Is it a sin to eat a rare steak?

[Chris]

God has made it clear not to eat blood.  I'll put a few old testament examples for reference.

Genesis 9:4 KJV
But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

Leviticus 7:26 KJV
Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings.

1 Samuel 14:32-33 KJV
And the people flew upon the spoil, and took sheep, and oxen, and calves, and slew them on the ground: and the people did eat them with the blood. [33] Then they told Saul, saying, Behold, the people sin against the Lord , in that they eat with the blood. And he said, Ye have transgressed: roll a great stone unto me this day.

In the new testament we learn that some were told that they must take the circumcision, but it was not so.  We learn in Acts 15 what things are necessary for the gentiles.

Acts 15:28-29 KJV
For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; [29] That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.

It is repeated to us that we should not eat blood, so this is something that is important for all Christians to know.

Is it okay to eat blood after it is cooked? If so, where is the biblical justification?

Some argue that eating a rare steak is eating blood, and therefore eating it is a sin.  If the steak is cooked longer, where does the blood go?  If there is blood in the meat, it seems that we shouldn't eat it at any temperature.

My understanding is that myoglobin is a protein that causes red meats to have their red color.  As the protein is heated, it is denatured and changes color.

I am willing to be corrected on this issue and look forward to the discussion.

[anvilhauler]

My understanding is that myoglobin is a protein that causes red meats to have their red color.  As the protein is heated, it is denatured and changes color.

Yes, it is myoglobin that causes the red colour in meat and not the haemoglobin from blood.  Hence what was also written in Leviticus.

Leviticus 17 Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)
10 And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. 11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. 12 Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood. 13 And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust. 14 For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.

You notice with a chicken the breast meat is white but for that muscle to stay alive in the animal it still has to have a blood supply but blood is barely visible.  The beef or lamb etc has about the same blood supply and it would be about as visible as in the chicken if you could see it.  But of course you can't see the blood in a steak etc because the colour is masked so much by the colour of the myoglobin.  The blood that remains in the capillaries and arterioles will remain there even after draining the blood from the animal and if a person is going to eat the meat they will eat that too   .....  and obviously God was OK with that because otherwise no one would be eating any meat.

If you are interested you can look up 'perfusion' and that topic covers how much blood and the rate etc that is delivered to tissues such as muscles.  Sometimes in the lab it may be necessary to do saline perfusion of muscles or other organs to wash out any blood on a research job.

re: Acts 15:28-29 KJV
For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; [29] That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.

I could be totally wrong and I stand to be corrected if I am but the list seems to mostly be the things that even the stranger sojorning with the Israelites would have been expected to keep for things to be well with them.  I'm sorry I haven't time to do a full study on what was expected of the sojorners and hence I hope I'm not wrong with this.  The list given is minus the items of the Law of Moses that pertain to the sabbath and anything else that was changed under the change of the covenant.  The meats offered to idols, even if the Israelites were being evil and doing it the sojorner should still want no part to play in it and keep themselves clean.

Doing a word search for strangled in the Old Testament with regards to killing animals for consumption or otherwise, I can't find it and I'm running out of time.  Please correct me if I'm wrong but I was quite sure that animals were not allowed to be strangled.

[Jeanne]

When the Israelites left Egypt, there were a bunch of other people with them who were NOT Israelites. They all had to follow the same laws God gave to Moses. Anyone living in Israel once they got there also had to follow those laws. That's what is meant by a sojourner.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were sojourners in the land before the people came back from Egypt to conquer it.

[creationliberty]

If meat is cooked properly, there is no blood. It didn't make sense to me to say that one can eat blood after it is cooked; that seems contradictory.

[anvilhauler]

If meat is cooked properly, there is no blood. It didn't make sense to me to say that one can eat blood after it is cooked; that seems contradictory.

What I see being questioned is the definition of 'cooked'.  A very rare steak is basically raw in the middle and just warmed meat and the outside is at a level we would call 'cooked'. 

Personally I would always cook meat well and right through because there can be the chance of picking up parasites even from meat that has come from a farm with no known history of parasites and the inspection of meat in a meat processing plant won't necessarily pick up parasitic infection of meat.

[Chris]

I agree that the jews and those among the jews were to abstain from blood.  I believe this extends to the rest of the world also.

Ezekiel 33:25 KJV
Wherefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God ; Ye eat with the blood, and lift up your eyes toward your idols, and shed blood: and shall ye possess the land?

Clearly eating blood is done by those that are living outside the will of God. 

