Romans 12:1-2
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
Last term, I was involved with Just Love in holding an evening where we simulated as much as we could the conditions of worshiping in a persecuted, secret church, like they have in North Korea, Syria and many other countries worldwide. This term, we did an event on Food Justice,to see how our eating habits can or can not reflect the love and compassion and responsibility God shows us and commands us to show to others.
Eating with other people in mind - loving your neighbour
First, David talked about the impact of our food choices on our neighbour. He outlined the terrible world epidemic we have in terms of physical hunger:
"There's 900 million people in the world who don't have enough food, and there are another two billion that are malnourished [...] That's 40% of our world [...] That's not fair."
One problem causing this is certainly the unfair distribution of food. But another big problem is food scarcity itself. So much of our land is used to grow crops, but many of those crops are used to feed livestock, rather than people - nearly 40% of the world's grain goes into livestock. We know that as you go along the food chain, energy is lost. By feeding animals what could be our food (and not just feeding them, but overfeeding them and force feeding them certain crops so that they develop in ways that make them more profitable - aka. us 'feeding' these animals is not kindness) we waste huge amounts of energy in calories. In fact, if all the grain currently fed to livestock in the United States were consumed directly by people, the number of people who could be fed would be nearly 800 million.
David (an economist) did some math and found out that: "If we all became vegetarians, we would have 60% more calories reaching our plates, which means we could feed 36% of the 40% who go without food in our world." And this was despite the fact that food distribution problems still exist. Quite simply - what you put on your plate has an impact on what someone somewhere else could be putting on their plate. God calls us to 'love our neighbours', and gives a good example of how we can do that in Isaiah 58:10 'If you give some of your own food to [feed] those who are hungry and to satisfy [the needs of] those who are humble, then your light will rise in the dark, and your darkness will become as bright as the noonday sun.'
David also talked about water scarcity. When I was younger, one of my greatest fears was dying from thirst, and on our family road trips to Desaru (which took about 3 hours) I would bring multiple water bottles - just in case. And water is becoming a huge issue - the Aral sea has shrunk to a trickle, a drought in the Middle East contributed to the instability in Syria and its refugee crisis, and California was in a drought as David spoke. And yet, even in drought-stricken California, 80% of their water was going into largely animal agriculture.
It isn't surprising that animal agriculture takes up so much of California's water, however, because meat is notoriously water-intensive to produce. 1 beef burger equates to 3 months of showering, 6 months worth of flushing the toilet, and approximately 8 years of not drinking water. It sounds ridiculous, because it is. It is ridiculous that we try to conserve water by turning off our taps early and taking shorter showers, when one meal could so easily undermine all our efforts to live responsibly. In comparison to a omnivorous diet, a plant-based diet consumes 1/5 to 1/10 the amount of water.
Another interesting thing that wasn't mentioned was thinking about the workers who are exploited by the animal agriculture industry. Many workers are immigrants who are worked mercilessly hard for minimal pay, in unsafe conditions. The Human Rights Watch published an article quoting a poultry worker from Arkansas: “I hung the live birds on the line. Grab, reach, lift, jerk. Without stopping for hours every day … after a time, you see what happens. Your arms stick out and your hands are frozen. Look at me now. I’m twenty-two years old, and I feel like an old man.”
And a hog worker from North Carolina "I just couldn’t take the pain anymore. Three times I slipped and fell on the greasy floor. The first time I went to the clinic, and they told me I just hurt my pride and to go back to work. The last time I fell, the clinic sent me back to work again.” [A few days later, a hospital diagnosed this worker with herniated disc.]
The demand for meat is an incentive for corporations to push for faster work, cheaper labour, to 'boost productivity' and meet demand, while keeping prices lower in order to remain competitive. And demand comes from anyone who consumes animal products. Our food supports the cruelty of these corporations in their treatment of fellow humans, and keeps our brothers, who we should be loving, in soul-destroying, unsafe, exploitative work.
Eating with yourself in mind - our bodies as God's temple
Next, Will (who's been vegan for years and therefore is a good example of its effects beyond immediate changes) talked about how our food can affect our health. Well. That goes without saying.
He examined how our Edenic diet was a vegan one and drew an inference from that, which was that God intended humans (in their sinless state) to eat vegan diet. He highlighted that our bodies are built more similarly to herbivores than carnivores - our 'canines' are not long or sharp enough to bite and tear as those of carnivores, our saliva is alkaline like herbivores and unlike carnivores, and our gut is 14-17 times longer than our torsos, like herbivores, whilst carnivores have guts 4-7 times longer than their torsos.
