# Why do Christians eat pork? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 18, 2002, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-christians-eat-pork/104400 "2002-04-18T21:50:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-christians-eat-pork/104400/1 "2002-04-18T21:50:17Z")
I may have slept missed the Gospel where Jesus said, “Let them eat pork!” Or perhaps it’s from some obscure 5th century Papal bull. But why is that both Jews and Muslims eschew pork for religious reasons, yet I’ve never heard of a Christian sect, papist or not, denounce pork for religious reasons. * * * Why pork was proscribed by Hebraic law is still unclear, and some scholars believe that the Torah merely suggested not eating pork at certain restaurants. - Woody Allen ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-christians-eat-pork/104400/2 "2002-04-18T21:54:28Z")
IANAC, but my guess would be that Paul observed that Christians were freed from “the curse of the Law.” As such, they do not keep kosher, nor keep many of the other commandments in the Torah. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-christians-eat-pork/104400/3 "2002-04-18T21:56:20Z")
I have spoken with Christians who do not eat pork because they believe that the OT rules should still be followed (save circumcision). It is extremely uncommon, however. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-christians-eat-pork/104400/4 "2002-04-18T21:59:06Z")
You can read the full story in the Acts of the Apostles. However, the edited version is this: In the early days of Christianity, all the Christians were Jews, and continued to follow the kosher laws, attend the synagogue, cicrcumcise their sons… all the things any other Jew did. over time, especially after the apostle Paul began preaching to and winning over large numbers of Greeks and other pagans, a debate arose. To the Jewish Christians, it seemed obvious that Greeks who embraced Christ had a duty to become Jews and follow Mosaic law. Paul and the new Gentile Christians contended that it was enough to follow Jesus, that the old Mosaic laws were no longer necessary or binding. At a council of the Church’s leaders, it was decided that Gentile Christians did NOT have to follow the kosher laws, circumcise their sons, or follow most Mosaic laws. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-christians-eat-pork/104400/5 "2002-04-18T22:09:24Z")
I believe at some point Jesus said something along the lines of “don’t be concerned with what goes into your mouth, but rather with what comes out of it.” ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-christians-eat-pork/104400/6 "2002-04-18T22:11:04Z")
There’s this: > [@](#): > > Romans 14 > 1 Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. > 2 One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. > 3 The 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. > 4 Who 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. > 5 One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. > 6 He 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. > 7 For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. > 8 If 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. > 9 For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living. > 10 You, 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. > 11 It is written: “`As surely as I live,' says the Lord, `every knee will bow before me; every tongue will confess to God.’” > 12 So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God. > 13 Therefore 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. > 14 As 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. > 15 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. > 16 Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil. > 17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, > 18 because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men. > 19 Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. > 20 Do 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. > 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall. > 22 So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. > 23 But 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. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-christians-eat-pork/104400/7 "2002-04-18T22:13:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gary T \* > \*\*I believe at some point Jesus said something along the lines of “don’t be concerned with what goes into your mouth, but rather with what comes out of it.” \*\* I recently made that error on these boards too. The context there was not eating non-kosher food, but eating without washing first. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-christians-eat-pork/104400/8 "2002-04-18T22:15:13Z")
So, **Mangetout** , your name is the French translation of Romans 14:2? And did Paul or Peter write Romans? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-christians-eat-pork/104400/9 "2002-04-18T22:22:45Z")
Do I really eat everything? - I can’t tell you that (Rom 14:22) Paul, or that’s what chapter 1, verse 1 says. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-christians-eat-pork/104400/10 "2002-04-18T22:24:01Z")
Oh, I forgot this : 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-christians-eat-pork/104400/11 "2002-04-18T22:29:59Z")
**Because your heart can take it!™** The Pork Lobby ---
**Author:** ![abel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@abel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abel)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-christians-eat-pork/104400/12 "2002-04-18T22:42:48Z")
Here’s the story, in Acts 10, starting with verse 9… Peter’s Vision About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.” “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven. Courtesy of [http://bible.gospelcom.net](http://bible.gospelcom.net) ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-christians-eat-pork/104400/13 "2002-04-18T23:19:59Z")
Because bacon tastes _gooooood_. Sausages taste _goooooood_. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2002, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-christians-eat-pork/104400/14 "2002-04-18T23:38:33Z")
As a practical observation, whatever rationale he used for releasing them from it, Paul was going to have difficulties converting Greeks if he insisted on retaining adherence to Judaic law. Circumcision was directly counter to Greek sensibilities, which held it to be mutilation. Many Jewish dietary regulations flew in the face of Greek customs as well. In a lot of ways, Christianity as understood today is actually “Paulism”. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-christians-eat-pork/104400/15 "2002-04-19T01:02:44Z")
Along a similar vein, there is a lot of confusion about the sabbath. Many, perhaps most, modern Christians seem to believe that Sunday is the Christian sabbath, but that is not true. It is my understanding that originally Christians explicitly discarded the idea of a sabbath and then over the centuries one day, Sunday, got singled out for worship. But it is not the Sabbath! ---
**Author:** ![occ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@occ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/occ)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-christians-eat-pork/104400/16 "2002-04-19T01:10:28Z")
There was a thread by Cecil on this. I believe that the Sabbath is Saturday, as observed by the Jews. Sunday is actually the “day of rest”, which eventually came to be the day that most (although certainly not all, several sects do observe the Sabbath as the day of worship) Christians attend church. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-christians-eat-pork/104400/17 "2002-04-19T04:24:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by occ \* > **Sunday is actually the “day of rest”.** Look at a calendar, Sunday is the first day of the week not the last. Maybe that is why it is _Sun_day, because it is the day that God said “Let there be light”. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-christians-eat-pork/104400/18 "2002-04-19T04:26:26Z")
And everything I said was metaphorically speaking! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DPWhite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d26b3c/32.png) [@DPWhite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPWhite)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-christians-eat-pork/104400/19 "2002-04-19T05:24:10Z")
Because it’s tasty and nutrious! Calling modern Christianity Paulism (Pauline is the more correct term) is a gross oversimplification. Pauline theology is essential to Christianity, particularly less orthodox versions, after all, Paul was the strongest advocate for bringing Christianity to the Gentiles. But the teachings of Jesus found in the four Gospels is the foundation of Christianity. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-christians-eat-pork/104400/20 "2002-04-19T05:41:06Z")
Very early in their history, the Christians began setting aside the first day of the week to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus. Since, by the end of the first century, most Christians were gentiles with no tradition of resting on the seventh day–and since trying to tell your boss (owner) that you could not work on a particular day each week was probably not a good idea (especially during those periods when Christians were being persecuted), there was very little in the way of “resting” on the Sabbath. Once Christianity got past the persecution phase, various leaders pointed to the commandment to rest one day a week and decided that Christians should also follow that command. Constantine ordered a change to the Roman calendar to impose a 7-day week (replacing the various systems that the Romans used within each month, having no previous concept of a 7-day week). However, since they felt no direct link to Judaism (and often deliberately chose to ignore Judaism), and since they were going to their churches on Sunday (while the Jews were going to the synagogue on Saturday), the Christians made Sunday their day of rest. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-christians-eat-pork/104400.md?page=2)