Deuteronomy 14:21 "You shall not eat anything that dies of itself; you may give it to the alien who is within your towns, that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner; for you or a people holy to the Lord your God."

So if an animal dies on its own, without being slaughtered, then it is okay for aliens and foreigners to eat, but not for the Jewish people? I have to say, I don't see the reasoning behind this other than to remind the Jews how special they are. What purpose could there be for this rule other than God showing that He wanted to single out His people as eating only fresh meat for which the cause of death was known?

This is one of the laws that we read in the Bible today and we don't really understand, or think it seems unfair or "unlike" God. We don't think of God as playing favorites, but with the Jews He most definitely did! It wasn't until Jesus came along that we all had the chance to become God's chosen ones. Until then, the Jews were to act differently, because they were different - they were special to God among all the people of the earth. God wanted them to always remember that, even when times were difficult (and He knew His special people would experience more difficult times precisely because they were special to Him), so He gave them certain rules that very clearly set them apart from others.

Today, some of the Church's rules can seem difficult to understand and like they make us too "different" from everyone else. We should remember that God gives His special people special rules, because we are set apart, and He wants us to remember that.