Eating animals...

[expos4ever]

Simply put, animals do not have souls....

How do you know this? I suggest that humans also don't have souls, at least not in the sense I suspect you mean. But perhaps that is a tangent.

 

[Kenny'sID]

Fair enough, but I think it's wise to follow the trajectory of the Biblical narrative. In short, we start in Eden with a vegetarian diet and I think it is pretty clear that the entire arc of the narrative from then on has us destined to a kind of return to Eden. So even though it is clearly true that scripture countenances eating meat along the way to that final destination, I suggest that we (today) are embedded in that part of the narrative where the Edenic curse has been reversed and we perhaps, in anticipation of the final act of the narrative, should go back to a vegetarian diet.

I see how you draw your conclusion, and don't see a problem with that, for you, but it is after all a man made concept. When we start thinking it best we all go with something like that, or that we would all be better off to do what I say for my reasons when there is no strict biblical backing for it, it just worries me for reasons beyond the subject here.

Being allowed to eat meat is backed solidly by the bible, as are diets with no meat, or any food at all for that matter, and we're commanded to do none of those things. They are suggestions, and I do realize that may be all you are doing is suggesting, so yes, yours is a viable concept for you and others if they wish to go that route.

Moving away from that a bit, there are some that need the "treat". It's like a candy bar or something, a nice experience in a world where nice experiences may be at a minimum for some. So a treat, it could be anything edible or not, to make a life where we have to give up a lot of what everyone else gets to do, a little more bearable...and if it's ok with God, I say do, and do it often if you feel the need.

Soul food, if you will.

 

[Grip Docility]

I've heard in these forums that guns aren't OK, but yet we eat animals. In the sense of letting living creatures live I would have to say that killing your pets and eating them is evil. Not to be rude. But we use guns to kill and stay alive, and eating of animals is the same, we kill them and eat them to stay alive. Eat and live for another day. But we don't have to, we have beans and eggs and things that don't involve the killing of creatures that have a nervous system. So things without a nervous system don't feel pain when they die. That would be plants and eggs. But things that have a nervous system do feel pain when we kill them, that would be animals.

So the question I have is how do you feel about that?

Romans 14:2 is your answer.

When morality becomes subjective and dictated beyond Holy Spirit to individual heart... totalitarian intolerance that killed Christ is the result.

 

[Own Martin Jr.]

I've heard in these forums that guns aren't OK, but yet we eat animals. In the sense of letting living creatures live I would have to say that killing your pets and eating them is evil. Not to be rude. But we use guns to kill and stay alive, and eating of animals is the same, we kill them and eat them to stay alive. Eat and live for another day. But we don't have to, we have beans and eggs and things that don't involve the killing of creatures that have a nervous system. So things without a nervous system don't feel pain when they die. That would be plants and eggs. But things that have a nervous system do feel pain when we kill them, that would be animals.

So the question I have is how do you feel about that?

As Humans created by God, we are authorized by God himself to have control over all resources here on earth. God allowed us to eat all possible foods whether from plants or animals with few exceptions on some animals. These are all stated in bible and besides in Genesis 1:26 it says "Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

This is a manifestation of how God loves us. He created us and He provides us all the things that we need.

More on Bible reading? Visit: Wanna know the secret for a happy living???

 

[Ron Gurley]

God 's law:
Eat everything, but be careful not to get eaten!

 

[PaulCyp1]

Since Jesus Christ ate animals, I don't see how a Christian could consider doing so "evil".

 

[Ron Gurley]

A pig is an animal with dirt on his face
His shoes are a terrible disgrace
He's got no manners when he eats his food
He's fat and lazy and extremely rude
But if you don't care a feather or a fig
You may grow up to be a pig

Leviticus 11:7
and the pig, for though it divides the hoof, thus making a split hoof, it does not chew cud, it is unclean to you.

Deuteronomy 14:6
Any animal that divides the hoof and has the hoof split in two and chews the cud, among the animals, that you may eat.

