Eating Meat

I work 20 hours a week at a larger local company here in the Jackson, Mississippi, area. Because I am there only part-time, I'm not able to get to know my co-workers as well as I'd like.

However, there was a discussion today that helped me get to know them better. There was obviously some history to said discussion, but essentially, it was regarding eating pork; more specifically, what the Bible says about eating pork.

This was so interesting to me. First of all, because of my interest in Judiasm and Jewish heritage. Also, because, as an outsider of sorts, it seemed that they weren't using the most pertinent Scriptures for the argument. Which, if adhered to, there would be no argument at all.

I asked someone sitting close to me who wasn't actively participating in the discussion if many people in Customer Service (where I work) didn't eat pork. He said that there are several. I asked if anyone was Jewish and the answer was, "No." So, that determined to me that most people place themselves in some variety of the Christian category.

To summarize, one party proposed that the New Testament does not expressly allow us to eat pork after the Old Testament had expressly forbidden it. The other party proposed that the New Testament lifted the prohibition because we live under a "new law."

I'm going to skip my personal defense of which party is correct on the issue of eating pork and go directly to what I'm deeming the most pertinent pericopes from the New Testament: Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians 8.

What made this discussion so fascinating to me is that I have been in situations in the past where Romans 14 and 1 Corinthians were applied. But in the groups that I've run with in the past, it's never been about actually eating meat (which are what Romans 14 & 1 Corinthians 8 address). It has always been about drinking.

But to get back to the story at hand, both of those passages would tell the person whose conscience is clean to eat meat to not bind the conscience of those who don't see it as OK'd by Jesus. In other words, the person/group that was trying to convince the other party that there is now no longer any condemnation for eating pork is wrong.

This is a delicate topic that shouldn't be avoided by those who eat pork or meat in any form. 1 Corinthians 10 tells us not to refrain but to deal lovingly with those who see otherwise on this issue. Last note: I was a vegetarian for 10 years. :)