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The Dietary Laws of God
The Truth of The Christian Abrogation of Mosaic LawAnd Freedom from Dietary Limits Laid down by GodAccording to the Scriptureof the People of the Book 
By
 Jamilah Boulter
Edited by Abu Micael
 
Why do Christians Eat Pork?
One of the many questions that arise on the Muslim message boards in whichnon-Muslims participate is the very relaxed attitude Christians have concerningwhat they eat. There seems no rhyme or reason to the standards they set forthemselves, in what they eat, with the worship of our Lord.For example, when a Christian fasts, he often allows himself bread and water. Inother words, he may abstain from those foods that he usually indulges himself with, and keep his body and soul together with plain, monotonous fare. Even if heabstains from all food during his fast, he will usually allow himself water. I do notmean to diminish the sincere fasting of those Christian sects, like some CopticChristians in Egypt, who will abstain from all animal products, including diaryproducts, fish and eggs, during the entire fasting period, and who, from sunriseto sunset they, like the Muslims, abstain from eating or drinking anything at all.Others, however, just play lip-service to the official fasting periods, giving up afavourite item, such as chocolate, during the period.Another example is Lent, a forty day fasting period before the Passover
1
. Thisperiod begins with a holiday, often associated with Rio de Janeiro, now commonlya spectacle of processions of spectacular floats, and of naked flesh and flashycostumes dancing in the street, called
Carnaval
. In other cities, such as NewOrleans, this festival is called
Mardi Gras
. The Rio event is now broadcast allover the world so that even the people not participating can get a taste of theexcitement and a view of gyrating half, sometimes almost fully, naked bodies.Originally, however, this was
Shrove Tuesday
, the holy day that peopleemptied their larders of all meat products, cooking them in a great feast thatevery one shared in because they would now fast (abstain from) meat for 40days. If they left any meat in the larder, 40 days would be enough time to seethat it went off and became inedible. Hence the feast: to consume all of it andnot waste any of it. In addition, the people would build effigies of saints and carrythem on biers or litters through the streets in a procession whilst theythemselves dressed in sackcloth to show they were entering a fasting period. These may be the origins of the huge floats now built on motorized vehicles inRio and the costumes the dancers now wear.From this original holiday, we can surmise that the fast was principally thefasting of meat, which means, of course, that one may consume fish (theproduce from fishing) or vegetables (the produce of tilling the earth). Even that'partial', but general, fast has become diluted so that now a Christian is free tochoose what he will abstain from (if anything) during the Lent period, includingnon edibles – such as using his or her car. 'What are you giving up for Lent?' isnow a common question among practicing Christians.Among practicing Roman Catholics, it is (was?) common to eat fish on Fridays,abstaining from the normal meat dish one eats on other days.So why do they have these complicated and only partially adhered to rules of diet, if all dietary Law has been repealed by Jesus, peace be upon him? I think it
1
 
Passover is the celebration of the successful crossing of the Red Sea and delivery of the Jewish people by God, out of Egypt. It coincides with the Christian Easter, and usedto coincide with
 
 Ashúra
 
– still celebrated by the Muslims, but according to theunadjusted Lunar Calendar, which progresses around the Solar Year every 33 years orso, rather than the Adjusted Jewish Lunar Calendar – which keeps it in Line with theSolar Calendar that the Christians now use.
2
 
is because there were strict dietary laws which were gradually eroded asChristianity absorbed more and more customs from the varied tribes of peoplewho took Christianity as their religion. Why? Because we can see the first stagesof the rearguard action to defend these dietary laws in Acts, where James, thebrother of Jesus, sought to stem the erosion which Paul's doctrine had alreadyprecipitated, saying: Trouble not them which from the Gentiles are turned to God: But that we writeunto them that they
abstain from meats offered to idols,
and fromfornication, and
from things strangled, and from blood
.
2
 The seriousness of the dietary prohibition is such that it is compared with'fornication'. This offence doesn't seem all that serious now, since it is commonpractice all over the modern world for young men and women to experiment withsex before marriage, or 'live together' without getting married, or even gothrough a succession of sexual partners for pleasure without any commitmentseach to the other. Among believing Muslims, however, it is a very seriousoffence. So serious that it often carries with it an unofficial death sentence due tothe shame the family feels in which fornication occurs. This unofficial death sentence is cultural, but born of the prohibition of sexwithout marriage. The Islamic Divine Law
3
does not allow a death sentence inthese cases, and condemns such 'honour killings' as murder. According to DivineLaw, however, the offending parties of a fornication case, both the boy and girl,should be scourged and then exiled from the community of Muslims in which theevent took place for one year lest, in the hereafter, their punishment were to beroasted in a cauldron during the life of the grave
4
until the Day of Judgement,should they died on it without repentance. The defence that the Christians I spoke to have erected to justify their non-observance of The Torah Laws, especially concerning what they eat, is threepronged, centring around, in the Gospels,
Matthew Chapter 15
and
Mark Chapter 7
. They also cite
Acts 10
from Luke's scripture, and various passagesfrom
Galatians
and
Romans
in which Paul argues the abrogation of Mosaic Law. These evidences I will, God willing, present and examine first. I will then discussdietary law using Islamic proofs. Finally, I will present evidence that Jesus, mayhe be praised, came not to abrogate, but confirm, the Mosaic Law to the Jews,and examine the claim that Jesus was to allow the people to distance themselvesfrom that which had been added to it by the priesthood, and his mission was, asis written in
Quran:
“to attest the Law which was before me, and
to make lawful to you part of what was
(before)
forbidden
to you...”
5
 and thus that Christians are obliged, according to their scriptures, and nowaccording to ours, to follow the Monotheistic Laws of God that are enshrined inthe Quran, which confirms what is in the Gospel and Torah .
2
Acts 15:19-20
and
28-29,
and
Acts 21:24-25
3
The Divine Law
derived from the Quran and official teachings of Prophet Muhammad(May God Praise him), called
 
al-Shariy'ah
.
4
 
 The place between Death and Resurrection often referred to as
Barzakh.
 This life issimilar in concept to
Purgatory,
 
though not exactly the same.
5
 Quran, 6:50
3
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