The only dietary standard that Christians appear to be bound to is listed in the book of Acts. And I don't believe they were instituted on account of health benefits, but rather they were instituted on account of spiritual identity and the sacredness of life (life being in the blood). Here are the standards as I understand them:
Acts 15:28-29
28 For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;
29 That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.
Thus the standards are...
1.) A Christian is to not to knowingly eat ANY meat that has been sacrificed to an idol.
2.) A Christian is to abstain from any dish made primarily of blood or with blood being the main ingredient (blood sausage, blood soups, pinyin, or freshly drawn blood as found in Inuit and Maasaian foods).
3.) A Christian is to abstain from any meat from a beast that has been strangled as opposed to slaughtered, as the meat isn't properly bled and strangulation is an inhumane way of slaughtering an animal.
4.) A Christian is to abstain from sexual immorality.
Notice "clean" and "unclean" meats are not mentioned. The issue is it having been sacrificed to an idol or not and blood. Thus, a properly slaughtered hog (unclean per the law) that hasn't been sacrificed to an idol is perfectly permissible to a Christian. However, beef (clean per the law) sacrificed to an idol and/or that has not been properly slaughtered and bled is not.
That's my understanding.
Threaded Mode
