God's Dietary Laws

CLEAN AND UNCLEAN:

Abolished in the New Testament?

READERS: The purpose of this article is not to condemn or insult those who hold to the standard Christian teaching that God�s dietary laws are abolished under the New Covenant. The purpose of the article is to examine the New Testament passages which are commonly quoted in support of this teaching, and to show that these passages do not really teach what most Christians think they teach.

The Bible tells us that there was a distinction between clean and unclean animals for at least a thousand years before the Torah was given to Moses. This distinction between clean and unclean animals is mentioned in Gen. 7:2 and 8:20, in the account of Noah�s Flood. Genesis does not tell us which animals were clean and which were unclean, but it is obvious that Noah knew the difference.

About a thousand years later, when the Torah was given to Moses, God went into great detail and listed which animals were clean (kosher; fit for human consumption) and which were unclean (non kosher; not fit for human consumption). The entire 11th chapter of Leviticus is devoted to this subject. A shorter version of the list is repeated in Deuteronomy 14.

Orthodox Jews take these commandments literally, and do not eat pork, shellfish, or any of the other forbidden meats. Christians, on the other hand, feel that there is nothing wrong with eating these things. Many Christians (and doctors and nutritionists, too) will admit that people would be a lot healthier if they followed God�s dietary laws, and a small number of Christians actually do make an effort to avoid meat from unclean animals. But the great majority of Christians do not view the dietary laws as Divine commandments which ought to be obeyed.

A number of arguments have been put forth to support the standard Christian position. Probably the oldest argument is drawn from the Second Century Epistle of Barnabas. The writer spiritualizes the dietary laws, and says that the various unclean animals represent different types of behavior in which a Christian should not engage. While there may be alegitimate analogy here (Christians shouldn�t behave like pigs, etc.), the analogy fails to prove that God does not want His people to take the commandments literally and abstain from these meats.

Of course the most common argument against the validity of the dietary laws is the claim that God abolished them in the New Testament. This claim is often coupled with the idea that God originally gave the dietary laws because people didn�t have refrigeration in Old Testament times. I�ve got news for you. People didn�t have refrigeration in New Testament times, either. If God�s dietary commandments had anything at all to do with the absence of refrigeration, He wouldn�t have "abolished" them until about a hundred years ago, when refrigeration was invented.

There are six New Testament passages which can give the impression that God did, indeed, abolish the dietary commandments which He established in the Old Testament. However, a close look at these passages reveals that they really prove no such thing. The only way a person can use any of these passages to "prove" the nullifying of the dietary laws is to: 1) ignore the context of the passage; 2) ignore the historical background of the passage; 3) ignore what the rest of the Bible says about the subject; 4) ignore the implications and logical conclusions of this theological position.

Before we look at the six New Testament passages, let us consider two important questions:

1) Were the dietary laws, as written in the Bible, man-made traditions, or were they commandments of God? Bible-believers must admit that these were commandments which God expected His people to obey;

2) Did the Son of God teach His disciples to disobey the commandments of God? Some might think this is a ridiculous question, yet this is exactly what some Christians actually believe Jesus did in Matt. 15, the first passage we will look at.More

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A List of Clean Fish (Edible according to God)

PAUL AND UNCLEAN MEATS

Immune System Protects Against Flu, Not Vaccines

Anthony Gucciardi
Activist Post

Preventing the flu may not come down to hand sanitizers and risky vaccinations. A new study has found that only half of all individuals affected with the flu virus actually get sick, highlighting the necessity of a powerful immune system that is able to respond to the flu virus appropriately.

The
study comes from the University of Michigan, where researchers infected 17 healthy individuals with the flu, about half of which reported actually getting sick as a result. The other half felt completely fine.

The average American touches around 300 different surfaces every 30 minutes, demonstrating that it is virtually impossible to avoid coming in
contact with a virus that may invade your body. Instead, a boosted immune system will be able to defend against potentially-harmful viruses that seek to make you ill. You cannot prevent coming in contact with bacteria and viruses, but you can certainly establish a biological defense against them.

Natural Cancer-Fighting Spice Reduces Tumors by 81%

Anthony Gucciardi
Activist Post

Used in the ancient Chinese and Indian systems of medicine, curcumin is a naturally powerful anticancer compound that has been found to decrease brain tumor size in animals by 81 percent in more than 9 studies. A derivative of turmeric, curcumin is the pigment responsible for turmeric’s yellow-orange color. Each 100 grams of turmeric contains around 3 to 5 grams of curcumin, though turmeric is a also very powerful on its own. New studies are shedding light on curcumin, and illuminating its numerous benefits on cancer and other diseases.

Researchers experimenting with curcumin in the treatment of a fatal brain cancer known as glioblastoma (GBMs) published their groundbreaking findings in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry in July.

Prescription Drug Deaths Now Outnumber Traffic Fatalities in U.S.

Anthony Gucciardi
Activist Post

In 2009, drugs exceeded the amount of traffic-related deaths, killing at least 37,485 people nationwide. According to information provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the very pharmaceuticals that are prescribed to treat life-endangering conditions are now ending lives.

The death toll is partially due to an increase in mental illness medication known as psychotropics, which have been criticized by health experts as being oftentimes unnecessarily prescribed. The pills, given to patients to prevent suicide thoughts and tendencies, may actually lead to suicidal thoughts and suicide.

California Bans Unvaccinated Children from Class

Anthony Gucciardi
Activist Post

If your child hasn’t received the whooping cough vaccine, he or she is now banned from attending class at many California schools. Despite legitimate religious or personal health reasons for rejecting the whooping cough vaccine, your child simply cannot attend class. Due to a law that requires all students entering grades seven through 12 be vaccinated, the San Francisco school district has begun sending home children who do not have proof of receiving the whooping cough vaccination.