If meat is cooked properly, there is no blood. It didn't make sense to me to say that one can eat blood after it is cooked; that seems contradictory.

That is the purpose of my question. Is blood removed by the butcher that prepares the meat?  If not, once the blood is in the frying pan, where does it go? If it is cooked out, the drippings should be discarded.

[creationliberty]

Oh, that's a good point. I don't consider a rare steak to be cooked.

[WillCullum]

This topic is of interest to me.  I was under the impression that cooking meat took care of the blood issue.  However, I'm not remembering how I arrived at that concept.  Basically I have the same question as Chris.  I usually eat the meat I personally raise and butcher myself.  I do allow the animals to bleed out until their heart stops.  Even having bled the animal as perfectly as possible blood will continue to drain from the muscle tissue until the cooking process is to the stage I would consider complete.

[anvilhauler]

This topic is of interest to me.  I was under the impression that cooking meat took care of the blood issue.  However, I'm not remembering how I arrived at that concept.  Basically I have the same question as Chris.  I usually eat the meat I personally raise and butcher myself.  I do allow the animals to bleed out until their heart stops.  Even having bled the animal as perfectly as possible blood will continue to drain from the muscle tissue until the cooking process is to the stage I would consider complete.

What is draining out after quite some time is not blood but rather interstitial fluid.  Draining the meat is the best you can ever do to get rid of what we would normally consider to be all of the blood.

https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/interstitial+fluid
interstitial fluid
an extracellular fluid that fills the spaces between most of the cells of the body and provides a substantial portion of the liquid environment of the body. Formed by filtration through the blood capillaries, it is drained away as lymph. It closely resembles blood plasma in composition but contains less protein. Compare intracellular fluid, lymph, plasma.

When making bacon and ham etc the salt is applied to the meat to draw out the fluid (both interstitial and cellular) and for the salt to permeate in to preserve the meat. 

Yes, cooking meat does take care of the blood issue hence cooking the meat right through.  The instruction was given that meat should be cooked in the Old Testament so that would mean in its entirety.

[WillCullum]

Thanks Kevin for taking the time to add that information.  Based on what I previously learned and concluded and this new information provided I'm okay with eating meat that is cooked through.  When it comes to the meats I butcher the best cooking method is a low heat (210 Deg F to 220 Deg F) for long periods (10 plus hours).  One thing that does come to mind though would be cured meats like jerky.  I would certainly not be interested in buying jerky but If I were able to learn the process would there be an exceptable way to prepare jerky?  It's been over 5 years since I had jerky and I'm doing fine without it so unless there is an easy clear answer, I'm okay to just abstain from that food.

[anvilhauler]

Thanks Kevin for taking the time to add that information.  Based on what I previously learned and concluded and this new information provided I'm okay with eating meat that is cooked through.  When it comes to the meats I butcher the best cooking method is a low heat (210 Deg F to 220 Deg F) for long periods (10 plus hours).  One thing that does come to mind though would be cured meats like jerky.  I would certainly not be interested in buying jerky but If I were able to learn the process would there be an exceptable way to prepare jerky?  It's been over 5 years since I had jerky and I'm doing fine without it so unless there is an easy clear answer, I'm okay to just abstain from that food.

Hi Will

Personally I would much prefer to never eat just plain cured meat because even though the salting kills off harmful bacteria it won't kill the eggs of parasites.  In the old days when meat was salted to preserve it because they didn't have freezers and bottling (canning) was too labour intensive and expensive, it was usually done with the intention of cooking it afterwards.

There are lots of websites showing the dangers of eating raw meats.  A common dish today is ceviche that is raw fish that is "cooked" using the acid from lemons and/or limes.  But being still raw meat it is not without danger.

Parasites
https://www.seafoodhealthfacts.org/seafood-safety/general-information-patients-and-consumers/seafood-safety-topics/parasites

... Parasites do not present a health concern in thoroughly cooked fish. ...

... Parasites become a concern when consumers eat raw or lightly preserved fish such as sashimi, sushi, ceviche, and gravlax. ...

... During commercial freezing fish is frozen solid at a temperature of -35 Deg F and stored at this temperature or below for a minimum of 15 hours to kill parasites. Most home freezers have temperatures at 0 Deg F to 10 Deg F and may not be cold enough to kill parasites because it can take up to 7 days at -4 Deg F or below to kill parasites, especially in large fish. ...

For me I would stay well away from beef jerky even for parasite concerns if nothing else.

