Should Christians eat pork?

[Stephen63]

The next set of scriptures I would like to look at is Peter's vision in Acts 10:9-16.

In the vision, Peter sees heaven opened and all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creepy crawlies, and birds of the air, and there is a voice instructing him to rise, kill and eat.

Notice what Peter says in verse 14 - "Not so Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean."

Couple things for us to consider.
1 - A vision is ALWAYS symbolic it is NEVER literal.
2 - This is now ten years after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Peter who walked beside Jesus, listening to all of His teaching directly, in context of the language/circumstances, is completely unaware of any changes to God's dietary laws. Do you still think that Jesus did away with God's dietary laws? I think it would be safe to say that Jesus NEVER changed the dietary laws when He was walking on the earth, cause if He had, Peter would have known.
So did God change the dietary laws with this vision 10 years after J/C resurrection? Let's explore.

What get's most people unstuck is verse 15 where the voice says, "What God has declared clean you must not call common." Was God declaring unclean animals clean with this vision? If you read just verses 9 to 16 without looking at the overall context, without considering that visions are always symbolic, then you might come to this conclusion. However, visions are never literal and we must always look at what is going on in context, so don't jump to any conclusions just yet.

Remembering that a vision is never literal and always symbolic, we must ask, what was the symbolism of the vision representing? idea- The voice spoke 3 times in verse 16. Soon after 3 men came to the door (in verse 19). Remember visions are symbolic.

Verse 17 - Even Peter understood that it was symbolic and was trying to figure out what the vision meant. If it was literal, then Peter would not have had to consider the meaning of it.

Verse 28 - Peter finally gets what the vision is about. That he was never to consider a 'MAN' common or unclean. The meaning had NOTHING to do with unclean animals, but was symbolic of the Gentiles.

At that time it was unlawful for a Jewish man to keep company with a Gentile. Clearly in context (and Peter got the meaning of the vision as soon as he saw the three Gentiles at the door), God was saying that it is okay to keep company with a Gentile. Why? Because God had opened His book of life to them!!!!

In no way, shape and or form was this vision literal in any way, changing God's dietary laws, but rather introduced a massive change to the heart of man in how they interact with Gentiles whom God was calling to be a part of His family. It was God's way of saying that He was giving His Holy Spirit to the Gentiles. It was NOT about changing God's dietary laws, but something far far far greater.

Notice that whilst Peter was contemplating what the vision meant, 3 Gentile men came to the door, and then he understood that the vision was about not calling any 'MAN' unclean. Context is always important to consider.
Did God change His dietary laws making what was originally unclean, abominable, a filthy, pollutant now all of a sudden full of health and nutrition with this vision? No, it was symbolic of the calling of the Gentiles into the family of God. Part III soon.

Bremster, you have missed one very important point about God. God does not lie.
Numbers 23:19[SUP]19[/SUP] God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?


Titus 1:2[SUP]2[/SUP] In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;


Hebrews 6:18[SUP]18[/SUP] That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:


When the Lord makes this statement to Peter, he has to make this statement good about the animals or else he can't make it all. If what you say is true, God is a liar.
When such a meticulous vision has been given by God, it has more than one purpose. It shows that the old law concerning separation was done away with by Christ as well as the clean/unclean laws of animals. That's why they were used in the first place. Otherwise, the Lord would've just told Peter to go on over to Cornelius's house and preach to him.
Perhaps when the word is being studied, you should not forget the context of the nature of God, because the Scriptures tell us many absolutes about God that never changes. It amazes me that so much Scripture has been used to debunk this without any speaking directly on God's personal standards of himself.

 

[hattiebod]

I think it is so phenomenally strange that the Christian world is so split up on all these different issues, and every single person seems bound and determined that THEIR doctrines are right and the other guy's are wrong! This Christian religion is all over the place. Depends on which denomination you belong to what you believe. And they all call the other fowl. Terribly depressing. Makes one lose one's faith.

We are all human, we just cannot help but get all het up and passionate, we simply must tell it as it is!! ( for us!!) There will always be divisions, there will always be some folks who take themselves a tad too seriously but, we can learn from one another, even in the ridiculous, there can be grains of truth...for someone...I know God can use anything for good. Do not loose your faith We are children of God, through our faith in Jesus Christ, our faith can be built up in CC....not in every thread, but I have usually found there are threads of silver amongst the gold (threads.... !!! God Bless you <><