Proof of vaccine ineffectiveness

Why are schools afraid of unvaccinated children spreading the disease to vaccinated children if the whooping cough vaccine is truly effective? How could an unvaccinated child spread the disease to someone who has already received the whooping cough vaccine?

Kids Drinking Raw Milk Have 40% Less Asthma and Allergies: Study

David Michael Augenstein
Living Food Journal

Reuters, Fox and other media outlets reported September 13 about a large European raw milk study published at the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, online August 29, 2011, showing kids who drink raw milk are 41% less likely to suffer from asthma and allergies. The study included 8334 school-aged children, and 7606 of them provided serum samples to assess specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels. Over 800 cow’s milk samples were collected at the participants’ homes. Reuter’s article stated:

Compared with kids who only drank store-bought milk, those who drank raw milk had a 41-percent reduction in their odds of developing asthma. They were also only about half as likely to develop hay fever — even after accounting for other factors that might be relevant. On the other hand, those who drank boiled farm milk had no less asthma than those who drank store milk. The protective effect was linked to so-called whey proteins in the milk, such as BSA and alpha-lactalbumin. Pasteurization remains an effective tool to inactivate harmful microorganisms but may simultaneously destroy whey proteins.
The results of this study brings up two other very serious questions rarely posed: 1) What other diseases and disorders are caused by regular pasteurized, homogenized milk with synthetic chemical additives? and 2) What other health benefits can be realized from including raw milk as part of a well-rounded diet of whole, fresh foods?

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Flashback: The Hepatitis B Vaccine is Linked to Infant Death, Multiple Sclerosis and Autoimmune Disorders


Anthony Gucciardi
Activist Post

The hepatitis B vaccine has been approved for all U.S. infants at birth, but is it really safe? For a “preventative” vaccination, the amount of complications associated with the hepatitis B vaccination are quite shocking. In fact, a number of peer-reviewed studies have found a relationship between the hep B vaccination and infant deaths both in the U.S. and Europe. With links to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), multiple sclerosis, and numerous chronic autoimmune disorders, some doctors are speaking out against the dangers of the hep B vaccine.

'Huge' results raise hope for cancer breakthrough

In a potential breakthrough in cancer research, scientists at the University of Pennsylvania have genetically engineered patients' T cells — a type of white blood cell — to attack cancer cells in advanced cases of a common type of leukemia.

Two of the three patients who received doses of the designer T cells in a clinical trial have remained cancer-free for more than a year, the researchers said.

Experts not connected with the trial said the feat was important because it suggested that T cells could be tweaked to kill a range of cancers, including ones of the blood, breast and colon.
"This is a huge accomplishment — huge," said Dr. Lee M. Nadler, dean for clinical and translational research at Harvard Medical School, who discovered the molecule on cancer cells that the Pennsylvania team's engineered T cells target.

Findings of the trial were reported Wednesday in two journals.
To build the cancer-attacking cells, the researchers modified a virus to carry instructions for making a molecule that binds with leukemia cells and directs T cells to kill them. Then they drew blood from three patients who suffered from chronic lymphocytic leukemia and infected their T cells with the virus.
When they infused the blood back into the patients, the engineered T cells successfully eradicated cancer cells, multiplied to more than 1,000 times in number and survived for months. They even produced dormant "memory" T cells that might spring back to life if the cancer was to return.

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Potatoes, especially purple, may help lower blood pressure

USA Today — French fries and potato chips may have given potatoes a bad rap, but new research finds the lowly tuber — when cooked correctly — may actually be good for the heart.
A small, pilot study suggests that a couple of servings of potatoes per day can lower blood pressure as much as oatmeal without causing weight gain, researchers said.
Joe Vinson, a professor of chemistry at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, analyzed 18 patients who ate six to eight small purple potatoes twice daily for a month and found their systolic and diastolic blood pressures (the top and bottom numbers on a blood pressure reading) dropped by 3.5 and 4.3 percent, respectively.

Most patients were either overweight or obese, and many were already taking medications for high blood pressure during the study, which was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and was to be presented Wednesday at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society in Denver. Experts note that research presented at scientific meetings is preliminary and has not yet been peer-reviewed.
Vinson pointed out that potatoes can be a healthy food when they’re not in the form of French fries or chips, or covered in high-fat toppings such as cheese and sour cream.
Purple ones, in particular, have high amounts of antioxidants, although red-skinned or white potatoes may have similar effects, he said.

The golf ball-sized potatoes used in the study were microwaved, which Vinson called a “benign” cooking method that doesn’t add fat or calories or destroy healthy substances in potatoes.
“Everyone thought potatoes were just a starch and pretty much nothing else,” said Vinson, explaining spuds’ poor nutritional reputation. “I was surprised . . . a very large proportion (of participants) were taking medications and still we had a drop in blood pressure.”
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#Six and Diabetes: Jay Cutler On Numbers

As an NFL quarterback, Jay Cutler makes his living putting a football into the hands of an open receiver before getting slammed to the ground by a huge defensive lineman. It's a stressful occupation, all about timing, a little luck, and seeing the big picture in a split second.

So when Cutler lost 35 pounds and felt continually tired during April workouts for the 2008 season with the Denver Broncos, he wrote it off as stress-related. When a team trainer pulled him aside after a routine physical, Cutler never saw it coming.

"I think you need to see a doctor," the trainer told the 25-year old quarterback, pointing to a blood sugar of 550. "I think you have type 1 diabetes." Cutler remembers how the conversation ended: "Everything is going to be OK." Read more...