Of interesting note though is where you mention doing low temperate cooking.  I do low temperature cooking here at home as I have built myself a sous vide cooker and cook lamb and beef and chicken etc at 57 Deg C for 8 hours and it creates the nicest meat you will ever eat.  The liveable temperature range for pathogenic bacteria tops out at about 50 Deg C and even for parasites and their eggs 57 Deg C for 8 hours is too hot for too long for survival.  It concerns me quite a bit that sous vide cooking is now becoming much more mainstream and you can now buy sous vide cookers in the shops, but the potential for people to kill themselves and their family by not understanding microbiology is really quite large.  I would eat sous vide food in an established and respected restaurant but certainly not at someone's house unless they were a microbiologist.

When I was at university the parasitology lecturer finished a lecture about a certain parasite and then commented that he knew first hand the dangers.  Years earlier he had been working in an undeveloped country as a parasitologist and even though they took full precautions of parasites, his young daughter became infected with the particular parasite he had been teaching about and she suffered permanent brain damage as a result.

[Chris]

Yes, cooking meat does take care of the blood issue hence cooking the meat right through.  The instruction was given that meat should be cooked in the Old Testament so that would mean in its entirety.

First of all, thanks for sharing all of the information.  I don't think the question was really answered.  I am definitely interested in the commandment given to cook meat.

If the best that can be done is draining the blood from the animal, what does it matter what temperature the meat is?   Why not just pour the blood in a pan and cook it to temperature?  If a blood sausage is cooked through, does that mean it is okay for Christian consumption?

Deuteronomy 12:15-16 KJV
Notwithstanding thou mayest kill and eat flesh in all thy gates, whatsoever thy soul lusteth after, according to the blessing of the Lord thy God which he hath given thee: the unclean and the clean may eat thereof, as of the roebuck, and as of the hart. [16] Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it upon the earth as water.

We are to separate the blood from the meat and pour it out on the ground.

I only bring this up because eating raw meat is commonly performed (steak and sushi for example).  If these are examples of eating blood, I should inform and rebuke those doing these things. 

If we are not able to come to agreement here, I do understand that if I am to live charitably, I should abstain from these things.

1 Corinthians 8:13 KJV
Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.

[anvilhauler]

First of all, thanks for sharing all of the information.  I don't think the question was really answered.  I am definitely interested in the commandment given to cook meat.

If the best that can be done is draining the blood from the animal, what does it matter what temperature the meat is?   Why not just pour the blood in a pan and cook it to temperature?  If a blood sausage is cooked through, does that mean it is okay for Christian consumption?


I only bring this up because eating raw meat is commonly performed (steak and sushi for example).  If these are examples of eating blood, I should inform and rebuke those doing these things. 

Hi Chris

I'll get back to you as I can on the subject.  I'm writing before work and running out of time until this evening.

[anvilhauler]

First of all, thanks for sharing all of the information.  I don't think the question was really answered.  I am definitely interested in the commandment given to cook meat.

If the best that can be done is draining the blood from the animal, what does it matter what temperature the meat is?   Why not just pour the blood in a pan and cook it to temperature?  If a blood sausage is cooked through, does that mean it is okay for Christian consumption?


I only bring this up because eating raw meat is commonly performed (steak and sushi for example).  If these are examples of eating blood, I should inform and rebuke those doing these things. 

Hi Chris

I'll get back to you as I can on the subject.  I'm writing before work and running out of time until this evening.

I spent some time looking for information about blood ammonia levels as a result of eating blood sausage and couldn't find anything definitive.  I was also looking for definite information differentiating blood ammonia levels between eating muscle (meat with myoglobin) and the consumption of blood products (hemoglobin), but alas with so many hits coming up on Google I haven't been able to find anything definite.

As an interesting side note though.  When I used to work in the Emergency Department at the hospital, every so often patients would come in with nose bleeds and they have done the wrong thing and have put their heads back and swallowed the blood.  Bacteria in the gut break down the heme in the blood and convert it to ammonia and a too high concentration of ammonia is toxic.  Conversely we can eat a sizeable chunk of steak and think nothing of it.  Hence my wondering if God had made the rule for a specific health reason.

In the case of not having a definite reason for not consuming blood or blood products my answer would have to be "Because God said so", and for me that is an answer I'm most happy with. 

In the Old Tesament Solomon could have asked all the time   .....  why does it have to be this size?   ......  why does it have to be that size?   ......  why does it have to be overlaid with fine gold?  A good enough answer from God is "Because I said so".

2 Chronicles 3 Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)
1 Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. 2 And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.

