Is God merciful

[gnano]

The moral appropriateness of emulating Christ has serious flaws. Several aspects of his moral behavior are the antithesis of what we might call “ideal conduct”. It is quite clear Jesus believed that anyone that did not embrace his teachings would be and should be severely punished. He said to his disciples:

“And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town” [Matt. 10:14-15].

Jesus would preach forgiveness while simultaneously maintaining, “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness and is guilty of an eternal sin” [Matt. 23:33]. Notice the use of the words “never” and “eternal”. That sounds pretty permanent to me for someone who is supposed to be a savior.

If we are going to emulate Jesus……what does that mean for us? Are we going to be punitive and unforgiving of human foibles of which we are all guilty of from time to time? That is exactly what Jesus is depicted doing in the bible and that is what Christians want everyone to accept. The idea of universal salvation through Christ for the whole of humanity is just another gospel fiction as Jesus said,

“Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” [Matt. 10:5-6].

It makes no sense whatsoever that Jesus would want or need to save the Jewish population first. Why would a completely just and universal savior want to save only one particular religious group first? Jesus as a savior should have no favorites because he is supposed to be everyone’s redemption. Why would Jesus [who is also god himself] need to start the process of salvation through only one religious group in the Middle East first? The “son of god” could have had tens of thousands of disciples saving individuals from every other conceivable “false” religion in the world. Why was Jesus limited to only twelve disciples for such a monumental task? The answer is there is no answer unless someone out there can explain it to me.

 

[kakudmi]

Not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good & evil.And I bet I know what you're going to say.

No mamabear, that's not what God first instructed. Anyone else?

 

[kakudmi]

The moral appropriateness of emulating Christ has serious flaws. Several aspects of his moral behavior are the antithesis of what we might call “ideal conduct”. It is quite clear Jesus believed that anyone that did not embrace his teachings would be and should be severely punished. He said to his disciples:

“And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town” [Matt. 10:14-15].

Jesus would preach forgiveness while simultaneously maintaining, “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness and is guilty of an eternal sin” [Matt. 23:33]. Notice the use of the words “never” and “eternal”. That sounds pretty permanent to me for someone who is supposed to be a savior.

If we are going to emulate Jesus……what does that mean for us? Are we going to be punitive and unforgiving of human foibles of which we are all guilty of from time to time? That is exactly what Jesus is depicted doing in the bible and that is what Christians want everyone to accept. The idea of universal salvation through Christ for the whole of humanity is just another gospel fiction as Jesus said,

“Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” [Matt. 10:5-6].

It makes no sense whatsoever that Jesus would want or need to save the Jewish population first. Why would a completely just and universal savior want to save only one particular religious group first? Jesus as a savior should have no favorites because he is supposed to be everyone’s redemption. Why would Jesus [who is also god himself] need to start the process of salvation through only one religious group in the Middle East first? The “son of god” could have had tens of thousands of disciples saving individuals from every other conceivable “false” religion in the world. Why was Jesus limited to only twelve disciples for such a monumental task? The answer is there is no answer unless someone out there can explain it to me.

If you look at the history of every religion you will see that the prophets and different incarnations descend to the particular area at the particular time to execute a particular mission. They DON"T come to save the whole world.
An intelligent person preaches according to the time, place and cicrumstances. And so did Jesus, and so did Mohamed.
Take a look, for example, who were the people Jesus preached to: they were simple peasants, fisherman and other ingnorant folk who didn't have much of a religion at that time. They were lost in their believes and their moral principles were low at that time. Jesus came with the mission to elevate them to the reasonable level where they can practice a simple form of religion, enough to be considiered humans. He was treating them as some ignorant children.
Let's look at some of the commandments:
-Honour thy father and thy mother
Why did that have to be one of the 10 commandments? Didn't people in those times doing that already? Apparently not, otherwise He wouldn't be mentioning it. Like for example, Jesus in nor forbidding us to have sex with our mother and sister (or brother) because Jews at that time didn't have any problems with that. So He thought there's no need to offend them with such a rule. However, seems like Mohamed had to implement that order in Koran.
-Thou shalt not kill
Huh? I can only imagine how hard was it to live through your old age then.
People of Israel were savages, non less, and He had to put a stop to it. But now they are actually trying to change it, or they already did, to say, Thou Shalt not Murder. We will see why later on.
-Thou shalt not steal
Yes, they were obviously having a terrible issues with thieves. I believe that police deparment was very greatful to Jesus for bringing up that subject.
-Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour
In another words, DON"T LIE. If there's anything God hates most in this world, it is liers for sure. In those times there were so many of them, they had to make it a religious law. They had to tell them that it will cost heavens if they keep on doing it.
-Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.
This is particulary hillarious!
People of Israel, dear followers of Jesus:
Stop killing each other, stop stealing what's not yours, stop lying to each other and stop hopping women that aren't your wives, including their servants, asses, oxes or anything that's not under your own ownership, and you will go to heaven for sure.

