Permit me a frank admission. Pork is my favourite dish, in any form. However, now that I am growing in age and girth, I know that I should not overindulge in taste bud ticklers like pork, butter or sweets. It is a purely physical matter, having nothing whatsoever to do with religion or Christian/ Biblical spirituality. However, the claim of Hope Egan on “God’s Menu”, that pork is biblically “unclean”, got my hackles up. Not because I like pork, but because the writer is making false claims, based on an erroneous reading of the Bible. The article “Does God Care What We Eat?” could be very misleading for those unfamiliar with biblical exegesis or Christian teaching.
Egan was Jewish before converting to Christianity. She frankly admits that she had gross eating disorders and compulsions, necessitating a strict diet. Giving up certain foods for health reasons is quite understandable. But deifying one’s diet is stretching things too far. The Catholic Church recommends abstinence from meat etc during Lent and on Fridays – not because meat is bad, but because making a sacrifice is good. Quoting the Bible to justify one’s diet is certainly not on the cards, even Menu Cards!
Egan states that she was encouraged to read the “whole Bible”, and to take it literally; including the belief that God created the world in 6 days. Biblical scholars tell us that that the first 10 chapters of Genesis are allegorical, not historical; to convey a message of why creation took place. How creation occurred 20 billion years ago is for astro-physicists to tell us. It is a fatal error to read the Bible, especially the Old Testament (OT) in a literal manner. We need guidance and scholarship for a proper understanding.
Christianity is based on the New Testament (NT), and the person of Jesus. It is not enough to merely read the NT. Besides scholarship one needs prayerful reflection and discipleship. One cannot understand the mind and heart of Jesus until and unless one makes a serious attempt to actually walk in His steps. Without that we would be like the high profile tele-evangelists who propound the “prosperity gospel”; or hardcore fundamentalists who spot evil spirits and anti-Christs behind every door! Both these brand ambassadors prefer quoting extensively from the OT to bolster their claims.
For food we need to follow the basic laws of nature. Animals and birds instinctively know what, or what not, to eat. They don’t have any scriptures, padres, rabbis, maulvis or pandits to prepare menu cards for them. We humans are supposed to be intelligent creatures; which seems to be our undoing. Pups and kittens can find their maternal nourishment, but a newborn child will die of starvation until and unless its mother suckles it. So we see that the most intelligent and powerful species is also the most helpless. Nature’s paradox? Humans have multiple choices and complex natures, hence require constant upgradation of knowledge and competent guidance. Doctors and dieticians can tell us what is chicken soup for the body; while religion teaches us what is chicken soup for the soul. When we encroach on another’s field of competence we are prone to error. Remember the Pope and Galileo?
Coming back to the Bible, specifically the OT, we do know that there were strict food laws for the Jewish people. Islam, which considers the Pentateuch/ Torah/ Toreth (the first 5 books of the Bible) of divine origin, has also retained those food laws to this day. Hindu scriptures had several laws on satvik bhojan, though some Hindu scholars contend that cow beef was an integral part of Vedic life and rituals. We need to understand that most of these religious sanctions arose out of specific circumstances, or a limited understanding of nature and science. Muslims believe in halal meat because the impurities pass out with the blood flow. This is scientifically untenable. Till the last century Hindus considered it impure to traverse the oceans. Rajahs who visited England carried their shudh jal with them from India. Ironically today we Indians consider our municipal water impure, and guzzle bottled water packaged by foreign cola companies! The irony of fate, or nature turning full circle?
What of Christianity? Jesus was a non-conformist, who paid scant regard to social norms or empty rituals. For this he incurred the wrath of his religious contemporaries. He believed in core values, rather than peripheral ablutions like washing hands, or not mixing with women, Samaritans and Gentiles; eating and drinking whatever was placed before Him etc. When challenged by the Pharisees He boldly declared, “What goes into the mouth does not make anyone unclean; it is what comes out of the mouth that makes someone unclean… Can’t you see that whatever goes into the mouth passes through the stomach and is discharged into the sewer?” (Mat 15:11,17). The Pharisees were shocked by what Jesus said, but He was unperturbed. On the contrary He warned His disciples, “For I tell you, if your uprightness does not surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven” (Mat 5: 20).