3 Now these are the things wherein Solomon was instructed for the building of the house of God. The length by cubits after the first measure was threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty cubits. 4 And the porch that was in the front of the house, the length of it was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the height was an hundred and twenty: and he overlaid it within with pure gold. 5 And the greater house he cieled with fir tree, which he overlaid with fine gold, and set thereon palm trees and chains. 6 And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold was gold of Parvaim. 7 He overlaid also the house, the beams, the posts, and the walls thereof, and the doors thereof, with gold; and graved cherubims on the walls. 8 And he made the most holy house, the length whereof was according to the breadth of the house, twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits: and he overlaid it with fine gold, amounting to six hundred talents. 9 And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of gold. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold.

etc etc

[Jeanne]

God said not to eat blood because the life of the flesh is in the blood:

Leviticus 17:10 And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. 11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. 12 Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood. 13 And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust. 14 For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.

Based on thing I have heard from those who practice witchcraft, they start out with animal sacrifices and drinking the blood. It's not long, however, before they 'graduate' to human sacrifice and cannibalism. As Chris has said so many times, witches/satanists perform these rituals because they work. They do get a certain amount of power from these things.

[anvilhauler]

God said not to eat blood because the life of the flesh is in the blood:

Leviticus 17:10 And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. 11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. 12 Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood. 13 And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust. 14 For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.

Based on thing I have heard from those who practice witchcraft, they start out with animal sacrifices and drinking the blood. It's not long, however, before they 'graduate' to human sacrifice and cannibalism. As Chris has said so many times, witches/satanists perform these rituals because they work. They do get a certain amount of power from these things.

Yes, I agree 100%.  If anyone was to question me about what it means that the life is in the blood my only answer would ever be "because God said so". 

[Chris]

Yes, I agree 100%.  If anyone was to question me about what it means that the life is in the blood my only answer would ever be "because God said so". 

I completely agree with this.  I do not understand how God made matter out of nothingness, yet I believe that in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

My question was not if it is a sin to eat blood in a steak, but it was about eating a rare steak.  I was not asking for verses about why it is ungodly to eat blood.  I was referring to your post.

The instruction was given that meat should be cooked in the Old Testament so that would mean in its entirety.

I was asking for the verses to cook meat thoroughly.

The assertion is that there is blood in meat until cooked thoroughly.  I don't believe this is a biblical position, but I am willing to be corrected.  For example, I would not eat a blood sausage. An ingredient is pork blood.  No matter how hot the sausage was, I would not eat it knowing that it was made with blood.

If there is blood in steak, I am not understanding how heating it removes the problem.

Again, I am not advocating for eating blood at all.  My question is how do you equate raw to containing blood?

[anvilhauler]

Again, I am not advocating for eating blood at all.  My question is how do you equate raw to containing blood?

Hi Chris

In some of the previous posts we did discuss that raw did not mean it contained blood per se.  Being raw and the consumption of blood are two different topics but we did cover the whole subject to differentiate the two.

But as for eating rare steak.  Flesh with the life in it was forbidden to eat as in the scripture below.  And meat doesn't contain much blood.  Hmmm.  So it might not be just talking about blood corpusles here but any food with the life still left in it.  In a rare steak, the muscle in the centre still has undestroyed micromolecular machinery in the cells that gives life to the flesh.  At what temperature and for how long do we consider a piece of meat to be cooked?  What is even the definition of a cell still being alive and a cell being dead?  They are interesting questions to try and answer.

Genesis 9 Authorized (King James) Version (AKJV)
3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. 4 But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

For me, because of the scripture, I am always going to cook the life out of any piece of meat.  I like meat that is tender and that is well cooked, yet still moist.  Hence the reason I built a sous vide cooker that cooks meat safely in its entirety but will not dry the meat out.  I cook for a hobby though so cooking like that might not suit everybody and there would be costs for others to buy such a system because they can't build one themselves and as mentioned earlier sous vide cooking can be dangerous for people who aren't too sure about bacterial infections.

Back in the time of Noah and his family and those after him, all they basically had was a fire and earthenware pots.  Having fancy cooking techniques like we do today were totally unnecessary.  For them, eating the flesh of animals would have just meant getting the meat, cooking it well over the fire until perfectly done and eating it, or chopping it up and making a stew in an earthenware pot.  Using their cooking methods I can make a stew that is every bit as nice to eat as sous vide   .....  and I often do.  If you know how to cook you can live like a king on very little money and also not break the rule that God gave of not eating flesh with the life still in it.