About Eating
20 “When the LORD your God enlarges your territory as He has promised you, (J) and you say, ‘I want to eat meat’ because you have a strong desire to eat meat, you may eat it whenever you want. 21 If the place where the LORD your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, you may slaughter any of your herd or flock He has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat it within your gates whenever you want. 22 Indeed, you may eat it as the gazelle and deer are eaten; both the clean and the unclean may eat it. 23 But don’t eat the blood, since the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life with the meat. Deuteronomy 12:20-23
There are two things about this passage that hit home with me. One is (obviously) that the Bible clearly teaches that you can eat meat. Not the blood that is in the meat, but the meat anytime you want meat. Since the Bible also says that God is “the same yesterday, today, and forever” then God obviously never changes. So if meat was good for them then, meat is good for us now.
The other thing is the deal of the blood. We are not to eat blood. This is no problem for me since I have practiced this from childhood. However, some folks do not properly prepare their meat. Especially venison! I have found that sometimes I need to soak venison for a day or so in iced-water (thanks Shaun for that tip!) to get all the blood out. When I do that, it makes a distinct difference in the meat – SO much better! Isn’t it wonderful how the Bible is ALWAYS right about stuff?
Praise the Lord, and pass the meat!