Our consumption of meat only entered the picture after the Great Flood. My initial theory about that was that God, caring for his people, provided them a way to sustain themselves in a world which had just been submerged, and therefore edible plants would not have had enough time to flower and bear fruit. I was talking to Tim before Just Lunch one day, and he had a different interpretation, which was that after the Fall in Genesis 3, where God curses Mankind, that wasn't the end of our punishment for eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That in fact us eating meat was another stage of our punishment for Sin, I'm not too sure exactly how he came to that conclusion, but I do see how it could make some sense. Since we begun to eat meat, humans have always struggled with cognitive dissonance, something I wrote about before. That broken relationship between our mind and our actions seems to mirror the break between Man and Creation, man and woman, and Man and God that happened following the Fall. Anyway, this is me rambling a little, and wondering. But the main thing is: a plant-based diet was God's original and perfect design for humans.
From the beginning of Creation, Will then looked at the very end of the ages, when God makes everything new: a new heaven and a new earth. This Paradise is anticipated in Isaiah 11, where: 'The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox' If the Edenic diet was vegan, and the Heavenly diet will be, living in the interim with our minds and behaviour straining towards a perfect paradise seems to me a natural response to desiring God.
Health was also something Will talked about, since God tells us that our bodies are His temple, and we should glorify God in our earthly bodies. Many Christians see this as a reason why we avoid drug abuse, excessive or unmoderated consumption of alcohol, smoking, and other things that have adverse effects on our health. However, meat has terrible effects on our long term health (remember the shock of finding out that bacon increases the risk of cancer?) and so do other animal products. In countries with the highest consumption of dairy, there are also the highest rates of osteoporosis, because milk leaches calcium from your bones because of its acidity. The touted 'health benefits' of animal products are far far outweighed by their health detriments, but, like in the 'smoking is healthy for you' adverts of the 20th century, corporations can dictate the message which reaches us, creating the tragic paradox of nations and continents literally eating themselves to death.
In contrast, 90-97% of all heart disease (the biggest killer in the USA)can be prevented or reversed by a vegan diet, and by replacing dairy with soy milk, chances of breast cancer falls 60%, and that of prostate cancer falls 43%.
Giving our bodies the nutrition it deserves is completely possible on a vegan diet, with some googling and research:
Protein (although you don't need to worry so much about protein, since our culture places an unhealthy emphasis on getting more protein, which can have problems in itself, whether you get it from animal or plant based sources)
Calcium
Iron
and lots more. God has provided us with beautiful, nutritious food in the form of plants and grains and fruit to meet our nutritional needs.
Eating with joy in mind - We are not given spirits of timidity
Kerry then talked about how food is so integral in community and joy and one of the greatest fears about changing your eating habits to one that reflects your beliefs about justice would be the difficulty it would pose to your loved ones, friends, and community, and of course, that (we all thought it once) it might taste bland, boring, and bad. Jesus was big on communal eating - he fed the 5000 and ate with his disciples countless times. Even today, we eat communion (it's name already highlighting the connective role of food) to metaphorically represent Jesus' sacrifice of His body for us, and to highlight our thanks for it - a highly involved process that reminds us of our relationship with God.
Eating a vegan diet does not have to cut you off from friends and family. When I was at home, I would eat what my family ate, sans animal products. My Mum usually cooks a few dishes and a base of rice, and I'd just pick from the vegetable dishes. Offering to cook with her gave me precious time to talk to her and spend time with her and also help to ensure there was one vegan option, even if it were just some broccoli.
However, eating a vegan diet certainly does not mean you only eat home cooked food. Many restaurants have delicious vegan options, and even if they don't, a polite smile and request and often they are happy to provide something for you (for example, when I asked the chef at Itsu if I could have their 'Greens, Grains, and Glory' Bowl without the egg, he happily asked if I'd like 2 vegetable dumplings instead!) Even better, you could call in advance just to check with the place you're eating at what options they have, and discuss what they could do if they don't currently have something on their regular menu.
Delicious vegan food is everywhere, and vegan substitutes for conventionally animal product-based foods like ice cream, cheese and eggs are available. Simple swaps make things less confusing (almond/soy//oat/rice milk instead of dairy milk, hummous/vegan cheese/nutritional yeast instead of dairy cheese, flax or chia eggs/nut butters/bananas in place of chicken's eggs, coconut cream instead of dairy cream, soy/cashew/coconut based ice creams or banana nice cream instead of dairy ice creams - or you could just go for sorbet! - the possibilities are endless!)
Delicious vegan blogs are every where too.
And perhaps what resounded most deeply with me is how much eating a plant-based diet can change your relationship with food, from one of guilt and restriction to one of joy and abundance. God created food, and means for us to enjoy just as he enjoyed it on earth with his disciples. However, today's diet/aesthetic culture has made food an enemy to some, or something to be strictly manipulated and controlled for our own image. We eat, and don't eat, and binge, and purge, and fear that one extra banana will somehow result in folds of fat. But God doesn't want us to live in fear. He has come that we may have life, and have it to the full! Simply because eating a plant-based diet is healthier, and plants are more easily digested by your body and therefore move through your digestive tract faster, and have generally less fat in them than meat products, the feelings of bloating, and the fear of eating 'too much' fades away.
