How can Christians justify eating meat?

[eckhart]

(Keep in mind I am a Christian)
I'm a vegan and became vegetarian when was eleven. I read "Animal Liberation" at twelve and decided that there is no reason for eating meat. Eating meat/animal products yields little advantage (nutrionally) for the body, damages the environment and inflicts suffering on the animals involved.
I find no grounds for which I can justify eating it. We live under the New Testament and have methods of farming that allow fruit and vegetables all year round.

Christmas for the cows - New Orleans vegan | Examiner.com

 

[JRSut1000]

Even Jesus ate meat, He couldn't have celebrated the Passover without it. If Jesus can do it and yet be blameless, it's good enough for me.

 

[Jade Margery]

Apparently the answer to WWJD... is have a steak. XD

 

[razeontherock]

Eating meat/animal products yields little advantage (nutrionally) for the body

Not what I find at all; then again, ancestrally I'm a Viking. Plus, the Bible specifically permits it! Why would you forbid it?

 

[razeontherock]

Apparently the answer to WWJD... is have a steak. XD

With a glass of really good wine

 

[elephunky]

I think this is more of a personal conviction rather than a religious one.

 

[eckhart]

Not what I find at all; then again, ancestrally I'm a Viking. Plus, the Bible specifically permits it! Why would you forbid it?

What do you mean not what I find?
There is no reason to eat it apart from preference to the taste and believing that animals cannot feel pain or suffer.

 

[eckhart]

Even Jesus ate meat, He couldn't have celebrated the Passover without it. If Jesus can do it and yet be blameless, it's good enough for me.

If you celebrate a traditional Jewish passover then I can't find fault with that.
But the modern farming methods used for animal conversion are draining resources and have damaging effects.

 

[ebia]

There is no reason to eat it apart from preference to the taste ...

That's pretty much it.

 

[ebia]

I think this is more of a personal conviction rather than a religious one.

What's the difference?

 

[razeontherock]

What do you mean not what I find?
There is no reason to eat it apart from preference to the taste and believing that animals cannot feel pain or suffer.

Not true at all. Veggies have NEVER given me what I need nutritionally. No strength, no energy, and I get sick.

I don't find your claim to be true, that animals have little advantage nutritionally over plants. You might. Our bodies might be different, but then again your nutritional needs could be drastically different than mine, because your daily activity is drastically different from mine

 

[eckhart]

Not true at all. Veggies have NEVER given me what I need nutritionally. No strength, no energy, and I get sick.

I don't find your claim to be true, that animals have little advantage nutritionally over plants. You might. Our bodies might be different, but then again your nutritional needs could be drastically different than mine, because your daily activity is drastically different from mine

There are many athletes and olympians who are vegetarian arw you more active than they are?
I get all my information on this from "Animal Liberation", unless Peter Singer lied in his book, the only extra you get from animal products are the carbohydrates and fat cotent.
Veal for example, is not allowed to have a high protein level, the calf is fed a milk diet to keep its muscle light and soft because people don't like to buy darkened meat.

 

[Halossellar]

(Keep in mind I am a Christian)
I'm a vegan and became vegetarian when was eleven. I read "Animal Liberation" at twelve and decided that there is no reason for eating meat. Eating meat/animal products yields little advantage (nutrionally) for the body, damages the environment and inflicts suffering on the animals involved.
I find no grounds for which I can justify eating it. We live under the New Testament and have methods of farming that allow fruit and vegetables all year round.

Christmas for the cows - New Orleans vegan | Examiner.com

Meat eating behind evolutionary success of humankind, global population spread, study suggests

Learning to hunt was a decisive step in human evolution. Hunting necessitated communication, planning and the use of tools, all of which demanded a larger brain. At the same time, adding meat to the diet made it possible to develop this larger brain.

Perhaps if you ate meat you would have figured this out for yourself.

 

[razeontherock]

There are many athletes and olympians who are vegetarian arw you more active than they are?
I get all my information on this from "Animal Liberation", unless Peter Singer lied in his book, the only extra you get from animal products are the carbohydrates and fat cotent.

