Thursday 3 August 2017

But Christ Declared All Foods Clean

Here again is another discrepancy between the Bible and the Qu'ran. The Old Testament had prohibitions against certain foods but those were only for the Israelites and procylites. It was given to them by God to keep them separate from the idol-worshipping nations around them, as were the other ceremonial laws.

But Jesus blasted the Pharisees for turning common sense health rules into onerous religious duties. Mark 7:18-23 (KJV) shows that food doesn't make a person spiritually unclean.

"And he saith unto them, 'Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; Because it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?' And he said, 'That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.'"

But the Qu'ran seeks to limit the diet of people and to make rules as a religious test again. Sura 2:172-173 says, "O you who believe! Eat of the good things
We have provided for you, and give thanks to Allah, if it is Him that you serve. He has forbidden you carrion, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and what was dedicated to other than Allah. But if anyone is
compelled, without desiring or exceeding, he commits no sin. Allah is Forgiving and Merciful."

Apart from carrion, which only a starving and desperate person might eat, we don't have to worry about what goes into our mouths as Muslims and orthodox Jews do. It's more important to be spiritually clean than to abstain from certain foods to make oneself look holy.

And neither were the health laws of the Old Testament meant as a punishment but a blessing to Israel. Look at what sura 6:146 says. "For the Jews We forbade everything with claws. As of cattle and sheep: We forbade them their fat, except what adheres to their backs, or the entrails, or what is mixed with bone. This is how We penalized them for their inequity. We are indeed truthful."

Perhaps one reason for prohibiting pork is found in sura 6:146. "Say, “Shall I inform you of worse than that for retribution from Allah? He whom Allah has cursed, and with whom He became angry; and He turned some of them into apes, and swine, and idol worshipers. These are in a worse position, and further away from the right way."

I'll be writing more on this subject in my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? Far too many people wish and hope to be in paradise when they die but only those who know Christ personally will go there. This is why I feel compelled to write about this crucial truth.

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