We are having burgers on the grill. Yumm.
When we were discussing the menu I mentioned that I just don't have a traditional Easter Feast as a memory. That's not saying we didn't have one - just saying that I did not grow up in a "Christian" home so there was no real importance on the Holiday in my memory banks...beyond getting my favorite candy(Robins Eggs).
DH and I discussed the Easter Ham.
And this is the one I am curious about.
So, way back in the old testament, God gave us dietary guidlelines.
These guidlelines were their instructions on how to eat to sanctify themselves for God. Hand-in-hand with the whole sacrifice thing.
In those guidlelines we are told not to eat pork. Well, we were given a list of things not to eat and pigs fell into those guides.
So how did Easter Sunday become such a huge ham eating holiday??
Yes, I know we aren't under the law and old testament instructions. We no longer need to do special things to sanctify ourselves -- its all covered by the blood of Jesus. I understand that.
But here's the thing. God gave us instructions on how to best take care of our bodies. After Christ we threw that out. Each generation gets farther and farther away from that model.
And look at us now.
Now I'm not saying we have to eat the way they had to in the old testament. It won't sanctify us and get us into heaven. And not eating that way won't keep us out of heaven. I'm not trying to make that kind of a point.
But it confuses me.
It's like the whole angel thing. All the angels in the Bible were male. All the ones we see/buy in our society are female.
Huh?
How did that happen?
Things that make me go hmmmmm on an Easter morning.
we keep biblically kosher (different from rabbinical kosher) because we feel like God gave those laws for health issues. No other reason. We feel like Torah was given for the wellbeing of humans and we try and live it out and follow it.
ReplyDeleteI think the modern church doesn't quite understand who Jesus was, and that he was a Jew above almost everything else. And there was a huge antisemitic movement around Constantine and that is when most biblical holidays and laws stopped being followed.
You should read a book called "Our Father Abraham" It really sheds some light on the Jewish history of the church.
And we consider ourselves Messianic too :)
Erin -
ReplyDeleteI will look for that book.
Although we are not Jew's, I too believe that the Torah was given to help us live correctly. Otherwise why would it be important to have information that was directed at God's people in times so long ago?
He does all things for a reason.
Thanks for the book recommendation! (Do you have the authors name?)
Strangely enough, we had almost this exact discussion, sitting around the Easter Ham this evening! We were at my sister's husband's parents (we like extended family around here!) and got to talking about old Hebrew law, and the fact that Christians pretty much ignore most of it now.
ReplyDeleteWe pretty much ended on the note, "Thank goodness for the New Testament", (Jesus and his saving GRACE) but at the same time, you have to think that those laws were given for a reason.
Perhaps God just wanted to protect them? Do we need to protect ourselves too...
Andy's Bethy another book you might want to read is "What the bible says about Healthy Living" by Rex Russell. Pork is actually pretty bad for you, it is a bottom feeder and because it only has only one stomach it cannot get rid of the toxins that it eats and it goes into its muscular system which is the part we eat. That is the same with shellfish. They are filter fish and filter the toxins out of the ocean and don't dispose of them themselves, they hold onto them.
ReplyDeleteOur father Abraham is written by Marvin R. Wilson.