Christian veg

One of the first comments I received when I became a vegetarian was from a friend of my sister's who said "But God gave us animals to eat, I don't think you respect his creation by being vegetarian."


A few days ago someone sent me a verse in the Bible from After the Great Flood wherein God gave Moses the animals on earth for food. Genesis 9:3 "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything." 

Which spurred me to decide to write complete this post about how vegetarianism is in line with the bible and how it has enhanced and resonated with my religious beliefs rather than undermining them.

Before I begin, I wish to say I definitely do not condemn anyone who eats meat - I hope that this post inspires you to think more deeply about the meat industry in particular and how that reconciles (or if it does) with your diet, but I do understand that different perspectives exist on this. Overall, I hope that, just as the early church was stopped from being divided by the controversy over kosher/non-kosher food, this post will stop the 'christian' criticism of my chosen diet.

Let's approach it chronologically.

In the beginning, the Edenic humans (Adam and Eve), were vegetarian (and perhaps vegan, but there is less concrete evidence for that so I shall not push assumptions), and God proclaimed 'it was very good'. (Genesis 1:31)God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. (Genesis 1:29-30)

To me, Eden is God's perfect reflection of humankind - living in close communion with him and entirely devoted to his glory, and so I aspire to live as closely to that lifestyle as possible (where lawful - I can't go nude...)

Immediately after the Great Flood (enter Noah and his Ark), God allowed the eating of meat, which was the verse my friend sent me: Genesis 9:3 "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything." However, God maintained that consuming 'blood, which is life' was forbidden (Genesis 9:4, Acts 15:29). This is why Kosher and Muslim slaughter rituals usually mean slitting an animal's throat and letting it slowly bleed to death. 

(For the Jews, this is called Shechita: I think God intended this to be less painless for the animal, as shechita is traditionally carried out by a shochet who is trained to kill the animals with a quick, deep stroke across the throat with a sharp knife which quickly renders the animal unconscious and is minimally painful. However, many commercial Kosher slaughterhouses fail to carry this out with sufficient compassion and skill to alleviate the animal's suffering, and kill the animals in horrific conditions. Many are hung, fully conscious, from ceilings to expose their necks, and then their throats are slit not in one quick motion but in a painful sawing process that they fully suffer. They die slowly, their life literally pouring out on them in front of their eyes, and they choke on their blood as well, compounding their pain with suffocation.) 

Apart from the fact that most commercially produced meats (obtained through stunning methods) do not remove most of the animal's blood, Kosher and Halal versions of meat are still obtained in a way that is horribly cruel, which does not at all resonate with my conception and understanding of God's character of love and kindness and his commands for us to steward the earth.

This here, is the crux of my argument. According to Proverbs 12:10, "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." I believe this verse speaks of a basic human 'ought' - kindness/compassion/care/love. The slaughterhouse cruelty that has been so clearly exposed in countless documentaries (Food Inc, Cowspiracy, Farm to Fridge etc.) and newscast reports does not reflect the kindness and compassion that God wants us to display to not just our fellow man, but to all creation, beasts/animals included! 

(I realise I have abandoned any semblance of chronology and I apologise but I never was good at logical progression)

Furthermore,  God has clearly made us stewards of this wonderful, beautiful earth that He created and loves (Genesis 2:15, Genesis 1:28, Luke 12:42-46). I am strongly convicted that as God's stewards, we should live in a manner that is gentle and in tune with nature and the needs of Earth. We should respect God's creation, be it in animals' right to dignity, the conservation of the environment, or in protecting and upholding human rights.

How vegetarianism helps me to be more in line with my beliefs therefore comes in here. Horrible factory farm conditions and slaughterhouse practices have always ethically disgusted me. Flip-over syndrome in the chicken industry, the full consciousness of animals as they die, the process of tearing away baby animals from their parents, grinding up male chicks, unsanitary, cramped, got, miserable conditions the animals are kept in... All these disgust me and fill me with anger at the callousness and insensitivity with which these animals are treated. In Numbers 22, there is the story of Balaam and his donkey. When Balaam beat his Donkey terribly after his Donkey saved him from collision with a wrathful angel, turning off the road/crushing his foot against a wall in the process (a detour and a bruised foot in exchange for his life...a fair exchange I'd say), "the LORD opened the donkey's mouth, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?" ". The Donkey clearly displays both sentience and the ability to feel pain. When the angel reveals himself to Balaam, even he asks Balaam why would he do such a cruel thing as to beat his innocent Donkey. Slaughterhouses do a lot worse than beat their animals, they torture them mercilessly in the interests of expedience and efficiency. Animals have their own lives given by God, their own value and dignity. Where we see meat, we should be seeing a sentient creature loved by God. (a quote by Theologian at Oxford University and director of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics, Reverend Andrew Linzey) And therefore we should not harm them.

To raise one pound of beef takes 5000 gallons of water, and the use of land for cattle has destroyed 2/3 of Central America's rainforests. Livestock farming generates 18% of the planet's greenhouse gases according to the 2006 UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, which exceeds that released by all transportation combined. In 2009, World Watch Institute reported that the more accurate figure may be as high as 51%. Toxic waste from chicken and dairy factories have cause massive pollution (algae blooms) in water bodies like Chesapake Bay - it's so polluted that animals leap from the water to breathe. How can I, as a Christian, knowing that God spoke the world into being and took such great pleasure in designing and creating every precious living creature, stand by and engage in the destruction of God's world?

Finally, above the argument for animals and the environment, is the argument for humans. The health benefits of vegetarianism are rather obvious - lower cholesterol and fat intake being one of the main perks and one way to keep our bodies as God's holy temple by remaining healthy in our diets. But apart from individual health is our obligation to humankind as God's people. We are to love our neighbours as ourselves, and one way vegetarianism does this is by combating the problem of world hunger. About 70% of all grain produced in the United States, a nation plagues with food deserts, especially among the urban poor, is fed to animals raised to slaughter. Most of the animals are over fed to reach the weight and size for slaughter in a shorter period of time. The 7 billion livestock animals in the US consume 5 times as much grain as the US population. In a world where 40 thousand children starve to death daily, the meat industry does not simply destroy animal lives, it destroys human lives by snatching away access to food for so many hungry and destitute people. Dr Walden Bello, executive director of Food First, Institute for Foods and Development Policy, says "The fact is that there is enough food in the world for everyone. But tragically much of the world's food and land resources are tied up in producing beef and livestock food for the well off, while millions of children and adults suffer from malnutrition and starvation." If we are to truly love our neighbours, I don't think we should show it by snatching food from their mouths.

To end off, "'all things are lawful' … but not all things are beneficial" (1 Corinthians 10:23). While God permits meat consumption, I personally do not believe he meant for us to consume meat on such a level that it destroys the environment, the right of animals to dignity, and our moral obligation to provide and care for our brethren.