# Bibical prohibition against canibalism?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibical-prohibition-against-canibalism/519254
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 28, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibical-prohibition-against-canibalism/519254 "2009-11-28T17:42:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibical-prohibition-against-canibalism/519254/1 "2009-11-28T17:42:00Z")
Is it an abomination to eat thy fat uncle? Or, better yet, thy tender young neice?
No plans. Just curious. I promise. I opened a can of Spam, and got to wondering.
Piece, I mean peace, mangeorge
---
### Author:  [@code\_grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/code_grey)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2009, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibical-prohibition-against-canibalism/519254/2 "2009-11-28T18:29:30Z")
there is no explicit prohibition against eating human flesh. Perhaps it could be construed as violation of the Old Testament kashrut laws since humans or even primates don’t fall under any of the allowed animal categories for consumption (they have to divide the hoof and chew the cud, or something like that). There is also prohibition of eating carrion (“that which dieth of itself”).
Biblical accounts do mention eating of human flesh during famine. In fact, this is one of the curses promised to Israel in Leviticus for disobedience to God - that they will be besieged by the enemy and forced to eat human flesh because of the famine.
---
### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibical-prohibition-against-canibalism/519254/3 "2009-11-28T21:29:22Z")
Well, both the story of Cain and Abel and the story of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac can be seen as prohibitions of human sacrifice, which at the time was closely connected to cannibalism (after all, most \*animal \*sacrifices were actually eaten by the priests). There’s also the commandment against murder.
---
### Author:  [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)
#### Post date: [November 28, 2009, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibical-prohibition-against-canibalism/519254/4 "2009-11-28T21:52:55Z")
The dietary restrictions and the separation of man and animal (man was made in his image, after all) seem to be the main thing. There’s also [this passage](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%206:51-59&version=KJV) where Jesus goes into his transubstantiation spiel, the listeners are pretty shocked that Jesus appears to be offering up his flesh in some form of cannibalistic ritual;
“52The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
In [Jeremiah](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jeremiah%2019:8-11&version=KJV) cannibalism seems to be a dire result of forsaking God and incurring his wrath;
“9And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend in the siege and straitness, wherewith their enemies, and they that seek their lives, shall straiten them.”
---
### Author:  [@duncanmkz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duncanmkz)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2009, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibical-prohibition-against-canibalism/519254/5 "2009-11-29T16:20:43Z")
People aren’t kosher, but beyond that, I don’t believe there’s any specific prohibition against eating human flesh. In fact, in certain forms, it is quite common to do so. For example, placenta, which is definitely human flesh, was routinely eaten after a birth, and some people still eat it. It’s full of nutrients, and apparently goes well with fried onions.
However, there are some theological snags which might put potential cannibals off their meals. A knotty theological problem, which generations of thinkers considered, when they weren’t wondering how many angels were dancing on pin-heads, was what happened to cannibals at Judgment Day. According to the Bible, the dead were supposed to be brought back to life, and given back their bodies. But what would happen if their bodies had been eaten by others, and those others (who presumably had lived good lives, apart from their feeding habits) were also resurrected. Since the flesh from one person had become part of another, who would get it?
St. Augustine’s answer was that whoever owned the body part first would get first dibs on it. So, the cannibal loses out.
---
### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2009, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibical-prohibition-against-canibalism/519254/6 "2009-11-29T16:51:38Z")
> [@duncanmkz](#):
>
> People aren’t kosher, but beyond that, I don’t believe there’s any specific prohibition against eating human flesh. In fact, in certain forms, it is quite common to do so. For example, placenta, which is definitely human flesh, was routinely eaten after a birth, and some people still eat it. It’s full of nutrients, and apparently goes well with fried onions.
>
> However, there are some theological snags which might put potential cannibals off their meals. A knotty theological problem, which generations of thinkers considered, when they weren’t wondering how many angels were dancing on pin-heads, was what happened to cannibals at Judgment Day. According to the Bible, the dead were supposed to be brought back to life, and given back their bodies. But what would happen if their bodies had been eaten by others, and those others (who presumably had lived good lives, apart from their feeding habits) were also resurrected. Since the flesh from one person had become part of another, who would get it?
>
> St. Augustine’s answer was that whoever owned the body part first would get first dibs on it. So, the cannibal loses out.
