clean and unclean

I was pondering the verses today in Matt. 15 where Jesus is talking to the pharisees and they asked him why his disciples dont wash their hands before they eat. Jesus proceeds to give them a swift kick in the toga and reminds them that its not what goes into the mouth that makes someone unclean but what comes out of the heart. He was making the point that spiritually you
are not condemned simply because you are physically unclean. John the Baptist was unkempt but was an incredible prophet for God. However, i realized something. We don't take that verse and say "well Jesus said we don't have to wash our hands anymore." You don't see people preaching sermons about not washing your hands and bathing in germs. Why? Because we REALIZE that Jesus was not negating the fact that early in the history of the world His Father told the Israelites to wash their hands because of cleanliness. He was simply saying the pharisees should not make a physical fact a spiritual matter. In the same way I've heard people ask me about verses such as "Its not what goes into a man that make him unclean." Or "Eat whatever is given you" (from Luke talking about sacrificed meat) and say apparently God doesn't care what you eat. WRONG!!! While spiritually you will not be harmed if you eat nothing but cake and cookies your whole life (although it will affect your emotions and temperament) you will not be taking care of your temple. As it says in 1 Cor. 10:23, "everything is permissible but not everything is helpful". So when you read a verse that seems to sound as if God doesn't care what you eat and you are tempted to throw out the Old Testament Kosher laws as junk, don't do it. Consider why God gave us the health laws in the first place and consider the context of the verse you are reading. It amazes me how many Christians use the verse where God told Peter to kill and eat as reason to eat pig flesh when he was CLEARLY (the Bible even states this) talking about the Jews and the gentiles, NOT about literal food. So, just because Jesus said washing your hands or NOT does not make you unclean spiritually, also eating healthy or not does not make you unclean spiritually. However, do we still wash our hands? Yes, because it keeps us from getting sick. Also, should we still be careful what we put in our bodies? Yes, because it keeps us from getting sick.