Black pudding is a type of sausage available in England that is made from blood. In Acts we are told that under the new covenant we should not eat blood. As a Christian should I eat black pudding?
I like black pudding especially with a fry-up! but aparantly it's not very healthy (neither is the rest of a fry-up). When I say unhealthy I don't just mean like too much sugar or fat, it's bad for us, like poison! so this may mean we both should give it up :cry: another way of looking at this or any similar dilema (like the thread on music) is that if we give it up and it is ok, no harm done. But if we don't give it up and we should have, then we are living in disobedience, why risk it.
Griffo,I would suggest that you let your conscience decide. If eating such things bothers your conscience, then don't do it.As far as Biblical insight into this, the practice of not eating blood predates even the law given to Moses. Noah was told he could eat meat, but not to ingest the blood.In Acts, the reason the Apostles got together and established the "law" that Christians should abstain from digesting blood was mainly due to the fact that Gentiles were being converted and they had no understanding of the dietary or ceremonial laws of the Jews. This led many Jews to consider them unworthy of receiving the Messiah. Some Jews thought that Gentiles must first convert to Judaism to be accepted by Christ. These were referred to as the Judaizers. They were placing yokes of burden on new converts, adding works to salvation. The Apostles obviously thought that digesting blood was offensive to God because it is also listed with such offenses as sexual immorality, but just as importantly, the Apostles decreed that Christians should abstain from ingesting blood because of how offensive it was to the Jewish Christians.Remember that the early church would pattern its services around meals. Their "Lord's Supper" was a real supper - often referred to as a "love feast." Some churches, like Antioch, had both Gentile and Jewish converts who were eating together at these love feasts, and some Gentiles were probably bringing food with blood as an ingredient. This would be so offensive to the Jews that they wouldn't even think of eating it, which in turn offended the Gentiles who probably worked hard to prepare the food.We must remember what Jesus said:"It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person." (Matt. 15:11)The Apostles sided with the Jews on the blood issue, but interestingly enough not with circumcision. That is a whole other post in itself...The point is, the Christian is to lowly and humble. The Law was made for man, not man for the Law (Mark 2:27.) We can see what pleases our Father through the Law, but only with a spiritual approach to the Law. If they remain stone tablets, they only act as the doors of our spiritual tomb. It is only when the Law is written on the tablets of our hearts (2 Cor. 3:3) that it fulfills its purpose in our lives.Again, pray to God to guide your conscience.
Black pudding YUK!!! An interesting point whether you should eat it or not. Noah was told by God not to eat blood: Genesis 9 v 4 "But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat."Acts 15 - the Council at Jerusalem deals with it.The disciples decided that they should not make huge demands on the new Gentile Christians -In verse 28 and 29 we read the content of the letter written to the Gentile Christians:"... For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these essentials: that you abstain from things sacrificed to idolsand from blood and from things strangled and from fornication; if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well ..."So, if you can keep yourself free from black pudding, you will do well, I guess!Sue
and from things strangled Why would this be included? I think anyone who follows the letter of the law, would have to include this one.But that is ridiculous. If we don't understand the spirit of the law, then we will miss the real law that we are to follow. Perhaps, as has been pointed out, the law of LOVE, is really the issue - considering how our choices affect the conscience of others.
No. That is what you were expecting to hear, right?ginnyrose
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