Acts 10 (NASB)
10 But he (Peter) became hungry and was desiring to eat; but while they were making preparations, he fell into a trance;
11 and he saw the sky opened up,
and an object like a great sheet coming down, lowered by four corners to the ground,
12 and there were in it all kinds of >>>four-footed animals<<< and crawling creatures of the earth and birds of the air.
13 A voice came to him, “Get up, Peter, kill and eat!”

 

[FireDragon76]

Merely having a nervous system doesn't mean an animal is conscious of pain. There has to be a sufficiently developed brain to experience pain. Many kinds of insects and mollusks, in constrast, have very primitive nervous systems that can react to pain without perceiving it in the way we would.

 

[Jonathan Leo]

I've heard in these forums that guns aren't OK, but yet we eat animals. In the sense of letting living creatures live I would have to say that killing your pets and eating them is evil. Not to be rude. But we use guns to kill and stay alive, and eating of animals is the same, we kill them and eat them to stay alive. Eat and live for another day. But we don't have to, we have beans and eggs and things that don't involve the killing of creatures that have a nervous system. So things without a nervous system don't feel pain when they die. That would be plants and eggs. But things that have a nervous system do feel pain when we kill them, that would be animals.

So the question I have is how do you feel about that?

God said meat is good to eat, however, I believe the problem is when is when meat ( animals ) are slaughtered just for the sake of it.
Today’s society is a waste society. We throw away any meat we don’t want just because it’s readily available to get our next meal.

An example would be a chicken. I see most people eat the breast and chuck the rest, whereas I use the breast for dinner, wings and drums for snacks, the rest of the meat for a curry and scraps for the dog. Nothing left but carcass. I know I could use the bones for a stock, but I don’t. I don’t want that smell in my house.

My point being we are to take what we need and not waste any recourse. Unfortunately that don’t happen today.

Eating meat is good in Gods eyes, treating it as if it means nothing is wrong

 

[Jonathan Leo]

Merely having a nervous system doesn't mean an animal is conscious of pain. There has to be a sufficiently developed brain to experience pain. Many kinds of insects and mollusks, in constrast, have very primitive nervous systems that can react to pain without perceiving it in the way we would.

Agreed

 

[devin553344]

Agreed

I saw a cat once get hit by a car and it screamed out in pain and suffering. And when I was a boy I shot a bird and it squeaked out in pain and suffering fluttering on the ground. These events changed my life. I also recently saw a squirrel get hit by a car and it did the same as the cat. Clearly to me they suffer pain and misery.

 

[miamited]

Yes of course, and you should note that Christ gave out bread and wine (seed and fruit) for his body and blood to his disciples.

Hi devin,

Ok, so noted. However, is it your position that throughout Jesus' 30 some years of life here on this earth that he didn't eat meat? I mean, I get it that he didn't use meat to establish the memorial of communion. However, just because of one incidence that took possibly an hour of a life of thirty some years of living, where the Lord didn't use meat to symbolize his life and death in communion, is it your position that his entire life was likely lived without having eaten meat?

Would it then be your position that when God spoke to Israel concerning the meats that they could eat and provided for them quail to eat in the wilderness; that when the Scriptures claim that He told Noah after the flood that all creatures of the earth were to be food for him, that God either doesn't know what's right for us or the Scriptures are wrong or misunderstood in those places?

God bless,
In Christ, ted

 

[GUANO]

I grew up on a farm. Every animal was my pet. They all had names. And many were killed by me personally.

Understanding the circle of life, including the brutality of it, is required to understand anything about God and the nature of sacrifice.

 

[devin553344]

Understanding the circle of life, including the brutality of it, is required to understand anything about God and the nature of sacrifice.

That's kinda my point. People say guns are evil, yet eat meat and take part in the brutality of meat eating.

