Why does it say in the bible that you can't eat pork?

Deuteronomy 14:6-8

6 You may eat any animal that has hooves divided in two and chews the cud.

7 But among the ones that chew the cud or have divided hooves, you are not to eat these: the camel, the hare, and the hyrax, though they chew the cud, they do not have hooves— they are unclean for you;

8 and the pig, though it has hooves, it does not [chew] the cud— it is unclean for you. You must not eat their meat or touch their carcasses.

i dont understand-- so it is ok to use the OLD testament when preaching in churches (Christianity, Judaism) and talking about God and his commandments but it is NOT ok to use the OLD testament and we need to 'disregard' the OLD testament because a bunch of people 'ENJOY' pork when it is CLEARLY forbidden?

In Leviticus we are given the laws as to what we can and cannot eat.

For land animals the rule is that the animal has to have a cloven hoof AND chew the cud. With birds specific familes are mentioned (they are all fown and not raptors or carrion eaters), fish have to have scales and fins (thus no sea food is kosher).

With land animals- a few are specifically mentioned since otherwise their may have been confusion over whether they were kosher or not. Example: the hare which has a split foot (rather than hoof), by it being mentioned we know the kind of hoof that is kosher. The camel which chews the cud but does not have a cloven hoof- specifically excludes animals which only have that trait (another animal in this category is the horse). Then you get the pig- the ONLY animal that has a cloven hoof but does NOT chew the cud. Not only does this teach us that the animal must chew the cud AND have the cloven hoof- it also is seen as especially repugnant for another reason- it is seen as being decitful, clean on the outside, with its impurities hidden within, thus the particlar disgust aimed at the pig by the Torah.

As a side note- the kashrut laws are NOT based on health issues. Kashrut is one of those laws which are referred to as a "chok" (chukot in the plural in hebrew). the defining characterisitic of chukot is that they are not rational and not subject to being completely understood. never the less, Rabbis across the millenia have tried to at least offer some explanations.

When it comes to kashrut- the most accepted explanation is that it helps to enhance our overall spirituality. Judaism sees our mission on earth as being one of learning, of spiritual growth. It is the time for our souls to grow and increase in their holiness snce only in this world is there enough free will to make the challenge meaningful. So what has this to do with kashrut? Think of it this way: the bodies our souls are housed within are the same as any other animals bodies with the same physical needs. This means we need to find some way to change fulfilling those sphysical needs from the purely animalistic to the holy in order to uplift our bodies to the level of out soul. So sleeping is made holy through saying specific prayers before going to sleep and as we wake up, sex through marriage- and eating through kashrut.

It doesn't say that I can't eat pork. It says that Old Testament Jews couldn't eat pork - a command that Orthodox Jews obey to this day. Why do some people seem to think that everything mentioned in the Bible is a direct command to Christians??

In Lev. 22:8 it states that we should not eat any unclean animal (such as pig).

"Whatever dies naturally or is torn by beasts he shall not eat, to defile himself with it: I am the LORD." ~Lev. 22:8

Since this verse is in the Old Testament, many things changed since Jesus died on the cross. Things changed like the sacrifices that they used to do, but since Jesus came down to earth, we no longer have to make sacrifices. I think that after Jesus came and died on the cross we can now eat pork since it's not mentioned anywhere in the New Testament. I eat pork myself, but there are many people who still believe that eating pork is a sin. I hope this helped some and God Bless! =)

The laws God handed down had purpose. The food "laws" protected the health of the Jews. Pork has diseases and parasites dangerous to mankind. They didn't have the drugs we have today to treat many diseases so eating

these "unclean" foods caused many deaths.

So, Gods laws make sense, right?

Matthew: 28-33 It tells a story of Jesus going into the city met two posssessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. The demons asked Jesus if he came to torment them and asked if instead they could just cast them into the herd of swine. Jesus just says GO and they went into the herd of swine. He said GO again and the swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.

The idea was that the cloven-hoofed animals, like pigs, ate scraps that were unclean. Further, if not thoroughly cooked, they made people ill. So it was best to make a simple rule not to eat this kind of meat.

Read the New Testament and you will see that it is permitted to eat a pork!

It was an edict by the early rabbi's because uncooked pork could cause trichinosis, so it was basically banned from the diet.