Ralfa'il said:
Leviticus 11:3 "Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, [and] cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat."
Deuteronomy 14:6 "And every beast that parteth the hoof, and cleaveth the cleft into two claws, and cheweth the cud among the beasts, that ye shall eat. "
Salaam, aqi. "Cud" is a combination of semi-digested food and bile, which is produced by the first two chambers of the stomach of a ruminant. The stomach of a cow, goat, sheep or antelope is insufficient on its own to break down the cellulose of plant matter, a necessary step on the way to the digestion of food such as pasture grass. The ingested material is therefore regurgitated as "cud," and slowly chewed in the animal's mouth (usually while the animal is at rest) to properly combine the food and bile and render the plant fibers digestible. The "cud" is then swallowed, and the latter two chambers of the stomach continue the process of digestion.
Any of the various hoofed, even-toed, usually horned ruminants, such as cattle, sheep, goats, deer and giraffes - characteristically having a stomach divided into four compartments and chewing a cud consisting of regurgitated, partially digested food - are allowed for human consumption, especially in lands where there is little or no vegetation.
ralfa'il said:
Acts 10:15 "What God calls clean you must not call unclean."
I'm familiar with the scripture you referred to, my brother. As always, it's a matter of interpretation. I'll quote the verse. It deals primarily with Peter's report to the Church at Jerusalem:
"Now the apostles and the believers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him, saying, 'Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?'
Then Peter began to explain it to them, step-by-step, saying, 'I was in the city of Joppa praying,
and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from Heaven - being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me...
As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. I also heard
a voice saying tome, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat.' But I replied, 'By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.'
But a second time
the voice answered from Heaven, 'What God has made clean, you must not call profane.' This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to Heaven. At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesaria, arrived at the house where we were.
The spirit told me to go with them and make not a distinction between them and us. These six also accompanied me, and we entered the man's house. He told us how he had seen the angle standing in his house and saying, 'Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.
And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?'
When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, 'Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.' "
(Acts 11:1-18)
In those times Jewish law prevented any Jew from eating with an uncircumcised Gentile. The above scripture shows that this man-made law was discriminatory and divisive. And Peter explains his actions (eating with the uncircumcised Gentiles) to his brethren by
relating a dream he had that enlightened him re: the discriminatory law...
How the Christians began to refer to this particular scripture as their justification for eating swine - which is forbidden by God - and all those other animals they eat is beyond my comprehension.
Ma Salaam.