Well, the nuns told us that “people for dinner” would be resurected the same way as those blown to smitherines by bombs, or consumed (yeah) by fire. I mean, he made your first body, right? Shouldn’t be a problem making anpther.
And people probably aren’t halal either, so a devout muslim won’t eat you either. Hindus are vegetarian, right?
Looks like, so far, only us christians and athiests will survive another Donner Pass happening. That’s cool 🆒, more for me.
---
### Author:  [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibical-prohibition-against-canibalism/519254/7 "2009-11-29T16:58:02Z")
Obviously humans aren’t kosher.
And you’d be hard pressed to argue with any honesty that cannibalism is acceptable to a Christian:
> [@Romans 14](#):
>
> If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil.
It’s impossible to think of any foodstuff whose consumption is more likely to distress others and be considered more evil than human flesh.
Unless you seriously want to argue that eating people won’t distress anybody and that it won’t be considered evil by 99% of humanity then the answer seems quite clear: Yes Virginia, there is a biblical prohibition against cannibalism.
I suppose in theory if a Christian were living amongst people that didn’t consider cannibalism to be distressing and she could be absolutely certain that nobody in the outside world would ever find out, then it would be tolerable. But that;s pretty improbable.
> [@duncanmkz](#):
>
> In fact, in certain forms, it is quite common to do so. For example, placenta, which is definitely human flesh, was routinely eaten after a birth, and some people still eat it.
Cite. I would like to see this evidence that eating the placenta was common and routine amongst any Christian group at any time. I’ll accept as little as 1 in 100 births as common, and 1 in 10 as routine, which is pretty generous.
> [@](#):
>
> A knotty theological problem,… was what happened to cannibals at Judgment Day. According to the Bible, the dead were supposed to be brought back to life, and given back their bodies. But what would happen if their bodies had been eaten by others, and those others (who presumably had lived good lives, apart from their feeding habits) were also resurrected. Since the flesh from one person had become part of another, who would get it?
Which makes no sense at all, and never has.
As Shakespeare noted, people decompose, the worms feed fish, the fish feed other people. Thus a king makes a beggar fat. There’s nothing new about our understanding that human bodies are made of recycled matter from other people. Every living person consists of large amounts of deceased people. Cannibalism doesn’t add any more to the problem.
If philosophers were arguing about this it was, as with the angels on a pin, an academic exercise, not a knotty theological problem.
---
### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibical-prohibition-against-canibalism/519254/8 "2009-11-29T17:20:27Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Originally Posted by Romans 14
> If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil.
I cannot find where Romans 14 posted in this thread, but I bet there’s a lot more to this prohibition than just this outtake.
---
### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [November 29, 2009, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibical-prohibition-against-canibalism/519254/9 "2009-11-29T23:49:02Z")
> [@mangeorge](#):
>
> I cannot find where Romans 14 posted in this thread, but I bet there’s a lot more to this prohibition than just this outtake.
[Google is your friend.](http://lmgtfy.com/?q=romans+14)
> [@](#):
>
> **Originally written by Paul of Tarsus in his letter to the Romans, chapter 14 (NIV translation):**
> \*1Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. 5One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. 8If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
> 9For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. 10You, then, why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. 11It is written:
> " ‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
> ‘every knee will bow before me;
> every tongue will confess to God.’ "
>
> 12So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
>
> 13Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way. 14As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. 15If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. 16Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. 17For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, 18because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men.
> 19Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. 20Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. 21It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.
> 22So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. 23But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.\*
Read it yourself instead of making presuppositions. The whole chapter is about not doing things that will distress another believer, even if you think it is technically okay. The example given is eating.
I’m sorry if I seem rude, but I consider it intellectually dishonest for someone to say “That’s probably not true” without checking the available research for himself.
This isn’t the Wild Assed Guess forum. Either you have the data, or you don’t.
---
### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibical-prohibition-against-canibalism/519254/10 "2009-11-30T01:29:10Z")
First, the quote in **Blake’s** post says “Originally Posted by Romans 14”. I still can’t find Romans 14’s quoted original post. 😕
And there was no presupposition in my reply. There _was_ a lot more than just what was quoted in Blake’s post. As you so well quoted. You proved the truth in my post. And I certainly did not state that _anything_ was not true.
You _are_ rude.
Hey, what’s this?
“Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another”
Well, I’ll be dipped!
