†. Gen 9:4 . .You must not, however, eat flesh with its life-blood in it.
That restriction is against life-blood; so then blood that cannot support life
-- dead blood --is exempt.
Life-blood, is actually blood that's alive; blood that hasn't begun to spoil;
viz: it's still fresh enough for a transfusion and contains enough active
ingredients to carry oxygen and heal wounds.
Ancient Jews understood that verse to mean it is unlawful to eat meat that
isn't dead; viz: it isn't merely uncooked; it's still viable-- fresh enough for a
successful graft.
T. But flesh which is torn of the living beast, what time the life is in it, or
that torn from a slaughtered animal before all the breath has gone forth, you
shall not eat. (Targum Jonathan)
The way I see it: Man isn't forbidden to dine upon raw meat; only that it
absolutely has to be dead with no chance of recovery. Same with blood.
This law is the very first law God laid down in the new world after the Flood.
It has never been repealed, and remains among the list of primary laws
imposed upon Christians.
†. Acts 15:28-29 . . It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to
burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to
abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled
animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
Fare well. (viz: live long and prosper)
A strangled animal still has all of its blood in it. The animal might be brain
dead, and its heart may have stopped beating, but its flesh will remain alive
for some time by reason of the viable blood still in its veins. Recent changes
to First Aid's CPR procedures include no longer giving victims mouth-to
mouth respiration for the first few minutes because the blood in a victim's
system still contains useful oxygen that can save their life merely by
pumping the chest as before.
Noah's Law #1 forbids Man to eat living flesh and living blood; and
Christians are no exception. Because of the danger of pathogens, it was
quite possibly necessary to add this limitation to the grant of liberty to eat
meat, lest, instead of nourishing his body by it, Man should inadvertently
destroy himself; and in this day and age of E.coli 0157:H7, 0104:H4, and
salmonella; adequately cooking meat can be considered a form of self
defense against concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO)
Note : E.coli bacteria exist naturally in everybody's intestinal track, both
man and beast. However, 0157:H7 and 0104:H4 are mutant strains of
normal E.coli typically found in industrial meats due to E.coli's reaction to
the antibiotics mixed in with the grain-intense fodder fed to animals bottled
up in the rather unsanitary conditions of concentrated animal feeding
operations.
But meat producers like Swift, Tyson, Cargill, and National Beef would never
be able to keep up with the titanic demand for fast food were they to return
to sanitary, pasture-fed meat so I don't expect safer nourishment any time
soon from that sector. And since most consumers prefer to spend their food
dollars on cheap meat regardless of its health risks; I don't expect a large
scale return to sanitary pasture-fed meat at supermarkets and restaurants
any time soon either.
The prohibition against eating living flesh and blood is neither Jewish, nor is
it Christian. It's universal; because God enacted that law long before there
were any Jews or Christians. All human beings are under its jurisdiction. Man
can eat all the raw meat he wants; and he can eat blood too; but he has
absolutely no permission to eat either blood or meat that's still alive. The
animal world isn't so fussy. They routinely devour their prey alive all the
time. Hopefully no one reading this will ever stoop that low. The very best
way to assure that meat and its blood are dead is to cook it-- thoroughly
--and double check it with a meat thermometer.
At issue with the prohibition against eating blood are the feelings of some
that modern slaughter houses don't always kill animals properly. Many use a
device called a captured-bolt to stun the animals and then workers slit the
animals' throats while they're unconscious. Sometimes the bolt kills an
animal instead of knocking it out and then all that the slaughter house has
to work with is gravity because the animal's heart isn't pumping to assist. So
there are those who feel no one should eat common meat because you can't
guarantee the animal's blood was properly drained.
Exactly what the definition of "properly drained" is I don't know because it's
impossible to drain every last drop of blood out of meat no matter how you
might go about it; so the prohibition against eating blood has got to be
interpreted from a practical perspective rather than from a purist's
perspective.
There are cultures that poke holes in cows' necks in order to drink blood
straight out of the animal utilizing its own blood pressure like a tap to fill
their cups. Other cultures cut open the thorax of animals freshly taken in
hunting in order to take blood-soaked bites of the animal's heart. Those
examples are probably about as close to vampirism as one can get without
actually joining Edward Cullen's family and undergoing the conversion
process.
As a final note: Since this is an area subject to debate and personal
interpretation I would highly recommend that people let their own
conscience dictate their diets as per the principles stipulated in the
fourteenth chapter of Romans
Cont.