I know I was a bit sarcastic, but please, take a look at these commandments and just for a second stop being a freak who does not want to see beyond what you're told it's right. And don't worry, I promise you, you will not go to hell, God is not that terrible, no matter what the scriptures seem to be saying.

Jesus came for a particular reason, just like Mohamed did. God sent them to uplift certain group of people in the certain part of the world for a good reason.
And that is why Christians throughout the history had to kill people to get them to accept Jesus. And that is why Bible went through soooo many changes to keep up with the modern times and rulers. Same thing happen to Koran as well.

Now, I'm not saying that Jesus teachings are disposable and as soon as He ascended to the spiritual world we should discard everything He said and go on with out lives.
If you feel that the rules He gave apply to you and you feel comfortable following them, then you should, and you will get the result He promised.
But you will have to follow exactly what He said, not the interpretation of His words. Otherwise, you might get a different result.

For example, when God created the whole world, what did He say?
The first thing He said was about the diet of the man. And that was......well....not chickens, not steaks, not buffalos. not dogs, not cats, but: "Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you"

ouch, that kinda doesn't sound like what we're eating today.
We kinda eat the diet He prescribed after He flooded the whole world. He said to Noah that he might eat everything that moves and lives, He gave him animals, just like He have him seeds and greens in the begining. You can find that quote in the Bible.

So here you have God changing the diet of His people from the original vegeterian to the meat eating diet, BECAUSE there was nothing left to eat except animals.

Later on, when they go from Egypt to the promised land, God sends them Manna to eat, again a vegetarian diet, but the have grumbled and grumbled and Moses had to do something so God got angry at their lust for meat, cause they got used to eating meat in Egypt, so He sends them birds as well as famine, just to show how happy He is with their choice of food.

And yet, today, Christians all over the world, in celebration of Jesus, following his footsteps, killl so many animals, eat their flesh, when they have so much other non violent food to eat.

Where in the Bible was Jesus described killing one animal, burning it's flesh and eating it?

Did you know that in the old language spoket at the times of Jesus, meat and food had the same word>
So when Jesus asks: bring me some meat, He actually is asking for some food.

Where will you hear anyone, meat eater or not, coming home or as a guest, and saying: bring me some meat!
You have to be a real savage to call for food in such way.
We usually say, bring me some food.

What to speak of Jesus, such a wellwisher of all living entities, kind to everyone, a sheppard of the whole world. How do we see Him slaughtering one sheep after another, just to eat some meat???!!!

We have seriously gone a different way, people.

Any comments?

I know I wrote a lot. But I was simply following my thoughts. Sorry about that.

 

[mamabear4]

So what would you say was the first commandment?

 

[repentandbelieve]

The moral appropriateness of emulating Christ has serious flaws. Several aspects of his moral behavior are the antithesis of what we might call “ideal conduct”. It is quite clear Jesus believed that anyone that did not embrace his teachings would be and should be severely punished. He said to his disciples:

“And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town” [Matt. 10:14-15].

Jesus would preach forgiveness while simultaneously maintaining, “whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness and is guilty of an eternal sin” [Matt. 23:33]. Notice the use of the words “never” and “eternal”. That sounds pretty permanent to me for someone who is supposed to be a savior.

If we are going to emulate Jesus……what does that mean for us? Are we going to be punitive and unforgiving of human foibles of which we are all guilty of from time to time? That is exactly what Jesus is depicted doing in the bible and that is what Christians want everyone to accept. The idea of universal salvation through Christ for the whole of humanity is just another gospel fiction as Jesus said,

“Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” [Matt. 10:5-6].

