Guided Discussion: Clean And Unclean Meats

Opener

“What are some clean meats to eat? What are some unclean meats to avoid?”

Prompts if no response: Ask about other foods than what they usually eat, such as grasshoppers or crickets, and talk about how unclean meats are eaten around the world, such as bats, rats, cats.

Discussion question 1:

What are some of the clues that a meat is clean instead of unclean?

Prompts if no response: Animals that have a cloven hoof and chew cud, fish that have fins and scales, birds that don’t scavenge and eat other unclean animals, insects that have double-jointed legs.

Discussion question 2:

Why would God care what meat we eat or don’t eat?

Prompts if no response: Some animals were not designed for food, but for other things; clean animal meat and products can be beneficial to our health in different ways, and this is one way that God sets apart His people as holy or different compared to others.

Discussion question 3:

The Bible refers to unclean meats as an abomination several times. What are some ways that eating unclean meats is “abominable” to God?

Prompts if no response: Going against nature in eating animals that God designed for other purposes; eating animals that eat literally anything, such as dead bodies of other animals, poop, garbage, etc.; disobeying God.

Hypothetical 1:

What would you think or say back if you heard this: “Eating clean meats is what Jewish people do (they eat kosher). Jesus Christ purified all foods, and Peter was told he could eat unclean meats in a vision. So Christians are allowed to eat whatever meat they want now.”

Prompts if no response: God doesn’t change His mind on what He thinks is abominable; in the above examples, Jesus Christ was talking about washing hands, and Peter was told in a vision to not treat any person as unclean. 

Hypothetical 2:

What would you do if you were offered an unclean meat at a party or friend’s house for dinner?

Prompts if no response: Politely decline and say you’ll stick with vegetables and bread; if asked why, say you don’t eat certain meats; if asked why, say you believe in the food laws in the Bible.

 

Closer

What are some ways Satan makes unclean meat tempting to eat?

Prompts if no response: Billions of others are eating it (fitting in); it’s tasty; it’s everywhere we go.

 

Scriptures for more study or reference

Leviticus 11; Deuteronomy 14:3-21; Acts 10; Mark 7:1-3; Mark 7:14-23; 2 Corinthians 6:17-18