/
That restriction is against life-blood; so then blood that cannot support life
-- dead blood --is exempt.
Life-blood, is actually blood that's alive; blood that hasn't begun to spoil;
viz: it's still fresh enough for a transfusion and contains enough active
ingredients to carry oxygen and heal wounds.
Ancient Jews understood that verse to mean it is unlawful to eat meat that
isn't dead; viz: it isn't merely uncooked; it's still viable-- fresh enough for a
successful graft.
T. But flesh which is torn of the living beast, what time the life is in it, or
that torn from a slaughtered animal before all the breath has gone forth, you
shall not eat. (Targum Jonathan)
The way I see it: Man isn't forbidden to dine upon raw meat; only that it
absolutely has to be dead with no chance of recovery. Same with blood.
This law is the very first law God laid down in the new world after the Flood.
It has never been repealed, and remains among the list of primary laws
imposed upon Christians.
†. Acts 15:28-29 . . It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to
burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to
abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled
animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.
Fare well. (viz: live long and prosper)
A strangled animal still has all of its blood in it. The animal might be brain
dead, and its heart may have stopped beating, but its flesh will remain alive
for some time by reason of the viable blood still in its veins. Recent changes
to First Aid's CPR procedures include no longer giving victims mouth-to
mouth respiration for the first few minutes because the blood in a victim's
system still contains useful oxygen that can save their life merely by
pumping the chest as before.
Noah's Law #1 forbids Man to eat living flesh and living blood; and
Christians are no exception. Because of the danger of pathogens, it was
quite possibly necessary to add this limitation to the grant of liberty to eat
meat, lest, instead of nourishing his body by it, Man should inadvertently
destroy himself; and in this day and age of E.coli 0157:H7, 0104:H4, and
salmonella; adequately cooking meat can be considered a form of self
defense against concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO)
Note : E.coli bacteria exist naturally in everybody's intestinal track, both
man and beast. However, 0157:H7 and 0104:H4 are mutant strains of
normal E.coli typically found in industrial meats due to E.coli's reaction to
the antibiotics mixed in with the grain-intense fodder fed to animals bottled
up in the rather unsanitary conditions of concentrated animal feeding
operations.
But meat producers like Swift, Tyson, Cargill, and National Beef would never
be able to keep up with the titanic demand for fast food were they to return
to sanitary, pasture-fed meat so I don't expect safer nourishment any time
soon from that sector. And since most consumers prefer to spend their food
dollars on cheap meat regardless of its health risks; I don't expect a large
scale return to sanitary pasture-fed meat at supermarkets and restaurants
any time soon either.
The prohibition against eating living flesh and blood is neither Jewish, nor is
it Christian. It's universal; because God enacted that law long before there
were any Jews or Christians. All human beings are under its jurisdiction. Man
can eat all the raw meat he wants; and he can eat blood too; but he has
absolutely no permission to eat either blood or meat that's still alive. The
animal world isn't so fussy. They routinely devour their prey alive all the
time. Hopefully no one reading this will ever stoop that low. The very best
way to assure that meat and its blood are dead is to cook it-- thoroughly
--and double check it with a meat thermometer.
At issue with the prohibition against eating blood are the feelings of some
that modern slaughter houses don't always kill animals properly. Many use a
device called a captured-bolt to stun the animals and then workers slit the
animals' throats while they're unconscious. Sometimes the bolt kills an
animal instead of knocking it out and then all that the slaughter house has
to work with is gravity because the animal's heart isn't pumping to assist. So
there are those who feel no one should eat common meat because you can't
guarantee the animal's blood was properly drained.
Exactly what the definition of "properly drained" is I don't know because it's
impossible to drain every last drop of blood out of meat no matter how you
might go about it; so the prohibition against eating blood has got to be
interpreted from a practical perspective rather than from a purist's
perspective.
There are cultures that poke holes in cows' necks in order to drink blood
straight out of the animal utilizing its own blood pressure like a tap to fill
their cups. Other cultures cut open the thorax of animals freshly taken in
hunting in order to take blood-soaked bites of the animal's heart. Those
examples are probably about as close to vampirism as one can get without
actually joining Edward Cullen's family and undergoing the conversion
process.
As a final note: Since this is an area subject to debate and personal
interpretation I would highly recommend that people let their own
conscience dictate their diets as per the principles stipulated in the
fourteenth chapter of Romans
Cont.
/
