by stillin 40 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
While visiting our neighbors across the pond, I visited a butcher store to rustle up something for supper. That was the first time I had ever seen blood sausage. We just never see it over here in the states.
When a Witness leaves the organization over there, do they all eat blood sausage once again? Or is there any social stigma attached to eating it? Like over here chittlin's and pigs feet are generally associated with certain sorts of people. Same with blood sausage?
When I left I was in hotel in Aberdeen which apparently served one of the best black puddings in Scotland. I had to try it, it was.........horrible.
Not all non-jws eat blood sausage and it is not a religious choice. I grew up in Germany and it was gross to me. I don't eat liver either or organ meats.
stillin- I saw blood sausage hanging in a Deli in Solvang California, its rare here. Although there is blood in all meat blood sausage still gags me
I still have a total abhorrance for Black Pudding... I would rather eat my Mother's own blood clots than touch the stuff. In central France too, they tend to drain the Cow onto a huge vat of Mashed Potato and fry the blood filled mass as a delicacy. I have modified my views on the "Blood Issue" since I left.. but still find the thought of feasting on the stuff... utterly repugnant... won't stock it in the fridge or use the same frying pan unless it is thoroughly cleaned and sterilized first.... YUK... but each to his/her own.
I must have looked like a real ignoramus. I asked the butcher what made the sausages so dark. (Had a gut feeling I already knew.) A voice behind me says,"blud, it's really very good, you ought to try it."
It left me feeling as though I had stepped into ...the twilight zone.
Black pudding (I don't think anyone ever actually calls it blood sausage) is served traditionally with an English breakfast - eggs, bacon, pork sausage, tomatoes, baked beans, black pudding and fried bread. It can be quite nice if it's properly fried and it's very peppery. Don't much like the texture, though, and the thought of the ingredients puts me off - nothing to do with biblical strictures. I would usually ask for extra beans instead.
Blood Questions to ask JWs
1. How Kosher should Christians be when purchasing meat, fish and fowl products?
2. Do all the blood laws of the Old Testament apply to Christians?
3. Is there a New Testament verse that outlaws the storing of ones own blood? How can Christians determine that storing blood is part of the abstention?
4. Is it possible that the blood restrictions in Acts 15 were given in the context of harmonizing (not causing offense) Gentile/Jew relations?
5. If a Christian eats at the home of a pagan, should he ask questions of conscience?
Christians need not ask any questions of conscience at the table of any pagan, whether he is presented meat that has been offered to idols, or something that has been strangled or blood pudding (pork blood fried into sausage). I Cor. 8:1-13 I Cor.10:23-33 Romans 14:14-23
6. Can any food that enters a person's mouth defile him?
Actually, it would only be disobedience to partake of any particular food if one of the guests at the table was a Christian with a weak conscience. The following is from, "The Issue of Blood in the Holy Bible" by a friend and fellow believer, Michael Eufemia
"Paul instructs the church that there is NOTHING unclean of itself. He states that he is persuaded of this by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. I Cor.10:23-33 informs us that the Christian is not to question what is placed in front of him at an unbelievers table but is rather to eat WHATSOEVER is set before him. This would obviously mean that the Christian could partake of blood pudding without sinning against God. He would not be defiled by such an act.
Paul's reiteration of this in Romans 14:14-23 is quite remarkable. He says that NOTHING is unclean of itself and thus it cannot defile a believer. He gives however, the same restriction to this liberty as he did for eating meats offered to idols and things strangled. If a brother is in danger of being offended, the Christian believer must abstain. Could it be that it is in this light that the church in Acts 15 forbids the consumption of blood?
Apart from the danger of offense, Paul clearly demonstrates that the eating or drinking of any food is not defiling to the Christian. This is in accord with what he also said in his letter to the Colossians; namely that no one is to judge us in what we eat, drink, or in respect of a holy day, new moon or Sabbath days. (Col.2:16).
It is interesting that Paul says that he is persuaded BY THE LORD JESUS HIMSELF that NOTHING is unclean of itself. Obviously this would mean that Jesus himself must have had something to say on this matter and if anything can decide this issue it is His word. In Mark 7:14-23 Jesus gives the teaching that would inspire Paul in his belief and set the proper conduct for all Christians in respect to what we can eat and drink. In his discourse, Jesus clearly teaches that there is NOTHING from without a man, that entering into him can defile him. Clearly, the eating of blood pudding is thus not defiling, and therefore not sinful.
This would also mean that Christians (like Jews) are at liberty to receive blood transfusions for there is NOTHING that can enter a man from the outside that can render him impure. The first three restrictions in Acts 15 are all from without, and do not defile because of this. The fourth restriction in Acts however, fornication does originate from the heart and because of this clearly does defile a person."
Blood sausage is delicious!
So is liver, brains and chicken gizzards.
And also chicken's feet.
Why waste good food?
Chicken giblet stew, with hearts, livers and gizzards, on toast for breakfast, is a real treat.
I am a pretty adventurous eater, but blood sausage grosses me out...the metallic taste of blood sticks in my mind, and I can't get past it!
