Biblical Health Laws

Can we enjoy renewed health and vitality or even prolong life by adhering to the biblical health regulations?

Oct 07, 2022

This is the first article as part of a series where we are going to have a look at how biblical health laws are backed by modern day science and is still very applicable today.

The Bible is full of type and antitype examples, from the opening chapters in the book of Genesis to the closing chapters in the book of Revelation. In the opening chapters of the book of Genesis we read that God made all kinds of trees in the Garden of Eden for Adam and Eve. Right from the onset God called their attention to two trees in particular. These two trees symbolised two very different ways of life (Genesis 2:9), or different lifestyles, for use of a more modern day word.

The Tree of Life represents obedience to God and His way of life, outlined in the laws and instructions found right throughout the Bible, both in the Old and New Testament. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil points to humanity’s choice to follow human reasoning apart from God’s guidance. As we all know, unfortunately Adam and Eve accepted Satan’s deadly influence, rejecting God’s way of life in favour of a path that leads to pain, suffering, disease and death.

Moses reiterated these same choices to the Israelites before they entered the Promised Land. In Deuteronomy 30:19-20 Moses writes (Italics mine) :

“I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Here again we see that obedience to God’s laws leads to life and blessings whereas neglecting of God’s instructions leads to pain and suffering, including sickness and disease.

There are many other scriptures throughout the Bible that corroborate this truth even further (Italics mine) :

Deuteronomy 6:4 And the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day.

Leviticus 18:5 You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.

3 John 1: 2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

Proverbs 13:13 He who despises the word will be destroyed, but he who fears the commandment will be rewarded.

Psalm 1: 1-2 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.

James 1:22-25 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

Matthew 7: 24 - 27 Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

Proverbs 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.

We can see in these verses above the law of God was not given as a burden, but as instruction for our own good and those who obey these laws are blessed, prosper in health and continue to stand even in evil times. God intended for us to follow His law and be protected and blessed by it.

One of the main contrasts of modern “healthcare” in comparison to the biblical approach is that modern healthcare addresses signs and symptoms instead of addressing the root cause of the issue. Biblical healthcare provides us with principles that modern medical science have come to realise can play a fundamental role in promoting health and preventing disease.

As other notable scholars have also observed, biblical laws tend toward public health and ecology, to benefit the nation and the environment. These laws were shared by Moses with the whole nation of Israel, not kept in secret but shared in public for the benefit of all.

Many theologians have claimed that these laws and restrictions were only meant for the Israelites and that Jesus came to abolish them once and for all. Many Christians claim that these laws are no longer binding and some even call them burdensome, outdated or barbaric. Yet others who read the Bible carefully find it odd that God would command His people to follow these instructions for their own good then send Jesus Christ to somehow dismiss them. Jesus Himself stated:

(Matthew 5:17-20) “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary states that the “spiritual and hygienic reasons for the laws may still be affirmed. They are remarkably valuable in the area of public health... [and] protected Israel from bad diet, dangerous vermin, and communicable diseases.... These were rule-of-thumb laws that God gave in His wisdom to a people who could not know the reason for the provision.”

God promises in Exodus 15:26: “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.”

Sadly today many people from all walks of life, including many professed Christians view the God given health laws of the Bible as outdated or no longer relevant. However, what we will explore in this series of articles is that nothing can be further from the truth.

Part 1 : Unclean Meats

The larger cxt of the laws given in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy includes many instructions on health and hygiene. Leviticus chapter 11 and Deuteronomy chapter 14 deals with foods that are clean and fit for consumption or unclean and to be avoided. The Creator gave these instructions as a loving Father to His children, not to impose rules and deny His children from certain pleasures, but for our benefit. Modern medical science is finally beginning to “catch up” to God as they discover why certain animal meats are healthier for consumption than others who lead to disease. Let’s have a look at some of the unclean animals that God lists in the Bible and what modern science have found.

Pork

Of all the world’s animals the pig is one of the most unclean, yet it is the second most consumed meat today. Pigs are ravenous scavengers and will eat anything, including garbage, rodents, maggots, excrement and even their own offspring. Even the cleanest of pig farms who claim to only feed their swine with the finest of grains cannot stop them from eating rodents and excrement. Swine are excellent incubators of toxic parasites and viruses and often appear healthy whilst carrying a host of diseases.

Aside from the garbage that pigs generally eat, a fundamental reason why they carry more disease and toxins than other animals lies in their digestive system. Pigs digest whatever they eat very quickly, and this fast transit does not allow for efficient removal of toxins from their system which in turn get stored in the fat, muscle, tissue and organs; exactly the parts usually consumed by humans. Even cooking the meat does not eliminate these toxins.

The Weston Price Foundation conducted a study on the effects on pork consumption and blood chemistry and their findings were summarised by Beverly Rubik Ph.D in the quarterly journal Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and Healing.

