Purity and impurity has often been associated with health concerns in our society today: something is impure if it spreads disease or pollution. While this is a part of the definition of impurity, more accurately impurity is something that cannot be ordered. In Genesis we read that God created things with purpose, goodness, and most importantly order. So when things lack this order, they imply almost a rejection of God’s power–the foundation of why God asks that we follow purity laws. Everything should be able to be ordered and when there is ambiguity or unclearness in this, it is disturbing to us. We try to create a new pattern where it fits, mostly by rejecting said impure item. Purity is associated with order, a truth that applies to society. Laws and regulations on purity often preserve culture because they standardized values of people in that society. To make a law on something impure signals that something is out of order. For example, incest is declared impure because it violates the natural order of family’s role–the siblings do not conform to their given role. In an ideal society, there should be no contradiction between what a thing seems to be and what a thing actually is. This is the origin of certain food laws. While there is a health aspect–no consumption of blood because it circulates disease and of animals liable to parasites– this health aspect would not explain the designation of pigs as impure. However, pigs are ambiguous: they have cleaved fit yet don’t spit out their food to re-digest, it raises the question of what is pure or not. Additionally, lobsters, another impure food, don’t contain scales like fish though it resides in water. This ambiguity paints it as impure. This designation of purity and impurity stems from humans’ natural desire to form a hierarchy and order. However, on an ending note, it is important to note life is full of contradiction and as much as we desire for it to be clear, it isn’t. This forced pattern of purity can lead to hypocrisy, discomfort, and contradictions in life.
- Comment
- Reblog
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Ciara Fitter's Blog 
Ciara, I like how you talked about specific examples of dietary restrictions, such as the pig and the lobster, and elaborated on how it is ambiguity that paints them as impure. I also talked about the implications of ambiguity in relation to purity, and thus societal order, in my blog post.
LikeLike
I like how you started off talking about purity in terms of modern days and then went into the bible. I think you answered the questions well and incorporated the bible in a good way.
LikeLike
I really liked how you explained how the purpose of purity laws is to act as a recognition of God’s power. It reminds me of the circumcision covenant which reminds God’s people that everything comes about through this gratuitous mercy. I also enjoyed your point about how even in an attempt to create order, certain purity laws still bring about ambiguity – do you think this is by human creation?
LikeLike
I appreciated how you ended your response with a reference to the hypocrisy surrounding purity, as mentioned in the reading. Although we desire organization and structure to life, it is never that simple.
LikeLike