It is a common belief that those who eat pork are either atheists, pagans or Christians.

For the last group, they believe that eating pork is not forbidden, nor is any type of food and drink.

However, many verses in the Bible (both in the Old and New Testament) are simply against the eating of pork.

Before starting, let’s clarify a few terms;

Old and New Testament

In the Christian belief, the Old Testament are all the Holy books that were written before the appearance of Jesus (AS). This includes the Torah (the Scripture revealed to Moses AS) and the Psalms (the Scripture revealed to David AS)

The New Testament is a collection of different Gospels and books. The collection of Gospels are the interpretation of many people of what the original Gospel (the scripture revealed to Jesus AS) looked like

Naturally, these books have many contradictions that are the cause of the existence of over 30 000 sects in Christianity.

Where is Pork forbidden in the Old Testament?

In Leviticus, 11:7-8 says; “and the swine, though it divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch. They are unclean to you.” 

In Deuteronomy 14:8; “Also the swine is unclean for you, because it has cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud; you shall not eat their flesh or touch their dead carcasses”

The word “Swine” is an old word for “pig”

Now, Christians refuse to bind themselves to the books of Old Testament as they believe it is binding to only the Jews, Christians must bind themselves to only the books of the New Testament. Their argument is that many verses say that Christians don’t have to follow the laws of the Old Testament.

They usually cite the event in Acts 11:5-10 to justify not eating pork and following the rules of the Old Testament:

“I (Peter) was in the city of Joppa praying; and in a trance (i.e Peter had a dream) I saw a vision, an object descending like a great sheet, let down from heaven by four corners; and it came to me.⁶ When I observed it intently and considered, I saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air.⁷ And I heard a voice saying to me,‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’⁸ But I said, ‘Not so, Lord! For nothing common or unclean has at any time entered my mouth.’⁹ But the voice answered me again from heaven,‘What God has cleansed you must not call common.’¹⁰ Now this was done three times, and all were drawn up again into heaven.”

The words “What God has cleansed you must not call common” is a reply to the food that is forbidden under the Old Testament law (like pork), therefore they use these verses as well as other verses in Acts to prove that Christians are only subject to the New Testament.

However, the verses in Acts go in direct conflict to much more reliable verses.

Jesus (AS) ordered Christians to follow the Old Testament

In Matthew 5:17-19; 

¹⁷ “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. ¹⁸ For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one letter or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.¹⁹ Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”

These verses cite Jesus (AS) heavily emphasizing the importance to follow the Law of the Old Testament and the great chastisement to whoever breaks them.

It also goes in direct confrontation to what is written in Acts 11:5-10! So which one is true?

Acts VS Matthew

The book of Acts is written by Luke The Evangelist and Paul. Both of them never met Jesus (AS).

Paul persecuted the Christians, in 1 Corinthians 15:9 he declared; “⁹ For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.”

And finally, Paul was simply a lawless anarchist who argued that there should be no laws in order to have no criminals!

He declared in Romans 4:15; “¹⁵ because the Law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.”

As for the book of Matthew, it was written by Matthew who was a companion of Jesus (AS) and the book of Matthew takes a lot of its content from the book of Mark which was written by Mark and Mark was a companion of Jesus (AS).

Therefore, Christians have to follow the Law of the Old Testament and therefore not eat pork as declared by Jesus (AS).

Wassalam