It makes no sense whatsoever that Jesus would want or need to save the Jewish population first. Why would a completely just and universal savior want to save only one particular religious group first? Jesus as a savior should have no favorites because he is supposed to be everyone’s redemption. Why would Jesus [who is also god himself] need to start the process of salvation through only one religious group in the Middle East first? The “son of god” could have had tens of thousands of disciples saving individuals from every other conceivable “false” religion in the world. Why was Jesus limited to only twelve disciples for such a monumental task? The answer is there is no answer unless someone out there can explain it to me.

The Saviour's instructondirection to: "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." (Matthew 10:5, 6) were given to the apostles so that all that was prophetsized in the 9th chapter of Daniel would be fulfilled.

"And He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week." (Dan 9:27) The "week" here brought to view is the last one of the seventy times seven; it is the last seven years of the period allotted especially to the Jews. During this time, extending from A.D. 27 to A.D. 34, Christ, at first in person and afterward by His disciples, extended the gospel invitation especially to the Jews.


"In the midst of the week He shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease." (Dan 9:27) In A.D. 31, three and a half years after His baptism, our Lord was crucified. The great sacrifice offered upon Calvary, ended that system of sacrifical offerings which for four thousand years had pointed forward to the Lamb of God.

The seventy weeks, or seventy times seven, or 490 years, especially allotted to the Jews, (Dan 9:25) ended in A.D. 34. At that time, through the action of the Jewish Sanhedrin, the nation sealed its rejection of the gospel by the martyrdom of Stephen and the persecution of the followers of Christ.

Then the message of salvation, no longer restricted to the chosen people, was given to the world. The disciples, forced by persecution to flee from Jerusalem, "went everywhere preaching the word." "Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them." Peter, divinely guided, opened the gospel to the centurion of Caesarea, Paul, won to the faith of Christ, was commissioned to carry the glad tidings "far hence unto the Gentiles." Acts 8:4, 5; 22:21.

 

[kakudmi]

So what would you say was the first commandment?

"Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you"

 

[ionna22]

I'm no expert but I can say that if God were not merciful we would be but pathetic subjects living in fear of our distant king. God MUST be merciful or we are like the hebrews, afraid of being smited and endlessly trying to please an unpleaseable god.

You do not have to be an expert. You'd better think.
"Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made."
Where is mercy?

 

[repentandbelieve]

Jesus came for a particular reason, just like Mohamed did. God sent them to uplift certain group of people in the certain part of the world for a good reason.

Where in the Bible was Jesus described killing one animal, burning it's flesh and eating it?


.

Any comments?

About the time we think we have Jesus or the Father "all fiqured out" a new truth is revealed showing us that we don't really know them completely.

Jesus fed fish to 4000 people, and He also gave specific instructions where Simon Peter should place his nets in order to bring in a miraculous catch of fish.

 

[ionna22]

Jesus fed fish to 4000 people, and He also gave specific instructions where Simon Peter should place his nets in order to bring in a miraculous catch of fish.

That is what tsunami survivors DESPERATELY need now.

 

[repentandbelieve]

That is what tsunami survivors DESPERATELY need now.

Amen. They could use a miracle.

 

[Rae]

I think "God" is far more merciful than Her/His followers paint Him/Her.

 

[kakudmi]

About the time we think we have Jesus or the Father "all fiqured out" a new truth is revealed showing us that we don't really know them completely.

Jesus fed fish to 4000 people, and He also gave specific instructions where Simon Peter should place his nets in order to bring in a miraculous catch of fish.

THEY WERE FISHERMEN FOR GOD'S SAKE !!!



What else was He supposed to give them?



That proves what I said before; God's prophets preach according to the TIME, PLACE AND CIRCUMSTANCES and we should try to understand the truth by REASON, LOGIC AND AGRUMENT.

Anything else is a speculation, fanaticism and sectarianism.



If there's nothing else to eat then we should eat animals. But if we live in the land of plenty we shouldn't kill and perform terrible sins just to please our tongues.



Do we even realize that we, the Christians, support slaughterhouses????

Has anyone seen one of those yet? Did you see how we get that meat and what those animals have to go through?

Is that really necessary? Would Jesus agree with all that?



That kind of violence causes only violent reactions in the form of wars, diseases and natural catastrophes. It's a natural reaction. Some people call it karma I believe.



As far as the victims of Tsunami, there will be neither miracle nor relief for them.

