Guidelines for a Christian Based Diet

One common question among new believers, and even old believers wanting to draw nearer to God, is the following:

Are Christians required to follow a specific diet in order to be saved?

Generally, the answer is no. God does not require you to follow rules you do not know about, but once you know about them, you should follow them to the best of your ability. If we look at some verses in the Bible, three options emerge for a Christian diet

A vegan diet like the one followed by Daniel and what God provided in the Garden of Eden.
A kosher diet which includes animal products. This is outlined in Mosaic Law.
Anything goes. This allows us to eat anything, including pork and birds of prey and is part of “God’s Grace”.

These are some Bible verses that are commonly used to support each of these theories. After reading them, it is a good idea to try to and determine which theory is according to God’s will.

Vegan(God's Design)	Kosher (Mosaic Law)	Anything(God's Grace)
Genesis 1:29-30	Genesis 9:1-5	Daniel 1:6-17
Genesis 2:15-17	Exodus 16:1-4	Acts 10:10-16
Genesis 9:3-5	Exodus 16:11-19	Acts 10:17-28
Exodus 20:13	Leviticus 11 (Entire Chapter)	1 Timothy 4:1-5
Leviticus 2-3	Leviticus 17:13
Leviticus 3:17	Deuteronomy 14:3-21
Leviticus 17:8-12	Acts 15:22-29
Leviticus 17:13-16	1 Corinthians 8
Numbers 6:1-2,6
Deuteronomy 5:17
Proverbs 12:10
Isaiah 65:24-25
Isaiah 66:1-3
Isaiah 66:15-18
Ezekiel 4:1-12
Ezekiel 4:13-17

The Kosher Diet is part of Mosaic Law; however, Judaism does not acknowledge the New Testament as valid Hebrew text and is not part of their religion with the exception of Messianic Jews which is a religion that emerged in the 1960s. The reverse is not similar however as Judaism forms a foundation for Christianity. Christianity was the introduction of Judaism and the Hebrew culture to the Greeks.

Further Reading