Plants are almost ENTIRELY carbs. Meat has close to 0 carbs.

Veal for example, is not allowed to have a high protein level, the calf is fed a milk diet to keep its muscle light and soft because people don't like to buy darkened meat.

I haven't eaten veal for decades. I can't wrap my head around meat not being "high" in protein though; that makes no sense. What exactly do you think meat is? It's protein! You're going to have low protein protein?

Btw, olympians get an elite diet, that most mortals can't obtain

 

[eckhart]

Meat eating behind evolutionary success of humankind, global population spread, study suggests

Learning to hunt was a decisive step in human evolution. Hunting necessitated communication, planning and the use of tools, all of which demanded a larger brain. At the same time, adding meat to the diet made it possible to develop this larger brain.

Perhaps if you ate meat you would have figured this out for yourself.

So the debate thickens, I don't know what to do because you are an evolutionist ?

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

I'm opposed to factory farming and any form of business that treats animals like inert material rather than living beings (i.e. industrialized fur trade, unnecessary animal testing on higher vertebrates, etc.).

But I find that vegans almost always end up being ideologically "over the top" - and that their particular ethos is a product of the average citizen being alienated from food production.
In short: both the mindless consumer drone who buys heaps of cheap meat (which has been produced under horrendous circumstances) and the vegan who refuses to even eat an egg are both children of the post-industrial age: two extremes that are equally unhealthy.

The worst kind of vegan will even try to appeal to nature, denying that Man is an omnivore in spite of obvious physiological and (pre-)historical evidence to the contrary.

There's nothing wrong with eating (small quantities of) meat. There's nothing wrong with killing animals for food. The only thing that's ethically problematic (and quite unhealthy) is the industrialization of our food production and the overindulgence that goes along with it. Few people would enjoy their steak if they'd seen the inside of a factory farm.

 

[eckhart]

Plants are almost ENTIRELY carbs. Meat has close to 0 carbs.



I haven't eaten veal for decades. I can't wrap my head around meat not being "high" in protein though; that makes no sense. What exactly do you think meat is? It's protein! You're going to have low protein protein?

Btw, olympians get an elite diet, that most mortals can't obtain

Yeah you're right they would get a special diet plan.
Apparently certain legumes have higher amounts of protein per serving, and I thought all food had carbs or am I wrong?

 

[razeontherock]

Meat eating behind evolutionary success of humankind, global population spread, study suggests

Learning to hunt was a decisive step in human evolution. Hunting necessitated communication, planning and the use of tools, all of which demanded a larger brain. At the same time, adding meat to the diet made it possible to develop this larger brain.

Perhaps if you ate meat you would have figured this out for yourself.

There's a fatal flaw in this reasoning: the larger brain was required BEFORE the successful hunt.

 

[eckhart]

I'm opposed to factory farming and any form of business that treats animals like inert material rather than living beings (i.e. industrialized fur trade, unnecessary animal testing on higher vertebrates, etc.).

But I find that vegans almost always end up being ideologically "over the top" - and that their particular ethos is a product of the average citizen being alienated from food production.
In short: both the mindless consumer drone who buys heaps of cheap meat (which has been produced under horrendous circumstances) and the vegan who refuses to even eat an egg are both children of the post-industrial age: two extremes that are equally unhealthy.

The worst kind of vegan will even try to appeal to nature, denying that Man is an omnivore in spite of obvious physiological and (pre-)historical evidence to the contrary.

There's nothing wrong with eating (small quantities of) meat. There's nothing wrong with killing animals for food. The only thing that's ethically problematic (and quite unhealthy) is the industrialization of our food production and the overindulgence that goes along with it. Few people would enjoy their steak if they'd seen the inside of a factory farm.

Good argument! I am a bit over the top sometimes. Yes there is nothing wrong with eating it occasinally.
Why is there nothing wrong with killing animals for food?

 

[eckhart]

* What kind of animals would be for food?
Would you kill a kitten for food or would you kill a calf for food? Why?