A Medical Mystery Unfolds in Minnesota

NY Times ^ | February 5, 2008 | DENISE GRADY

[CDHart]

My mother used to make fried Spam and jelly sandwiches. I know it sounds awful, but all of us kids loved them.

Carolyn

[MHGinTN]

Here’s a tip for health, bert. When you travel, keep plenty of frozen peas on hand (or canned if you don’t have a fridge in your camper) and add them to all casseroles and as an addition to omletes. This adds much needed folate to the diet of we older types AND it is a great ‘regulator’ for bowels when on the road extensively. I use lots of canned Allen green beans in casseroles and crockpot recipes, but the frozen peas are the best way to go.

[Mannaggia l'America]

I do that occasionally, but I place creamy cole slaw on top of the steaming cabbage and SPAM.

I'd stay clear of you for a few days after you eat that...

[MHGinTN]

Bean-O ... or an antacid with simethicone. I keep Bean-O handy ... and I’m not even an Irish Catholic!

[Just mythoughts]

God was not talking about pork.... he was talking about gentiles who up until the death of Christ were not allowed in the ‘temple’. Now I know the majority of Christians claim this was a cleansing of that vacuum cleaner which will eat anything and never sweats that poison out, created to keep this earth cleaned. Note carefully that Peter NEVER ate and who showed up at his door after the vision.... sure was not a swine.

[mollynme]

Charles Krauthammer had a spinal cord injury when he was 22. (See the last paragraph here. It is Neal Cavuto who has MS. FWIW

[Straight Vermonter]

Sweet breads are the thymus gland. Not the brain.

The pancreas is also a sweetbread.

[Twinkie]

I’m not pushing keeping Old Testament law, but I do think there were practical reasons why certain hygienic laws were given to the people. My husband gets bad attacks of gout when he eats much pork, and I think all in all he and I both have more arthritic problems when we eat pork. I don’t eat shrimp or shellfish because the theobromine content of it gives me headaches, ditto for very much chocolate - didn’t eat it for about six years at all. I really like bacon, but don’t eat it very often. Interesting.

[OB1kNOb]

I put peanut butter in my bowl of chili, too.

I prefer ketchup to get a tangy taste.

[CholeraJoe]

I ate brains and eggs almost every Saturday night the whole time I was in college. It never hurt me none.

[Fiddlstix]

Bump

[Nea Wood]

I read a book called “What Would Jesus Eat?” a few years ago, and I’m inclined to agree with you. I avoid pork myself, especially after a friend of mine bought a pork burrito from a street seller and got a parasite in his brain!

But doesn’t the apostle Paul say somewhere (don’t have a Bible with me; can’t look up the exact verse,) that every man should follow his own conscience as far as what foods to eat or avoid, and not judge each other? I always took that to mean that it’s okay now to eat previously forbidden foods, (though they might not be as healthy as other choices.) Respectfully, what do you think?

[MHGinTN]

"... what do you think?"

I think Paul said the Judaizers are jealous of Christians' freedom, so you're right on the money with what you sought to quote. Paul never forbade wine or any food except that sacrificed to idols, and that because it would be a stumbling block to others of weaker faith. Those wishing to hold office in the Church are told certain things to avoid and ways to live, but that is about the extent of his admonitions ... what amazed so many pagans in the early days of the Chruch was the restraint Christians exhibited.

[DouglasKC]

But doesn’t the apostle Paul say somewhere (don’t have a Bible with me; can’t look up the exact verse,) that every man should follow his own conscience as far as what foods to eat or avoid, and not judge each other? I always took that to mean that it’s okay now to eat previously forbidden foods, (though they might not be as healthy as other choices.) Respectfully, what do you think?

Thank you for your response.

The verses you're referring to might be:

1Co 10:27 If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake.

