Halal Not Kosher for the Christian

So what is all the fuss about not eating Halal meat?  Why won't British companies label Halal food as Halal?  It's just the Muslim form of Kosher, isn't it?  Isn't Halal "better" somehow?  Kosher is "better" right?  Isn't Kosher in the Bible?  Why can't we all just get along?

There are a handful of passages in the New Testament that deal with the topic of what a Christian may eat.  It's not a long list, or even an overtly major point of doctrine.  In fact the purpose of most of those passages is the liberalization of what is permitted for "God's people" to eat.

It may come as a shock to some of you, but the term "Kosher" isn't in the Bible.  The idea of Kosher is, but the term and the exact practices used today are based on traditions that arose based on the teachings in the Torah.  Modern Kosher practices are the result of thousands of years of Jewish tradition based on the law of Moses.  It doesn't mean that Hebrew National hot dogs are somehow more spiritual than Ball Parks.  It just means that those hot dogs don't contain any "unclean" animal products and that the process to kill the meat conforms to certain standards to eliminate blood so that it isn't eaten.  There are some other procedures involved as well like the blessing of a Rabbi and certain facility inspection standards.

There is a misconception that Kosher meat is somehow incorporated into some form of Jewish sacrificial worship.  This is completely false.  Ancient and modern Jews had no prohibition on eating meat, other than the requirement for it conform to the law of Moses.  There never was a requirement that meat eaten had to be offered to God first.  This was a common practice in some pagan religions but it was never part of Judaism.  The sacrificial system in ancient Israel allowed for three uses of the meat.  The first was for its total destruction.  The second was that some sacrifices were to be used solely by the priests and Levites for food for their families.  The third was some offerings, like a Fellowship offering were eaten by the worshipers on the day of sacrifice. 

So is Kosher OK for a Christian to eat?  I don't see why not.  Kosher is simply a processing standard that recognizes the Mosaic law regarding the eating of meat.  You're not a "better" Christian if you eat, and you're not less of one if you do not.  So, if you like Hebrew National better than Ball Park, enjoy.  The worst thing you have done is pay someone to keep a Jewish food standard, and employ a Rabbi to invoke a blessing in the name of YHWH.  Unless of course, you ate the hot dog with copious amounts of sauerkraut and onions.  If you did that, then you are required to eat one or more Tic-Tac's afterwards.  The theological rational for this is "halitosis".

The whole Kosher thing was easy enough.  Since we all KNOW that Halal is just Muslim "Kosher", pass the lamb chops and mint jelly, right?  Not so fast.  Allah isn't YHWH.  See yesterday's post for clarification if you haven't already read it. 

You are going to have to decide for yourself who you believe Allah is.  Basically you have 4 choices. You can believe that Allah is:

1. Who the Muslims say he is, i.e. despite all the evidence to the contrary it is the same deity the Jews and Christians worship. 
2. Allah is a non-deity, a made up god with no real existence apart from the minds of his worshipers.
3. A member of the pagan Arabic pantheon. 
4. A demonic being, perhaps Satan himself.

If you are a Christian you have to pick a side in this battle.  What option you pick determines how you make the decision on if its OK to knowingly eat Halal. Notice, I added the qualifier "knowingly".  If as a Christian you eat halal unknowingly all you have done is have a meal.  There is no reason to suspect that God is displeased with you for eating.  He made food for the body, you ate it, that's the end of the matter.  What if you were shipwrecked and the only food available to eat was canned lamb form Yemen?  It's even stamped "Halal" and "fuel for the jihad".  Personally I think Jesus covered this in his discourse concerning David and the shewbread. 

In its most basic meaning "Halal" means permitted or lawful.  In that sense it is like Kosher, it is a term that designates what is religiously acceptable to eat.  What is it that makes a meat unquestionably halal?

In addition to the meat having to come from certain approved animals,  Halal meat is made such by the reciting of a shahada over every animal slaughtered. The words used are “In the name of Allah, Allah is the greatest”. The animal is literally being offered to Allah. Now the Christian has a problem.  The animal has in the mind of every Muslim just been offered as a literal sacrifice to Allah.

Remember I said the Christian has to pick a side?  Who is Allah? 

• If you truly believe option #1 above, no harm and no foul.  You're a mental midget, but innocent of any real sin.
• If you believe option #2 above, again no real harm although it may affect your Christian witness to any Muslims you know, and eating has to be evaluated in light of that.
• If you believe option #3, you now have a potentially serious faith issue to deal with.  You MUST make a determination on the theology of 1 Corinthians (and elsewhere) i.e. eating food offered to idols. 
• If you believe #4 to be true you would potentially be engaging in an overt act of worship of the enemy of YHWH.  If others know about what you believe and about what you are doing, you have committed a serious sin, see Rom 14:23.  Even if others do not know, you may have sinned against your own conscience.

In three of the four options above you could potentially find yourself in real physical danger if you chose to fully explain your reason for refusing the meat.  In a time and place under Sharia law explaining any of the 3 beliefs about Allah is tantamount to the capital crime of "insulating Islam".  You can be put to death for it.

I have alluded to places in scripture that a person should investigate.  There is one that I seldom see mentioned so I'll include it for your consideration here:

Revelation 2:20

Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.

There is another verse, also in Revelation that I think is perhaps applicable. 

Revelation 20:4

And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God.

Sharia law prescribes beheading as the preferred method of execution for those who insult Islam or Christians who refuse to convert when offered the chance to renounce their faith in Christ.

 

Christian, who is Mohamed's Allah? 

If you have a choice, why would you want to economically support Halal meat?