 

[devin553344]

Hi devin,

Ok, so noted. However, is it your position that throughout Jesus' 30 some years of life here on this earth that he didn't eat meat? I mean, I get it that he didn't use meat to establish the memorial of communion. However, just because of one incidence that took possibly an hour of a life of thirty some years of living, where the Lord didn't use meat to symbolize his life and death in communion, is it your position that his entire life was likely lived without having eaten meat?

Would it then be your position that when God spoke to Israel concerning the meats that they could eat and provided for them quail to eat in the wilderness; that when the Scriptures claim that He told Noah after the flood that all creatures of the earth were to be food for him, that God either doesn't know what's right for us or the Scriptures are wrong or misunderstood in those places?

God bless,
In Christ, ted

In the new testament Christ gave out bread and wine, and in revelation it speaks of heaving having fruit to eat. So it would appear that the Apostles, or at least Saint John the Divine saw there was a better way than eating meat, and that it is undesirable if it can be done away with.

Revelation:
{22:1} And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. {22:2} In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, [was there] the tree of life, which bare twelve [manner] of fruits, [and] yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree [were] for the healing of the nations. {22:3} And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:

So if you are to accept revelation's depiction of heaven, then you will have to accept that eating of animals will be done away with, and then ask yourself why? I don't think you would have to ask yourself why, animals suffer pain when they die, and who knows what emotions they go thru.

 

[miamited]

In the new testament Christ gave out bread and wine, and in revelation it speaks of heaving having fruit to eat. So it would appear that the Apostles, or at least Saint John the Divine saw there was a better way than eating meat, and that it is undesirable if it can be done away with.

Revelation:
{22:1} And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. {22:2} In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, [was there] the tree of life, which bare twelve [manner] of fruits, [and] yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree [were] for the healing of the nations. {22:3} And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:

So if you are to accept revelation's depiction of heaven, then you will have to accept that eating of animals will be done away with, and then ask yourself why? I don't think you would have to ask yourself why, animals suffer pain when they die, and who knows what emotions they go thru.

Hi devin,

Well, what it actually says is that the tree of life bears 12 kinds of fruit. Now, whether or not that means that in the eternal life all of our meals will not have any meat, isn't really clear in that. We may find that even in the eternal life here upon the earth, that there are still animals that we raise to kill and eat. Peter writes that the brute beasts were created for destruction.

So no, I do accept the Revelations depiction of heaven, but I don't find that there is any instruction that the eating of animals will be done away with. Maybe it will and maybe it won't, but you can't prove either position from something written in the Revelation.

God bless,
In Christ, ted

 

[Tayla]

I would like to be a vegetarian but haven't figured out how I would get all my amino acids.

I am vegan except for twice a month when I eat meat for one meal for the reason you mention. I notice I feel better afterwards so I think I need the meat from time to time. I do feel sad for the poor cow, however.

 

[Sammy-San]

Those are good and valid verses, however, we cannot pick and choose the verses of the Bible when interpreting scripture, we have to take it as a whole. There are also many, many verses that speak of how to make sure animals are kosher, how to prepare them, and examples of people eating flesh, including Jesus himself.

In the end, based on scripture, it is good if one chooses to be vegetarian, but it is not evil if one chooses not to do so.

Is animal cruelty a sin? Proverbs 12:10 The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.

 

[tampasteve]

Is animal cruelty a sin? Proverbs 12:10 The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.

Yes, animal cruelty is wrong, I believe. However, I do not equate killing animals humanly for food to animal cruelty, and neither does scripture.

 

[Shempster]

Have you ever seen the inside of a factory farm?
It is all animal cruelty. They are stuck in cages without room to move. It is loud and highly stressful to them. They are poked with needles, kicked around, diseased, many have their beaks cut off, and they live their short lives like this until they are electrocuted, sliced open or have a bolt shot through their heads.
It really couldn't be worse for any living creature.
If you eat meat, then you hold some liability for that.