No one is innocent and we all get what we deserve, otherwise we wouldn't get it. Remember the logic...



Nothing happens in this world without God's will. Everything is His plan otherwise He wouldn't be God. Not a blade of grass moves without His sanctions.



But there must be a logical explanation why is there so much injustice in this world, so much suffering and so much violence and agony and at the same time it's all part of the plan of our God who is at the same time all merciful and loves us the most.



If you see the world through the eyes of today's Bible then it is easy to become an atheist or to start hating God and finally reject Him.

There are no good answers that would make enough sense and to be enough logical and arguable. It is all based on blind faith and the philosophy of believe or die.



There are other explanations that make much more sense. I took a liberty to search for God in other scriptures and I have found this:



God is a beautiful person, all loving, all merciful and all forgiving. He can't wait for us to come back to Him and He'll do everything to help us in that way. We are, after all, His beloved children and He is our perfect father and mother at the same time.

We are not these bodies. That is the first rule in every religion. Bible throws a bit of confusion there explaining that we are a combination for body and soul. Bible says that we have a soul, which means that we are not the soul.



The right explanation is that we are the soul within this body, which is like a vehicle for a soul who cannot exist in this material world without some kind of an interface. We use this body to live in this world.

This world is like a prison, a temporary place for rebellious souls like us who wanted to live without God and pretend to be the enjoyers and controllers of the world. And as we can see, God had made this world a perfect place for those who don't want to see Him or be with Him. We can see everything but God in this world. And if you want to forget Him, there are so many different ways to do that, so many things to do besides serving God and amongst our favorite activities is serving and worshiping this body and everything that is related to it. The bodily sense gratification is the primary occupation of every living creature in this universe. Everyone is trying to achieve some kind of happiness that derives from sensual perception, be that gross of subtle.

And because this world is temporary in it's nature, every pleasure we can find it in is also temporary.

Now, the eternal soul, covered with the body, falsely thinking that bodily pleasures and all in all, forgets about God and engages in bodily activities which increases our lust and greed for more and more, since nothing is ever enough.

Why that propensity for pleasure and where does it come from? It comes from God, our creator.

He is the ultimate enjoyer, He enjoys unlimitedly in the spiritual world. But His enjoyment is different than ours. When we enjoy, we do it in a very limited and selfish way. Take for example sexual pleasure, an [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]: it is the most selfish way of enjoying, it's the pleasure that is limited to only our body and mind and nothing else. Scientists also say that at the time of [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse], our consciousness narrows significantly so that we can better concentrate on that selfish pleasure. Imagine yourself having an [bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse] while few hundred people are watching you? It wouldn't be such a pleasure, wouldn't it?

That is why we have to hide to enjoy it.



But even sex, the most worshiped pleasure in this world, is so temporary that we're never completely satisfied with it. And the more we try to enjoy it, the more we degrade that act into something disgusting and perverse. We even go as far as hurting our own or other peoples bodies to increase that pleasure.

OK, enough about sex. The point is that in is in the nature of the soul to enjoy with God unlimitedly in the spiritual world with the emphasis on the UNLIMITEDLY. Since the spirit is not limited by anything, there's not beginning nor end for the soul or God. We exist forever with God and our relationship is eternal. We are His parts and parcels and as such we can NEVER leave His company. Even in this world He is situated within our hearts as a guide, following us from one life to another waiting for a moment when we decide we had enough of this temporary place. Then He arranges for us to meet with a religious process that fits our profile to gradually come to the point of complete surrender to Him.

Meanwhile, we, the soul, perceive this world through certain filters of 8 material elements, namely and beginning with the subtle material elements: ego, intelligence, mind, ether, air, fire, water and earth.

Our subtle and gross vehicle is made out of these 8 elements combined to form this sophisticated machine called the body. Ego, as the first layer, serves the purpose of identifying us with the body, therefore called the false ego. 99.999% of the population thinks that we're the bodies, thus so many problems in the world. False identification: I'm an American, I'm black, I'm white, I'm better, I'm this, I'm that. So many wars and problems and the solution is simple; when we realize we're not these bodies but spirit soul within that has nothing to do with this temporary machine, much less with the place we live at.



The next element, the intelligence, is our subtle tool for solving problems the best way possible. The clearer intelligence, the easier our life is.



