch to say the least)
 
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