Rubik writes: “The results show unequivocally that consuming cooked pork shows a significant negative effect on the blood. Five hours after consumption, subjects showed extremely coagulated blood, with extensive red blood cell (RBC) rouleaux (cells in the formation of stacked coins), RBC aggregates, and the presence of clotting factors, especially fibrin.” (2)

Trichinosis, caused by small parasitic roundworm that gets into the muscle tissue, is one of the major diseases transmitted by swine and other unclean animals. It’s a global disease infesting around 11 million people. Simply stating that cooking the meat properly will eliminate the risk is an error as it does not remove parasites such as trichinosis, nor other infestations present in pork, such as trichinella spiralis.

Since pig is a carnivore, a beast of prey, God created it for other reasons than human consumption. Carnivores play an important role in controlling populations of other animals. There are plenty of ecological reasons to let pigs alone to scavenge and get rid of rodents and so forth , without consuming them.

Dr. Rex Russell has studied the dangers of pork for decades. A graduate of Baylor School of Medicine, Russell writes: “Many outbreaks of vicious infections have developed in so-called cooked food. If the food is [biblically] unclean, don’t count on cooking it to protect you…. A sobering report from Scotland revealed that food poisoning by toxins, virus or bacteria occurred in spite of thorough inspection at every stage of food preparation, including handling and cooking.” (3)

If this portion of the biblical dietary laws alone would be applied today so much of the burdens of parasitic disease could be radically reduced.

Shellfish

Biblically clean fish usually swim free in large bodies of water. The unclean creatures are either bottom-dwellers or predatory scavengers. As a result shellfish accumulates many toxins that can cause disease in humans. The four most notable toxic poisoning syndromes in shellfish are paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP), diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP), and neurotoxic shellfish poisoning (NSP). The most well-known paralytic shellfish toxin is saxitoxin. Domoic acid causes amnesic shellfish poisoning. Okadaic acid causes diarrhetic shellfish poisoning. Brevetoxins are the cause of neurotoxic shellfish poisoning. (4)

The fact is that shellfish contains hundred times more toxins, heavy metals, and many harmful chemicals than any fish that feed above the water who happen to have scales and fins, as the Bible states. All aquatic scavengers like shrimps, catfish, lobster, squid, crab, are toxic and their consumption violates God’s instructions designed to protect human health.

Birds

In the category of birds we again see the same principle, unclean birds are carnivorous, they kill and eat other animals, or are scavengers such as vultures. Generally clean birds are herbivores. Leviticus chapter 11 lists them out by name.

Summary Unclean Meats

Below is a summary of unclean meats listed in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 that have been studied and proven by many scientists in recent decades. (5)

Unclean Food classification according to Leviticus 11 & Deuteronomy 14:

MEAT:

If it has no hoof; if the hoof is not parted; if it does not chew its own cud.

• Camels • Rock badgers • Rabbits • Pigs • Horse • Etc

FISH:

If fish do not have fins and scales (bony tubercles are not considered scales).

• Swordfish • Sturgeon • Sharks • Lumpfish • European flatfish • Catfish

• Sculpins • Monkfish

SEAFOOD:

All crustaceans and mollusk have a unique ability to purify water of pathogenic bacteria such as those found in raw sewage. Clams and oysters can filter up to fifty gallons of seawater a day. These creatures clean the sea waste, but the waste becomes part of their flesh.

• Crabs • Lobsters • Shrimp • Prawns • Crayfish • Clams • Mussels • Oysters • Scallops

FOWL:

Anything that eats dead meat, such as birds of prey are deemed unclean.

• Eagle • Vulture • Buzzard • Kite • Falcon • Raven • Ostrich • Owl • Vulture •

• Stork • Bat

CREEPER:

Any animal that creeps.

Mole • Mouse • Lizard • Gecko • Reptile • Chameleon

Ecology

It is also worth considering the environment and how applicable and beneficial the Creators’ law is, not only for human health, but also for the environment. If we just take the example of shellfish harvesting and the oceans cleanliness, we can see that shellfish have been created with their unique qualities to clean up the oceans. If humans did not harvest them in such great amounts for our own consumption the oceans would be much cleaner today. If pigs were left to scavenge there would be much less of rodent plagues and pest outbreaks. God who created these have created them in Wisdom from the beginning. We can see that obedience to His laws not only bless us but also the environment we live in. Much less infectious disease and outbreaks would have resulted if we abided in His laws.

Final Thoughts

One of the most regrettable consequences of man’s aversion to God’s dietary laws is that millions suffered and died from diseases they contracted by eating food that God never intended for them to consume. Practical, rational, and highly beneficial instructions have been given to us by a loving Creator who desire to bless us and protect us. How sad that many professed Christians today dismiss these scriptures due to bad theology. What a blessing these laws are when we keep them and not only for us, but also for those around us.

You may also be interested in watching the following short video where Professor Walter Veith explains the science behind clean and unclean foods

Watch

Please check back soon for the next instalment in the series of Biblical Health Laws articles.

References

Disclaimer

The information contained in this ARTICLE is for interest and educational purposes only, and is in no way a prescription or substitute for professional/medical help. We assume no responsibility for the way you choose to implement this information. Be sure to consult your medical healthcare provider(s) before making any health changes or decisions.

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