I must admit, that sometimes I wonder, as I reach for my eleventh banana of the day, if I will 'grow fat' from it. But, in a way I don't quite understand, by choosing to eat a plant based diet, food is no longer an enemy, food is a friend. Food is just doing what God made it to do-nourish.
Eating with the Earth in mind - loving God's creation
I spoke about the environmental impact of our food choices. I don't think I ever seriously understood the terrible impact of our food on our environment until I watched the documentary Cowspiracy. (which can be found on Netflix, and even on youtube if you search hard for a full length version!) I've always had a love for God's creation (I used to talk to flowers.
To love and care for God's creation is both our duty and an act of worship in response to the glory of God. Psalm 19:1 tells us that 'the heavens displays the glory of God' and so does the rest of His Creation. Our love for nature is an act of worship because it shows an irresistible reverence and love for the God whose fingerprints are all over Creation.
Furthermore, Genesis 2:15 is God's commandment to us to 'work and take care' of this world. In other words, we are God's stewards, or as I like to think of it, God's gardeners. Even the sometimes misinterpreted commandment from God to 'subdue nature' is a call to stewardship, since it stems from the Hebrew word Kabash, which means to serve (by force if necessary). Ultimately, we are caring for something that is not our own, something that is infinitely precious in the eyes of God who created it.
Unfortunately, many of our food practices cause us to disregard our stewardship, without us even knowing. Animal agriculture is the leading cause of rain forest destruction, and is responsible for 91% amazon deforestation. An estimated 110 species have been lost from rain forests already. And it is not just the land that is suffering, but our oceans, which are estimated to become fishless by 2048 since every 1kg of fish also comes with 5kg of by kill (which includes dolphins, sharks, sea turtles and more beautiful creatures) The animal agriculture industry produces more Greenhouse Gases than all transport industries combined. It is no wonder that in Romans 8:22 Paul writes that 'creation [has been] groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time'.
The hope of God's new creation is a beacon of hope in the midst of the mess we've made of His creation, however I believe our duty as God's stewards still stands, and in our eating we can make changes to fit that role. If whole world went vegan, agricultural related carbon emissions would fall 17%, methane emissions would fall 24%, nitrous oxide by 21% by 2050. And even though that might not seem likely, it does not mean that we should not try. God calls us not to be conformed to the pattern of this world. And truth be told, it is not a question of whether you make a difference, You already make a difference. It is simply a matter of what kind.
Eating for the animals - Opening the sluice gates of God's love
Finally, Tim talked about the ethical concerns of of food. He gave a wonderful analogy about how he finds God opening the sluice gates of his heart to pour out love. God loves us with such a deep and abundant love, that it inevitably overflows in our lives, to things, places, people we didn't think we'd love without God's love in us. Tim talked about God opened the sluice gate in his heart for the Homeless, and the sluice gate for the environment, and then, some where along the line, the sluice gate for animals, even though he had never considered himself anywhere near an animal lover.
We need to live out the compassion of God in daily experience, just as Romans 12:1-2 (at the beginning of this post), calls us to. Our lives as an offering to God should reflect the theology and philosophy of Christian living in every breathing, waking, sleeping, moving moment. How is it possible to reconcile factory farming, theologically or philosophically, with our concept of a loving Creator God?
Tim said he realised that the way he was eating before becoming vegan, was a way in which he had absolutely no philosophy and theology of animals. The only way to reconcile a loving God with the cruelty of factory-farming is that - to not think about it. But it is important to think about it, because it forms such an involved part of our lives.
Tim talked about his desire to live a life of 'totalising compassion'. Today I heard someone say that compassion is love in action. That means watching a cow screaming, crying, dancing in terror and ramming into the walls of its faeces strewn enclosure because it knows (and they know) that it is being brought to be slaughtered. That means realising that milk is a result of an industry that tears new born calves away from their mothers (and they have a mother-calf bond) and takes the milk meant for a baby cow for us. That means confronting the truth that the meat you eat was once a living creature, infinitely loved by God, every hair or feather or scale on its back crafted by him, and its life was cut short for your appetite. And it means taking steps to change.
It doesn't mean if you eat one chicken's wing, or an egg, that you can no longer eat with compassion in mind. Failure is normal. Failure is fallen, as we are. But Christ, and His love and compassion should be the goal we strive for and the model we live by. And so every action we do with justice and compassion in mind is a way of worshiping Him. When Isaiah 11 imagines our future, where: 'The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them [...] They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.' We should live that out now, purifying our hearts and habits as we prepare for Christ to come again.
He is making EVERYTHING new.
Quickly come, Lord Jesus.
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