Next, the mind: he's a tough one. His primary activities are thinking, willing and feeling. So when you have a flow of thoughts, like a movie in your head, or voices and sounds, remember that you're simply watching what your mind is serving in front of you. The mind is like our hard drive, everything is stored there but not everything is accessible right away. That is why we can remember or forget. Sometimes we can remember things we forgot long time ago. Our mind is the advocate of our senses. That's why he's willing or desiring all the time. I want this, I want that...these are the instructions of our mind who desires different pleasures for our senses. The intelligence simply functions to figure out the best way to gratify our senses. Finally, feelings, we feel angry, sad, happy, confused, frustrated and so on...well, wrong, we don't. It's our mind, influenced by different modes of nature, expressing the appropriate feelings. We can see that we're not that mind because we can control it and avoid subduing ourselves to it's influence.

We can overcome our feelings, we can change our thoughts and we can control our desires and change them if we want. The mind is our tool, but when we're identified with the body, our mind is our enemy and we're under his control, fulfilling every whim he desires, thinks and feels like.



The next 5 elements are the substance of our gross body that is easy to understand. Earth being the substance of hard elements such as bones and part of the flesh, water being the substance of all liquids (more than 80% of our body), fire being the substance of the heat or the temperature, air being the substance of all airs circulating through our lungs, blood and brain cells and finally the ether, being the substance in which all others are situated. The ether is like the subtle bag all other elements rest upon.



So, here we are, in this material world, far away from God, visually at least, equipped with everything we need to forget Him and to pretend we're the center of the world and our body being the center of our activities. We go on until we have to leave this body. The body is destructible and of short duration, but the soul is eternal, so the soul leave the gross material body and together with the subtle (ghost) body, enters another gross body at the time of sexual conception. What determines which body we will get are our activities in the present body. In that sense we can get an animal for of life, as a punishment for the sinful activities.

And I wouldn't go as far as calling it a punishment. God is simply fulfilling our desires to enjoy certain types of activities. For example, if we like to eat a lot, and we like to eat everything that tastes good in our mouth, we're going to have a lots of problems in the human form of life. We'll become overweight, our veins and heart will get sick, our liver and other organs will start falling apart, we will become unattractive and depressed, after judged and whatnot. Finally, our body will be destroyed earlier than it should be.

Now, the body of a pig would be the most suitable for that set of desires. We can eat all day long without getting sick and no one will complain if we're too fat. There will be no depression issues and our menu will even get bigger.

So, it's kind of a fulfilling our desires by God, who gives us the opportunity to enjoy different forms of happiness in this world.

Want to enjoy sex? Did you know that pigeons have sex up to 60 times a day? And they are doing it everywhere, even in the mid-air, and no one is judging them and they are having the time of their lives.

There is a body for every material desire we can possibly imagine. You want to sleep for a long time, take a birth as a tree and enjoy your slumber for decades.

Thus, a soul is changing the bodies until reaching the human form, which is the only body suitable for understanding God and our relationship with Him. If we miss the chance again, whoosh, back to the zoo again, changing the bodies from the worm in the stool, through being a lizard, mammal and finally back to humans again. And it is up to us to decide to recover our relationship with God and stop pretending that we're happy here without Him.

Until then, He remains in our hearts, listening our desires and giving us the appropriate bodies and reactions to our activities.



But when we do decide we had enough, then according to our sincerity he leads us to a suitable process. If we want to be cheated, he will send cheaters to cheat us telling us that by meditating 15 minutes a day in front of a candle while thinking about white light (or something like that) we will achieve the Divine and merge into the light, thus becoming light and whatnot.

Many people believe and follow such paths and we pity them, but there are ones who pity us for believing in such unfair God who gives us this short life and such cheap method of sin relief, just by believing that He is the one we gamble on one side eternal heaven and on the other side eternal hell. They pity us because there's not reason to undergo such anxiety in the name of God. He is giving us unlimited chances and opportunities until we decide to go back to Him, cause that is where we belong, that is our real home, that is where we will all finally end up, some of us after 10 lives and some of us after a million of births and deaths.

But for God, who is eternal, it doesn't make any difference in one sense, cause from the eternal point of view, one year or a million of years do not make much difference. We are eternal as well, so one year or a million, finally we will get there if we want to. We will never, under any circumstances end up in hell to stay there forever. That is a lie and distortion of scriptures. That is a threat created by humans, a clever way of controlling the masses and keeping them afraid and tamed.



