Can Christians eat pigs blood?

[pilgrimage]

I have a recipe for black pudding that uses 2 cups of pig blood. I was going to get some in a tube but I didn't know if Christians are bound to not eat blood?

 

[TheGirlOnFire]

Yes, you can eat black pudding. It like ordering steak blue or rare. I think its a matter of taste.

 

[Albion]

You're prohibited only if you belong to some strange splinter group or cult. For almost any church you can find on Main Street...no problem.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

I have a recipe for black pudding that uses 2 cups of pig blood. I was going to get some in a tube but I didn't know if Christians are bound to not eat blood?

the point of the dietary laws were to keep you from harm. If you can make it and not harm yourself and give God thanks for it, it's good.

 

[~Anastasia~]

Hmmmmm.

I've never officially asked as the thought is not appetizing to me.

However ... as I read the NT, there are mentions of abstaining from a few things, and I believe blood is one of them. It may well be symbolic, and I'm no authority. But if I were in the position of needing to know, I'd look into it carefully.

It would seem to fall on the level of a prohibition against eating meat sacrificed to idols, which in some cases is prohibited, and in others allowed because idols are not anything real (assuming it doesn't cause a brother to stumble).

But blood and strangled meats are prohibited because "the life of the flesh is in the blood" I think. And that statement would presumably keep the same level of truth it always had. (As opposed to idols, which were never true gods.)

And while I know some denominations disagree, I am of the belief that the strictly dietary rules (clean vs unclean animals) were done away with, so I think the fact that the blood is from a pig shouldn't matter.

But as for blood itself, I'm not so sure. Not that I'm trying to be disagreeable with folks here, but I just feel a higher level of caution would be in order if it were me.

 

[thehallelujahhollerer]

Apostle Paul tells us to abstain from blood! So I would say NO don't eat pig's blood.

 

[Soyeong]

Yes, you can eat black pudding. It like ordering steak blue or rare. I think its a matter of taste.

Animals are drained of blood before they are sold, so the redness of a steak is not blood, but dye.

 

[Soyeong]

the point of the dietary laws were to keep you from harm. If you can make it and not harm yourself and give God thanks for it, it's good.

While there are certainly night and day difference in how healthy it is to eat clean or unclean animals, nowhere does the Bible suggest that this is the point of the command or that it is the only point, but rather it is about act in accordance with the holiness of our God (1 Peter 1:13-16, Leviticus 11:44-45).

 

[Gregory Thompson]

While there are certainly night and day difference in how healthy it is to eat clean or unclean animals, nowhere does the Bible suggest that this is the point of the command or that it is the only point, but rather it is about act in accordance with the holiness of our God (1 Peter 1:13-16, Leviticus 11:44-45).

I appreciate your diligence all the same. Bless.

 

[TheGirlOnFire]

Animals are drained of blood before they are sold, so the redness of a steak is not blood, but dye.

actually looked it up, its not actually dye but juice.... but interesting to know. everyday is a school day.


Erm didn't Paul deal with the whole unclean food vs clean food debate in Corinthians?

 

[Soyeong]

actually looked it up, its not actually dye but juice.... but interesting to know. everyday is a school day.

Ah, maybe sometimes it's juice and sometimes it's dye. I know dye is commonly used with salmon.

Erm didn't Paul deal with the whole unclean food vs clean food debate in Corinthians?

I think that when Paul is correctly understood that he never said that it was ok to eat unclean animals, but if you think that he did while God said that it is an abomination to eat unclean animals, then you need to make a decision about which one has the higher authority and which one to follow. If I recall correctly, the Corinthian epistles speak in regard to whether or not it is acceptable to eat meat that has been offered to idols, not in regard to whether or not it is acceptable to eat unclean animals.

 

[JIMINZ]

This is what the Bible specifically says on the matter in the New Testament, you can read the whole chapters if you feel inclined to do so.

Act. 15:20
But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

Act. 15:29
That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.

Act. 21:25
As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication.

 

[1213]

I have a recipe for black pudding that uses 2 cups of pig blood. I was going to get some in a tube but I didn't know if Christians are bound to not eat blood?

It depends what “Christian” means, but Bible tells it is not good to eat blood, that is why I wouldn’t do so. But I think it is not matter of salvation, but matter of what is good for people.

 

[ViaCrucis]

I have a recipe for black pudding that uses 2 cups of pig blood. I was going to get some in a tube but I didn't know if Christians are bound to not eat blood?

Christians don't have dietary laws.

The Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 forbade new converts from paganism to abstain from certain practices, which included consuming blood, but these prohibitions are all directly associated with ancient pagan customs. So unless your recipe for black pudding includes a spoonful of incense to offer in worship to Zeus or Aphrodite, you're in the clear.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[~Anastasia~]

actually looked it up, its not actually dye but juice.... but interesting to know. everyday is a school day.


Erm didn't Paul deal with the whole unclean food vs clean food debate in Corinthians?

Yes, having been raised on a farm, having my own farm, hunters in the family I can say - much meat is red. Not all ... some meat is more whitish, or grayish, some brownish, some is even black (weird I know ... silkie chickens). But red meat is just that - red meat. Even when the blood is drained, it is the color of the muscle.

 

[bbbbbbb]

Yes, having been raised on a farm, having my own farm, hunters in the family I can say - much meat is red. Not all ... some meat is more whitish, or grayish, some brownish, some is even black (weird I know ... silkie chickens). But red meat is just that - red meat. Even when the blood is drained, it is the color of the muscle.

Although you are quite correct, it remains standard practice in the commercial meat industry to color most meat red. Naturally red meat does lose its color within a relatively short period of time so dyes and color juice is used to maintain the red color. It is really not terribly unlike some practices in the funeral industry.

 

[Tayla]

if Christians are bound to not eat blood?

Seems to me if you are going to humanely kill an animal (is such a thing even possible?), you should use all of it in respect of the animal.

I don't believe the Bible has anything to say about the topic except as a religious practice.

 

[Jonaitis]

I have a recipe for black pudding that uses 2 cups of pig blood. I was going to get some in a tube but I didn't know if Christians are bound to not eat blood?

When God allowed humans to consume meat, he gave us the rule that we are not to consume it with the blood (Genesis 9:4). This is moral and eternal as long as humans are able to consume animal flesh, and this was commanded to all of Noah's descendants before Moses came on the scene.

 

[FireDragon76]

It's fine, as VC said, we don't have dietary laws, except perhaps traditions for fasting, but Lutherans don't consider that a strict requirement.

 

[bbbbbbb]

Well, I guess that would rule out all but white gravy and other sauces not made with the drippings of meat. Like it or not, virtually all meat retains some blood. There are, of course, people as in the SDA who become vegetarians as a result.

In the meantime I will continue to enjoy mashed potatoes and gravy.