Question:
What is God’s commands on how we are to cook our food?
Answer:
The Bible does talk about meat being thoroughly cooked. I Samuel 14:32-35 says, And the people flew upon the spoil, and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and slew them on the ground: and the people did eat them with the blood. Then they told Saul, saying, Behold, THE PEOPLE SIN AGAINST THE THE LORD, IN THAT THEY EAT WITH THE BLOOD. And he said, Ye have transgressed: roll a great stone unto me this day. And Saul said, Disperse yourselves among the people, and say unto them, Bring me hither every man his ox, and every man his sheep, and slay them here, and eat; and sin not against the LORD in eating with the blood. And all the people brought every man his ox with him that night, and slew them there. And Saul built an altar unto the LORD: the same was the first altar that he built unto the LORD.”
Why is it sinning against the Lord when you eat meat that still has blood oozing out of it? Leviticus 17:10-14 says, “And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. For THE LIFE OF THE FLESH IS IN THE BLOOD: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, NO SOUL OF YOU SHALL EAT BLOOD, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood. And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust. For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.”
The life of the flesh is in the blood, and God forbids the eating of it. That means that it is a sin to eat a rare or medium rare steak that still is red with blood. That is just as much a sin as the native heathen in the jungles who kill animals and drink their blood.
The common reason that people give for eating things that are on the rare side is that the meat is more tender. To those people I would say, “Get your belly off the throne, and put God on it!” Philippians 3:19 says, “Whose end is destruction, WHOSE GOD IS THEIR BELLY, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.”
But is this just an Old Testament principle? Are we still held to this matter in the New Testament? Yes, it is a valid New Testament principle, as well. Acts 15:19,20 says, “Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God: But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, AND FROM BLOOD.” We are still commanded not to eat blood.
What about the cooking of other foods? We are living in a day when nutritionists say that we should eat more raw foods, because when you cook food (they say) it causes the vitamins to come out of the food. I have even heard that some of them recommend the eating of some raw meats. That tells me that they do not really know what they are talking about, to some degree, because the Bible forbids the eating of raw meats.
What about eating raw fish, like is common in places like Hawaii and Japan? John 21:4-12 says, “But when the morning was now come, Jesus stood on the shore: but the disciples knew not that it was Jesus. Then Jesus saith unto them, Children, have ye any meat? They answered him, No. And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. Therefore that disciple whom Jesus loved saith unto Peter, It is the Lord. Now when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat unto him, (for he was naked,) and did cast himself into the sea. And the other disciples came in a little ship; (for they were not far from land, but as it were two hundred cubits,) dragging the net with fishes. As soon then as they were come to land, they saw A FIRE OF COALS THERE, AND FISH LAID THEREON, and bread. Jesus saith unto them, Bring of the fish which ye have now caught. Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken. Jesus saith unto them, Come and dine.” Jesus, by His example there, cooked the fish, before He offered it to them to eat.
Abraham cooked the food that he offered to the Lord and the two angels. Genesis 18:1-8 says, “And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said. And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it. And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.”
In my own body, I find that I cannot eat an over abundance of raw vegetables or fruits in a day, or it irritates my digestive system in one way or the other. But I find that cooked foods digest more easily, with no irritation. I am going to believe the reactions of my body (which God created) more than I am going to believe the nutritionists. People’s digestive systems differ in some ways, and so you have to eat accordingly. But I have heard many people complain of digestive problems when they eat too many uncooked vegetables or fruits in a day. Your body will let you know if you are eating the way that you should or not.
One thing is important in life to remember. God did not create you for the sole purpose of eating food. Our minds are not to be consumed with food, but with doing the Lord’s will for our lives. Matthew 6:31-33 says, “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” Romans 14:17 says, “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”
I have seen many Christians in my life make too much of nutrition, and not enough of doing the will of God. Remember, God only supplied bread (from heaven) for the children of Israel as they wandered for 40 years in the wilderness. Exodus 16:4 says, “Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain BREAD FROM HEAVEN for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day.” Numbers 11:7,8 says, “And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium. And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil.”
When the children of Israel began lusting after the herbs and fruits of the gardens back in Egypt, it was not a sign of spirituality. Numbers 11:4-6 says, “And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic: But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.”
I do not personally care for onions and garlic, so I do not sympathize much with the children of Israel at that point. In some circles today, you are not a very good Christian unless you are about pickled with garlic, and drink only distilled water and carrot juice! The point is that God did not provide those things for the children of Israel for those 40 years in the wilderness. Please notice how they were at the end of those 40 years. Nehemiah 9:21 says, “Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, so that they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.”
Whether we live or die is not going to depend near as much upon what we eat, but what we do with the will of God for our lives. Matthew 4:4 says, “But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Remember Romans 14:17,18, “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.”