However as the next verse makes clear this is referring specifically to meat that had once been sacrificed in idol worship:

1Co 10:28 But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that showed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof:

In Paul's time an issue for early Christians was whether or not they should eat meat that was once used in idol worship. As I understand it, an animal would be sacrificed and then later it's meat sold in the meat market. Paul's take was that it's okay to eat this meat with a clear conscience, but don't dig too deep into where it came from. However if another Christian would be offended by it you shouldn't eat it.

Nowhere though does it tell Christians to eat meat that God prohibited them to eat...i.e. pork. The meat sacrificed to idols was most likely bulls.

Another chapter that is often misinterpreted is Romans 14. But again this chapter is either referring to meat devoted to idols, days devoted to fasting or perhaps both.

Please understand though that this isn't my idea, or what I think. What I choose to believe is God's original injunction against eating pork.

[DouglasKC]

I’m not pushing keeping Old Testament law, but I do think there were practical reasons why certain hygienic laws were given to the people. My husband gets bad attacks of gout when he eats much pork, and I think all in all he and I both have more arthritic problems when we eat pork. I don’t eat shrimp or shellfish because the theobromine content of it gives me headaches, ditto for very much chocolate - didn’t eat it for about six years at all. I really like bacon, but don’t eat it very often. Interesting.

Certainly. God designed animals and people. He knows the reasons why we shouldn't eat certain animals and so put it down in writing. I think people get confused between what God actually prohibited in scripture and what the Jewish religion teaches about kosher. God's law is actually very general in that pretty much it's to avoid the flesh of certain animals.

[BluH2o]

Well, if you haven’t had a fried SPAM sandwich you are deprived!

Haven't had one of those in years ... sounds like it's time to try it again. As an aside, a few years back I visited the Hawaiian Islands, for some reason SPAM is very popular in that part of the world.

[MayflowerMadam]

“It’s something no one would have anticipated or thought about,”

Amazing that a doctor would make that statement. Guts of animals being sprayed in a person’s face is disturbing on many levels. How could it not be a problem?

[MHGinTN]

Pork is a major staple there. During the world war, Islanders learned to enjoy the convenience of SPAM. This was covered on a ‘How It’s Made’ program recently, on SPAM! The history of canned meat is indeed interesting, going back to Napoleonic military campaigns.

[Gamecock]

What one clearly sees is the passing of the ceremonial law, the law that made Israel stand apart from the Gentiles. Christ opened the door to all.

[DouglasKC]

What one clearly sees is the passing of the ceremonial law, the law that made Israel stand apart from the Gentiles. Christ opened the door to all.

Certainly the ceremonial laws of the Levitical priesthood have been altered because of the sacrifice of Christ. This is a completely biblical argument:

Heb 7:11 If therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need was there that another priest should rise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be called after the order of Aaron?
Heb 7:12 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.
Heb 7:13 For he of whom these things are spoken pertaineth to another tribe, of which no man gave attendance at the altar

This means that nearly all duties of the Levitical priesthood under the old covenant are altered under the new covenant.

However, a careful reading of Leviticus chapter 11 and Deuteronomy chapter 14 will show that the injunction against eating certain animals was not a function of the priesthood, but a pronouncement of God. The priesthood had no hand in determining what animals to eat or not to eat.

Contrast this with (for example) this verse:

Lev 14:14 And the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot:

Here it was the duty of the priest to perform these actions. But since Christ is our high priest, and all Christians ARE a royal priesthood, then this aspect of the law is ceremonial and altered under the new covenant.

A bible search on "priest" (in the KJV) can be illuminating. Some areas that the priesthood weren't involved in are:

1. Clean and unclean animals (Leviticus 11, Deut 14)
2. Sexual relations between family members (Leviticus 18)

3. The ten commandments. (Exodus 20, Duet 5)

These are some of the things that were carried over from the old covenant to the new covenant.

3. Any functions that had to be performed by the Levitical priesthood.

So again, Peter's vision in Acts wasn't a statement on the validity of God's law of clean and unclean animals, but was exactly what he said: God showing him that he shouldn't call any MAN common or unlean.