Jesus and Meat Eating

[Guest guest]

Hi Ian,

 

 

I thought your email was interesting. I don't agree with you that their is a strong thread in Christianity which opposes animal rights. I am not a Seventh Day Adventists....but I am very much a Christian and I tell people ALL THE TIME that I am a Vegan (Christian People and Not) and there is never a backlash or a feeling of "you shouldn't do that". Or the opposite that people would encourage me or my family to eat meat. We have been to many Christian homes that try to accommodate us in our lifestyle of eating even though I am just as happy to bring my own food!

 

I am reading an interesting book now....it's called and I don't have it in front of me.... What Would Jesus Eat? by Don Colbert. Basically what I am getting out of the book is that Jesus most likely ate some meat....not a lot as it was reserved for weddings and special occations....There is also evidence that he ate fish. However ..... Don also talks about how they would kill the animals sparingly and in reverence to God. The procedures to kill animals were specifically done very quickly and in a way to cause the least harm to the animal. And again...there was no Fast Food at the time and THE DIET BY FAR WAS NOT BASED ON MEAT...it was based on bread (Manna), beans, different grains, fruits, vegetables and the such. Foods that Vegan's tend to eat.

 

Don also talks about how the animals are slaughtered today -- he gives a brief synopsis of the book "slaughterhouse" although I don't know if he got the information from that particular book...his facts appeared to me to be either from it or similiar to it. He had also stated how today, the animals are pumped with antibiotics and the wrong foods as well as their lack of exercise, all sorts of things to fatten them beyond anything they are ever supposed to be, not for what God intended but for the purposes of pure profit. So I was happy he shared how different things are today in the "animal industry" than it was when the Lord walked on Earth.

 

He definitely had a strong emphasis on health in the book.....he kept encouraging people to greatly limit their meat consumption (although he felt differently about fish...he just qualified that you should be careful of where the fish came from i.e. contaminated waters) however....after everything that we read in his book....and it was apparent to my husband and I that Don knew that the Animals are not in any way being treated the way God wants them to be treated as well as the health consequences from eating the heavenly fattened up animals today, that he kept referring to....why he didn't just come out and say plainly DON'T EAT MEAT!!

 

In any case....I would recommend the book to at least show others, that say, in a black and white fashion, "God ate Meat" .... how different the circumstances were and what people's diets were really about back then...and how differently meat/ animals were thought of back then compared to ordering out of the clowns mouth today and being blind to the fact that the animals ARE TORTURED to get on your plate. Sorry...the last part was probably a little preaching to the Choir!! HeHeHe " :0)

 

 

Suzanne <><

 

Abortion...the worst form of Child Abuse!!

 

MichaelClancy.com

 

Please join OneMillionMoms.com or OneMillionDads.com to stop trash on TV!

 

 

 

 

 

I do think there's been a strong thread in Christianity which opposes

animal rights. Back in Genesis, the animals were put on earth to serve

the interests of man, generally by dying and being eaten.

 

Although I don't remember the theology, I do know that large numbers of

seventh day adventists are vegan. I only know this because they run some

good restaurants, and taught a friend of a then girlfriend how to cook a

really nice vegan thanksgiving.

 

And there are always people who decide on their own behalf not to eat

meat, whether Christian, Muslim, or whatever.

 

Is there a thread of Christian theology which is pro-vegan, outside of

the seventh day adventists?

 

veganjaney wrote:

>

>I humbly take back what I said then. Good point Jo. I'll rephrase

>what I said to refer solely to the Christians I know who are big

>meat eaters and quote that it says in the Bible you should eat

>meat.

>

>Janey x

>

>>I think generalisations are unwise. There are Christian vegans

>and Christian everything else, just the same as any other group.

>You cannot really tar one whole group with the same brush. I'm a

>Pagan but some of my best friends are Christian.

>>

>>Jo

>

>

>To send an email to -

>

>

[Guest guest]

> I thought your email was interesting. I don't agree with you > that their is

a strong thread in Christianity which opposes

> animal rights. I am not a Seventh Day Adventists....but I am > very much a

Christian and I tell people ALL THE TIME

> that I am a Vegan (Christian People and Not) and there is never a > backlash

or a feeling of " you shouldn't do that " . Or

> the opposite that people would encourage me or my family to eat > meat. We

have been to many Christian homes that

> try to accommodate us in our lifestyle of eating even though I am > just as

happy to bring my own food!

 

I didn't mean that individual Christians would oppose veganism,

particularly in the easy-going west.

 

But there is a thread in Christianity which opposes animal rights, by

which I mean the idea that animals, like people, have inalienable rights

and should not be maltreated.

 

Christian theology has long ascribed immortal souls only to animals,

unlike, say, Hinduism or Buddhism. Paul asked rhetorically " Doth God

care for Oxen? " (Corinthians 9:9-10), assuming a negative answer. Saint

Augustine interpreted Jesus casting demons into swine and swine into the

sea to mean " ... that there are no common rights between us and the

beasts ... " . Thomas Aquinas denied that " charity " to animals was a moral

goal in its own sake.

 

To be fair, I don't think that this thread has condemned people who

tried to do right by animals; it just claimed that there was no

particular righteusness in so doing. And modern western Christians do

absorb a sense of animal welfare along with their secular society.

 

And there have been exceptions, and even some hunt sabs (!), amongst the

early Christian saints.

 

But I think the dominant thread is the one represented by Saints

Augustine and Aquinas .