---
### Author:  [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2009, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibical-prohibition-against-canibalism/519254/11 "2009-11-30T04:29:37Z")
> [@mangeorge](#):
>
> First, the quote in **Blake’s** post says “Originally Posted by Romans 14”. I still can’t find Romans 14’s quoted original post. 😕
Is this a joke, or are you genuinely unaware that Romans is a book in the Christian scriptures, and Romans 14 is the 14th chapter in that book?
I find it hard to believe that you are this ignorant, particularly considering the link that **BigT** provided.
> [@](#):
>
> There _was_ a lot more than just what was quoted in Blake’s post. As you so well quoted. You proved the truth in my post. And I certainly did not state that _anything_ was not true.
WTF? I quoted the relevant passages for the point I was trying to make. Of course there is more to it. It’s called “The Entire Fricken Bible”.
---
### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibical-prohibition-against-canibalism/519254/12 "2009-11-30T13:58:47Z")
Romans 14 never posted in this thread, originally or not.
“Of course there is more to it”
_That’s what I said, in my original reply._
Are you two ( **Blake & BigT** ) True Believers? You’re both seeing what you want to see.
When I have time, I may read all that bible stuff and see where it specifically prohibits the eating of human meat.
If you have any more nastiness to add, start a new thread in GD. I won’t follow, but that move will return some civility to this thread.
---
### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibical-prohibition-against-canibalism/519254/13 "2009-11-30T14:11:27Z")
Catholics eat a little bit o Jesus at every service, or so they claim. So at the very least, deep fried Jesus should be ok.
---
### Author:  [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibical-prohibition-against-canibalism/519254/14 "2009-11-30T14:39:56Z")
> [@mangeorge](#):
>
> Romans 14 never posted in this thread, originally or not.
> “Of course there is more to it”
> _That’s what I said, in my original reply._
> Are you two ( **Blake & BigT** ) True Believers? You’re both seeing what you want to see.
> When I have time, I may read all that bible stuff and see where it specifically prohibits the eating of human meat.
> If you have any more nastiness to add, start a new thread in GD. I won’t follow, but that move will return some civility to this thread.
What on earth are you going on about?
---
### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2009, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibical-prohibition-against-canibalism/519254/15 "2009-11-30T15:24:28Z")
> [@Kyla](#):
>
> What on earth are you going on about?
**Blake** and **BigT** were a little confused about something I had posted. That’s all, no biggee.
Sorry for the distraction. 😉
---
### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibical-prohibition-against-canibalism/519254/16 "2009-11-30T15:26:53Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#):
>
> Catholics eat a little bit o Jesus at every service, or so they claim. So at the very least, deep fried Jesus should be ok.
Tried some, went back to Twinkies.
---
### Author:  [@Blake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blake)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2009, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibical-prohibition-against-canibalism/519254/17 "2009-11-30T15:45:23Z")
> [@Kyla](#):
>
> What on earth are you going on about?
My thought exactly. WTF?😕
---
### Author:  [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibical-prohibition-against-canibalism/519254/18 "2009-11-30T19:34:19Z")
> [@Blake](#):
>
> My thought exactly. WTF?😕
**Kyla** asked a question.
Please, read the first quote in post #7
---
### Author:  [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibical-prohibition-against-canibalism/519254/19 "2009-11-30T19:58:47Z")
> [@mangeorge](#):
>
> **Kyla** asked a question.
> Please, read the first quote in post #7
But…Romans isn’t a poster, it’s a book of the New Testament.
---
### Author:  [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2009, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibical-prohibition-against-canibalism/519254/20 "2009-11-30T20:19:39Z")
> [@code\_grey](#):
>
> There is also prohibition of eating carrion (“that which dieth of itself”).
Well, between that and “Thou shalt not kill”, the opportunities for acceptable cannibalism will be few: I suppose accident victims would be OK, and possibly victims of other people’s murders/wars, but you couldn’t really build a lifestyle relying on that, without beginning to at least a little bit encouraging the killer. And you could possibly argue than planning to cannibalize accident victims would be in most situations partially encouraging accidents and therefore would be Not OK.
And of course accident vicitims are extremely unlikely to have been kosher slaughtered, so even if you decided humans were kosher animals, the meat from accident vicitims wouldn’t be.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bibical-prohibition-against-canibalism/519254.md?page=2)