基督徒可以吃豬排嗎？
作者：JB Lim 中譯：以恩
利未記11章47 節：要把潔淨的和不潔淨的、可吃的與不可吃的活物，都分別出來。
究竟神是用什麼標準，來決定哪些動物是潔淨，可做以色列人的食物，並且指定某些動物是不潔淨、不可食用的？好幾世紀以來，人們試著從不同的角度來解釋動物是潔淨或不潔，但是最好的解釋其實很單純：因為神這麼說。也就是說，這不一定是動物的本質有問題，或是邪惡、或肉質粗劣，或吃下去對人體有危險，所以被訂為 "不潔" 或 "潔淨" 的動物。寧可說，這是出於神的智慧，期望以色列人遵循的律例。
我們從這當中可以學到什麼功課？一，當神叫我們去做一些事時，很可能我們不明白祂的理由或為什麼。因此我們需要憑信心和謙卑去領受。我們不要強求一定要明白事情的原委和同意了神的看法才順服，我們必須相信神比我們更有智慧。我們對神的順服不基於我們對神旨意的理解。就像深愛孩子的父母在照顧幼小的孩子，小孩往往無法明白或同意父母對某些事的做法，但是父母只希望孩子能相信他們，並且順服。同樣地，當我們不明白或同意神的選擇時，我們只要順服，並且單純地相信，祂知道什麼是最好的選擇。
第二個功課，要明白在利未記第11章對飲食的教導，並不適用於今日的基督徒。在新約裡，主耶穌已經宣告所有的食物都是乾淨的（可7:19/使10:9-15）。這是個好消息，假如你喜歡甜酸咕嚕肉或扇貝生魚片，你可以帶著感恩的心去享用它們，因為主已宣告所有的食物都是潔淨的。（台灣的臭豆腐不在此例，太可怕了！）
雖然利未記第11章飲食的條例不是針對現在的基督徒，讓我們仍然記得，它提醒我們有時神會叫我們去做我們不明白或不同意的事。神有這樣的權柄，因為祂是神。我們的責任不是去明白或同意神的所言所行，而是相信和順服，知道萬事在神的手中互相效力，使愛神的人得益處。
在你的生命中，有哪些事需要你在不完全明白或同意的事情上，完全地順服神？在創世記第22章裡，亞伯拉罕順服神，在故事最後你就明白，神什麼都知道，什麼都明白。
So Can Christians Eat Pork Chop or Not?
Written by JB. Lim
Leviticus 11:47 (NIV)
47 You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between living creatures that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten.
What was God's criteria for determining that certain creatures were clean and permissible for the Israelites to eat while calling other creatures unclean and forbidden to eat? Over the centuries people have tried to come up with different explanations, but it seems that the best explanation for why certain animals were considered clean and certain animals were unclean is simply this: God said so. In other words, it wasn't necessarily because there was anything inherently wrong, evil, inferior or dangerous about the "unclean" animals or anything especially good about the "clean" animals. Rather, it was simply a distinction God in His wisdom chose to make and expected the Israelites to follow.
What can we learn from this? The first lesson is that sometimes God will tell us to do something where we do not or cannot understand His reasons why. That is where faith and humility come in. Instead of insisting that we must understand or agree with God's reasoning before we will obey, we are to trust God that He knows better than we do. Our obedience to God's commands is not conditional on our understanding of God's commands. It's like a loving parent taking care of a young child. That child will not always see, understand or agree with the parent's reasons for not allowing certain things, but that child is still called to trust and obey. Similarly, even when we don't understand or agree with God's choices, we obey Him because we trust that He knows best.
The second important lesson to note about Leviticus 11 is that these dietary regulations do not apply to Christians today. In the New Testament, we see that Christ has declared all foods clean (Mark 7:19; Acts 10:9-15). That's good news if you love sweet and sour pork or hotate (scallop) sashimi! You can eat these foods with a thankful heart knowing that Christ has declared all foods clean (except for Taiwanese stinky tofu, which is just nasty ;)
So although these dietary regulations in Leviticus 11 do not apply to us today, let's Leviticus 11 be a reminder that sometimes God will tell us to do things we do not understand or even agree with. He has the right to do so. After all, He alone is God. Our role is not to understand or agree with everything God says or does, but to trust and obey Him, knowing that God works in all things for our good.
Is there an area of your life where you need to trust and obey God even though you might not fully understand or agree? Like Abraham in Genesis 22, trust God, obey Him, and in the end you will find that He knew best after all.