Now the Lord spoke... saying... "Speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'These are the animals which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth: Among the animals, whatever divides the hoof, having cloven hooves and chewing the cud--that you may eat. Nevertheless these you shall not eat... the camel (because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves), the rock hyrax (because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves), the hare (because it chews the cud but does not have cloven hooves), and the swine (though it divides the hoof, 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.
Acts 10:9-17
"...Peter went up on the housetop to pray... Then he became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him... In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And a voice came to him, 'Rise, Peter; kill and eat.' But Peter said, 'Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.' And a voice spoke to him again, 'What God has cleansed you must not call common.' This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again. Now while Peter WONDERED within himself WHAT this vision MEANT...
Acts 10:28 (Peter speaking)
"...But God has shown me that I should not call any MAN common or unclean."
Are you willing to think "outside the box" of what you've already learned and grown up with, both in beliefs and eating habits? Eating unclean animals is both destructive to your longterm health AND is backed up by the writers of the OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. If you're sufficiently open-minded, listen to the interview above. If you want further info and explanation, listen to more shows at the links below, especially the 2nd one.
TAPES ON GOD'S HEALTH LAWS:
In the mid 1980's, I did a lot of serious wondering about the idea of (and wisdom of) recognizing that God's health laws in scripture might have been meant to be practiced always. As I studied scripture and considered opinions on both sides, I gradually embraced a lifestyle of eating the things that God said to eat and abstaining from the things he said would cause severe problems.
Part of the discussions were in "call-in talk show" radio interviews with a Christian health expert that blew my mind when I stumbled onto the first one while it was airing. This first one was discussing EXACTLY the question that had been on my mind for years: What if in God's wisdom, he DID distinguish between two categories of animals for our eating, clean and unclean? (We dispensationalists had always thought it'd be foolish or legalistic to practice those laws today.) This guy gave amazing light into the matter! Each subsequent month, the same guy came on, talking about an additional area of health. Many months after the first one aired, the program's daily host personally told me that this one program (Clean and Unclean Foods) had generated more requests for cassette copies than any other program during the show's entire 10-year history, regardless of topic! I collected the monthly shows for a number of months.
For those who've listened to the above interviews and might finally be convinced that unclean meat is bad for you, but still insist the New Testament says we are totally free to eat it, I provide you an article I found. While I can't support everything the group teaches in other areas, this article contains the best and most thorough and succinct analysis I've seen anywhere in 20+ years of dealing with this subject. Just about every "problem" verse (New Testament verse) that we've ever tried to use to justify eating unclean meat is dealt with extremely well. And there may be other related articles there, too.
Most of us grew up in the 20th century eating bacon and pork chops all our lives, even for generations. No, repenting from unclean meat won't save your soul, just like stopping thievery won't. Only embracing Christ as your Lord and Savior can do that. And for those who are already Christians (and might be saying), it's still only one small area of life. But it IS an area big enough that God bothered to speak to us about it, giving us principles to identify which animals he meant us to eat (along with examples). So will you seek to "glorify God in your body" (I Cor. 6:20), and "eat ... to the glory of God" (I Cor. 10:31), now that you've "unlearned" all the bad theology and cultural conditioning you were raised with? Do you still have objections to making this decision? Are they intellectual or are they possibly emotional? ("I don't want to give up what I love".) Be honest with yourself.