A reasonable person would never accept such God as it would contradict the very nature of God and deny His existence.

 

[mamabear4]

"Then God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you"

That's a command? If that was a command what were all the laws about then that permitted cloven hooved animals and animals that chewed their cud to be eaten? In the New Testament even those laws that forbade eating "unclean" animals was lifted, so I find it difficult to believe that the verse you refer to was a command.

 

[kakudmi]

That's a command? If that was a command what were all the laws about then that permitted cloven hooved animals and animals that chewed their cud to be eaten? In the New Testament even those laws that forbade eating "unclean" animals was lifted, so I find it difficult to believe that the verse you refer to was a command.

Believe it or not, it is a written word of God. Just read it.



God gave permission for meat eating under certain circumstances, most of which because His people wouldn't do otherwise. What you are mentioning above is in the book of Leviticus, which is right after the Exodus, where Jews fleeing from Egypt had nothing to eat but vegetarian food given by God in the form of manna. They started complaining about their diet and God got really angry, giving them birds, lots of them, after which, while they were still eating their flesh, he sent pestilence, as an expression of His anger.



God realized that Jews were not the people to follow His words due to their fallen condition so He had to make certain rules. Therefore you will see how He goes on and on about you can eat this and you cannot eat that, so many restrictions, and how to Kosher a flesh, which is a complicated method, all of which to say that he wasn't happy about giving them the permission to eat meat. God obviously thought: "But if you really have to eat meat, here are the rules...."



Another thing, when Bible describes of the Kingdom Come it is clearly stated what kind of relationship all the living creatures will have, non-violence.

Lion will play with the lamb and the child will play with the snakes and so on..

I believe it is in the book of Hosea where God explains what will He do with men and animals when that day comes.



Heavenly food is vegetarian; no one can deny that fact.



If vegetarian diet is good enough for Heaven, why is it not good enough for us? If we have to prepare for Heavenly life then we should get on with it's diet, which is non violent, vegetarian.



One of the 4 preliminary pillars of any religion is compassion (The humane quality of understanding the suffering of others and wanting to do something about it)
Without compassion there cannot be a bona fide religion. One who kills animals cannot be considered as a compassionate person and if we are not compassionate how can we expect to receive compassion for ourselves.

 

[mamabear4]

Believe it or not, it is a written word of God. Just read it.

One of the 4 preliminary pillars of any religion is compassion (The humane quality of understanding the suffering of others and wanting to do something about it)
Without compassion there cannot be a bona fide religion. One who kills animals cannot be considered as a compassionate person and if we are not compassionate how can we expect to receive compassion for ourselves.

Oh, I know exactly what you're talking about: Gen. 2:15, but that was only stating where he put the couple. Like, they were created at one place and God relocated them in the garden of Eden and said, "This is what you may eat but this you may not eat." The command was not that they weren't to eat meat, but that they weren't to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Compare that verse with Romans 16:19, ".....I would have you wise unto that which is good and simple concerning evil."

Concerning the eating of meat read Romans 14. There is speaks about eating meat but if it offends someone who is weak in the faith it is better to not eat meat for the sake of peace. That's a good mandate for all areas of life. If what I do offends someone - not irritate - but causes someone to turn their backs on God, then by all means I woldn't eat meat. To be truthful I'm almost a vegetarian by preference but I don't believe it's a sin to eat it or God wouldn't have said in Ro. 14;17, 20, "For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence." In other words, I was taught that some things are wrong for a Christian that many other people weren't forbidden to do. Just because my ancestors would be offended now if I went ahead and did things that have been taught are wrong for generations, I believe it would be wrong for me to do them, even though the Bible does not forbid it. This scripture is telling us that no matter if the issue is eating meat, working on Sunday, what clothes we wear or just whatever the issue is, if we offend people by doing it then don't do it. Not that it's wrong in itself, as the Bible clearly states about meat, but why destroy someone else's faith or cause him to stumble by my freedom? No way. So for your sake I think it would be wrong for me to sit down to a table and help myself to a chicken burrito. But when I'm in other company to whom eating meat is acceptable there wouldn't be anything wrong with it.

Now, to the issue of compassion toward animals, you are right on - but to a point. Prov. 12:10, "The righteous man regardeth the life of his beast but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel."