Jesus understood that the Mosaic Laws/ Jewish traditions had outlived their purpose. They were infructuous in the new messianic dispensation. At the beginning of His ministry Jesus proclaimed in the synagogue of his native Nazareth, “This text is being fulfilled today, even while you are listening” (Lk 4: 31). Jesus clarifies further, “Upto the time of John (The Baptist) it was the Law and the Prophets; from then onwards the Kingdom of God has been preached” (Lk 16:16). He adds, “Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets. I have come not to abolish, but to complete them” (Mat 5:17). It is therefore apparent that the OT norms have fulfilled their purpose. Those who were humble and open to the Spirit welcomed the progression. The haughty, obstinate, or those with vested interests in perpetuating meaningless traditions, resisted these changes, and opposed Jesus. They still do.
Some of the early Christians had not grasped the core values of Jesus. Perhaps they still subscribed to OT fundas like an eye for an eye; a woman being impure at certain times and stages of life; ostracisation of those afflicted by leprosy; circumcision; food habits etc. This prompted St Paul to write to the Romans that, “The law has found its fulfilment in Christ” (Rom 10:4).
St Peter also had to overcome his Jewish moorings, and guide the early church accordingly. His vision of various foods descending upon him is the turning point (Acts 10:1-16). Through this vision God shows him that all creation is good (cf Gen 1:31), and foods hitherto considered “unclean” were not really so. This vision was linked with the fulfilment of another Jewish tradition – circumcision. The vision was not just connected with food, but the whole concept of widening one’s horizons beyond existing Jewish traditions. Peter was to go to the house of Cornelius, an uncircumcised “centurion of the Italica cohort stationed in Caesarea” (Acts 10:1). He was loath to preach to unclean, uncircumcised people, but he had been softened up by the vision on all foods/ animals being acceptable to God. When the Holy Spirit manifested itself on Cornelius and his household Peter was finally convinced that the Spirit of Christ was not limited to circumcised Jews (Acts 10:44-48). In today’s idiom we could say that the protected spiritual economy of the Jews had to open up to the growing pains of Christian globalisation!
At one fell stroke two traditions held sacred by the Jews were abolished – circumcision and food restrictions. Not everybody was prepared to toe Peter’s new global vision. When Peter got back to Jerusalem from his Caesarean adventure he had a lot of explaining to do. This was the first point of debate in the nascent Christian community. Church historians refer to it as the first ever Synod or Council of the Church (Jerusalem I) (cf Acts 11:1-18). Those who gathered together in Council heard Peter’s detailed explanation and first hand experience, and accepted his bold initiative against circumcision and food restrictions.
There is a lesson for all of us in these events – that faith and religion are not static. Faith is alive, and dynamic, and therefore constantly open to change. The first official General Council of the Church took place in Nicaea in 325, from which we got the Nicene Creed. Dan Brown of “The Da Vinci Code” would have us believe that this first council was manipulated by King Constantine to consolidate his Roman Empire. Dan Brown excels in half–truths. Vatican II (1962-65) was the 21st General Council of the Church. It recognised the dignity and equality of the laity, the goodness of other religions, and accepted officially that non-Christians, even atheists could be saved. (Would Dan Brown have us believe that Vatican II was an American conspiracy to eventually absorb and abolish communism?)
Futurists talk of Jerusalem II. If Jerusalem I abolished circumcision as the rite of initiation, would Jerusalem II abolish baptism? Food for thought! Till then let us eat whatever is good for our health and ensure that others also have enough to eat. The Mosaic Law on food, including pork, has long been fulfilled. Let us rather work for God’s kingdom of love, peace and joy. Bon Appetit.
February 2006
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