In Leviticus 11, the Lord speaks to Moses and Aaron and sets out which animals can be eaten and which cannot: “You may eat any animal that has a divided hoof and that chews the cud.
Passover is described in the book of Exodus 12:8 as follows: "That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast." The Bible documents that Jesus ate meat at the Passover and that he ate fish many times.
“Catholic teachings tell us to refrain from eating meat on Fridays as an act of penance," Sheila Wolf LeBouef wrote. "Friday is a day of penitence, as it is believed Christ died on a Friday. Everyone has the right to either eat meat or not.
Jesus ate fish and is seen as completely without sin, suggesting that eating fish is not a sin. The Bible does not explicitly state that Jesus ate any meat other than fish, and Webb cites the fact that no lamb is mentioned at the Last Supper as evidence that he did not.
All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall. So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God.
1 Timothy 4:3-5 King James Version (KJV)
forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
In Nicene Christianity, including Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Lutheranism, Anglicanism, and Reformed Christianity, there exist no dietary restrictions regarding specific animals that cannot be eaten.
Genesis 1 identifies human beings as uniquely images of God and grants them dominion over other animals, but the end of the chapter prescribes a vegan diet for humans, so this original dominion does not include permission to kill animals for food.
Religion professor White said he knows no biblical scholars who believe Jesus was a vegetarian. They assume Jesus ate meat because it was the practice of the time. Lamb, for example, traditionally was part of the Passover meal and probably would have been included in the Last Supper.
Meat was only served occasionally, fish more often, mostly when the family had an important guest. Among the wealthy, lamb or calves were kept in stalls so they could be fattened for feasting (Luke 15: 23–30). Meals were a sacred time when God's presence was awaited and welcomed in every meal.
In Abrahamic religions, eating pig flesh is clearly forbidden by Jewish (kashrut), Islamic (halal) and Adventist (kosher animals) dietary laws. Although Christianity is also an Abrahamic religion, most of its adherents do not follow these aspects of Mosaic law and do consume its meat.
It is only in Leviticus 11:7 that eating pork is forbidden to God's people for the very first time—“… and the swine, though it divides the hoof, having cloven hooves, yet does not chew the cud, is unclean to you.” This is where and when pork in all its forms (including ham, bacon, sausage, etc.)
Abstaining from eating meat reflects the life of Jesus Christ. "Since Jesus sacrificed his flesh for us on Good Friday, we refrain from eating flesh meat in his honor on Fridays," the Archdiocese said.
Beef was uncommon in ancient Rome, yet more common in ancient Greece. Jesus was a Jew and Jews ate a variety of meats except for what they considered unclean animals (pork, snake, shellfish, etc.). Jesus was not an exception.
The short answer: a lot of bread. Bread was a staple in the typical daily diet in the first-century Greco-Roman world, supplemented with limited amounts of local fruits and vegetables, oil, and salt. Bread in first-century Galilee would have been made with wheat or barley flour.
Prohibited foods that may not be consumed in any form include all animals—and the products of animals—that do not chew the cud and do not have cloven hoofs (e.g., pigs and horses); fish without fins and scales; the blood of any animal; shellfish (e.g., clams, oysters, shrimp, crabs) and all other living creatures that ...
The catechism says explicitly what we all know to be true in our hearts: Causing animals to suffer needlessly is a sin. Since no one has to eat meat, and in fact we'd all be better off without it, then it is a sin to eat meat.
Quintessentially, the Torah explicitly declares the pig unclean, because it has cloven hooves but does not ruminate.
Biblical references to eggs are only in reference to gathering them from the wild (for example, Deuteronomy 22:6–7 and Isaiah 10:14). Eggs seem to have increased in use for food only with the introduction of chickens as food and were commonly used as food by Roman times.
At the beginning of Genesis, the creation of plants follows the need to feed Adam and Eve. The use of meat likely came later, after the Great Flood, when humankind felt empowered to kill and eat animals by virtue of its superiority.
Plant-based eating is deeply rooted in three of the prominent religions practiced in India – Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. All these religions believe in the concept of Ahimsa, which means kindness and non-violence towards all living things.
On the one hand, God prescribes a vegetarian diet in the Garden of Eden and the apocalyptic visions of Isaiah and John imply the restoration of a vegetarian diet. However, it is also clear that God permits, Jesus partakes in, and Paul sanctions the eating of flesh.
“We eat, drink, and abstain to the glory of God only when we, like Jesus, taste God himself as our choicest food.” Unlike Adam and Eve, Jesus ate (and abstained) in the presence of this unfathomably good God. And so, when he ate, he gave thanks to the Giver (Matthew 14:19; 1 Corinthians 11:24).
The four classifications of food (trees that yield seed, plants that yield seed, field plants, clean meat) is the foundation of a Biblical diet. There are also other important things you should consider when starting or following a Biblical diet: Water, sunshine and exercise.
Abstinence from meat on Fridays is done as a sacrifice by many Christians because they believe that on Good Friday, Jesus sacrificed his flesh for humanity.