I don't believe it is Christlike at all to be cruel to animals and to not take care of them properly. But we are to use them for our benefit. They may bear our burdens and provide food for us. Gen. 1:28, "Then God blessed them (Adam & Eve) and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'"

That may not satisfy your conscience, and that's okay too, but to me it balances things out for me. I hope i haven't further confused things. Please feel free to disagree. (You're not offending me at all to disagree. In fact, I welcome your honest approach. )

 

[kakudmi]

Oh, I know exactly what you're talking about: Gen. 2:15, but that was only stating where he put the couple. Like, they were created at one place and God relocated them in the garden of Eden and said, "This is what you may eat but this you may not eat." The command was not that they weren't to eat meat, but that they weren't to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Compare that verse with Romans 16:19, ".....I would have you wise unto that which is good and simple concerning evil."

No, there's not mention of not eating from the tree but only about the diet he provided after the creation. The couple comes later.

Concerning the eating of meat read Romans 14. There is speaks about eating meat but if it offends someone who is weak in the faith it is better to not eat meat for the sake of peace. That's a good mandate for all areas of life. If what I do offends someone - not irritate - but causes someone to turn their backs on God, then by all means I woldn't eat meat. To be truthful I'm almost a vegetarian by preference but I don't believe it's a sin to eat it or God wouldn't have said in Ro. 14;17, 20, "For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence." In other words, I was taught that some things are wrong for a Christian that many other people weren't forbidden to do. Just because my ancestors would be offended now if I went ahead and did things that have been taught are wrong for generations, I believe it would be wrong for me to do them, even though the Bible does not forbid it. This scripture is telling us that no matter if the issue is eating meat, working on Sunday, what clothes we wear or just whatever the issue is, if we offend people by doing it then don't do it. Not that it's wrong in itself, as the Bible clearly states about meat, but why destroy someone else's faith or cause him to stumble by my freedom? No way. So for your sake I think it would be wrong for me to sit down to a table and help myself to a chicken burrito. But when I'm in other company to whom eating meat is acceptable there wouldn't be anything wrong with it.

Now, to the issue of compassion toward animals, you are right on - but to a point. Prov. 12:10, "The righteous man regardeth the life of his beast but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel."

I don't believe it is Christlike at all to be cruel to animals and to not take care of them properly. But we are to use them for our benefit. They may bear our burdens and provide food for us. Gen. 1:28, "Then God blessed them (Adam & Eve) and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'"

It is not the point weather or not you offend me, but the creatures you kill to satisfy your habbit. Can you live without killing? Yes you can. You can very well live healthier and better without killing so many God's creatures.
Don't be concerned if someone at the table is offended by you being a vegetarian but be offended if someone is killing animals for no good reason.

What kind of faith depends on killing?
If one have to kill to believe then one's faith is wrong and sinful.

'Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'

And where does it say in this verse that you have the right to cut their necks, rip their skin off, tear off their flesh, cook it and eat it???
If there's a grave need, like in Noah's case, then yes, there are sanctions, but yes. If you need to save someone's life then an animal should be sacrificed.
Otherwise there's no need and one's own consciousness should be developed enough to accept this simple rule of mercy and compassion.

Have you ever killed your lunch? WOuld you like to try? Just a chicken. Please, and let me know how it went.
Then, if you mentally survive that kind of violence, move on to the cow and use all the tools you need to make your hamburger or a steak.

Let me know how that went as well. Now do that every time you want to eat meat and see what will become of you.
Let me tell you, in the matter of months, you will be so close to killing a human beign without blinking an eye. YOur heart will harden like a rock and your compassion and emphaty will go below zero. You will become a cold blooded murderer.

I don't have the time tonight, but I will lay down some facts how meat eating directly affects the hunger problem in the whole world. Sounds radical, I know, but when I give you the facts you will be amazed.
That will be one of the proofs of what is the divine diet given by God to the ones who are willing to listen.

God HAD TO change this diet cause His "chosen" people were disobidient and lusty. I don't belong to them, I will never be one of them.

Thanks for listening.
HAPPY NEW YEAR with less violence and more compassion.
Kristijan



It is clear that designated diet for men given by God is vegeterian.

 

[kakudmi]

Happy Hew Year to all of you!

I hope you had a peacefull celebration.

Let's continue with our quest for truth. When all facts are known it's easier to come to a conclusion.

The issue of our diet; what is designated to be the perfect diet given by God?

We're taught in school and by our parents that humans are omnivores, just like pigs for example, that we can eat any type of food and that our body is designed to deal with it without any problems.
However that is not true.
Biologically we're designed to be vegetarians.

How humans are not physically created to eat meat



Although some historians and anthropologists say that man is historically omnivorous, our anatomical equipment ­ teeth, jaws, and digestive system ­ favors a fleshless diet. The American Dietetic Association notes that "most of mankind for most of human history has lived on vegetarian or near-vegetarian diets."



And much of the world still lives that way. Even on most industrialized countries, the love affair with meat is less than a hundred years old. It started with the refrigerator car and the twentieth-century consumer society. But even with the twentieth century, man's body hasn't adapted to eating meat. The prominent Swedish scientist Karl von Linne states, "Man's structure, external and internal, compared with that of the other animals, shows that fruit and succulent vegetables constitute his natural food." The chart below compares the anatomy of man with that of carnivorous and herbivorous animals.



When you look at the comparison between herbivores and humans, we compare much more closely to herbivores than meat eating animals. Humans are clearly not designed to digest and ingest meat.



Meat-eaters: have claws

Herbivores: no claws

Humans: no claws



Meat-eaters: have no skin pores and perspire through the tongue

Herbivores: perspire through skin pores

Humans: perspire through skin pores



Meat-eaters: have sharp front teeth for tearing, with no flat molar teeth for grinding

Herbivores: no sharp front teeth, but flat rear molars for grinding

Humans: no sharp front teeth, but flat rear molars for grinding



Meat-eaters: have intestinal tract that is only 3 times their body length so that rapidly decaying meat can pass through quickly

Herbivores: have intestinal tract 10-12 times their body length.

Humans: have intestinal tract 10-12 times their body length.

Meat-eaters: have strong hydrochloric acid in stomach to digest meat

Herbivores: have stomach acid that is 20 times weaker than that of a meat-eater

Humans: have stomach acid that is 20 times weaker than that of a meat-eater

Meat-eaters: salivary glands in mouth not needed to pre-digest grains and fruits.

Herbivores: well-developed salivary glands which are necessary to pre-digest grains and fruits

Humans: well-developed salivary glands, which are necessary to pre-digest, grains and fruits

Meat-eaters: have acid saliva with no enzyme ptyalin to pre-digest grains

Herbivores: have alkaline saliva with ptyalin to pre-digest grains

Humans: have alkaline saliva with ptyalin to pre-digest grains

Based on a chart by A.D. Andrews, Fit Food for Men, (Chicago: American Hygiene Society, 1970)


Clearly if humans were meant to eat meat we wouldn't have so many crucial ingestive/digestive similarities with animals that are herbivores.

....to be continued in the next post.....

 

[kakudmi]

....part II....

Many people ask me, "If we weren't supposed to eat meat than why do we?". It is because we are conditioned to eat meat. Also, the ADA (American Dietetic Association) tells us that "most of mankind for most of human history has lived on a vegetarian or Lacto-ovo vegetarian diet.

A popular statement that meat eaters say is; "In the wild, animals kill other animals for food. It's nature." First of all, we are not in the wild. Secondly, we can easily live without eating meat and killing, not to mention we'd be healthier. And finally, as I have already shown, we weren't meant to eat meat. Meat and seafood putrefies within 4 hours after consumption and the remnants cling to the walls of the stomach and intestines for 3-4 days or longer than if a person is constipated. Furthermore, the reaction of saliva in humans is more alkaline, whereas in the case of flesh-eating or preying animals, it is clearly acidic. The alkaline saliva does not act properly on meat.

The final point I would like to make on how we as humans were not meant to eat meat is this. All omnivorous and carnivorous animals eat their meat raw. When a lion kills an herbivore for food, it tears right into the stomach area to eat the organs that are filled with blood (nutrients). While eating the stomach, liver, intestine, etc., the lion laps the blood in the process of eating the dead animals flesh. Even bears that are omnivores eat salmon raw. However, eating raw or bloody meat disgust us as humans. Therefore, we must cook it and season it to buffer the taste of flesh.



If a deer is burned in a forest fire, a carnivorous animal will NOT eat its flesh. Even circus lions have to be feed raw meat so that they will not starve to death. If humans were truly meant to eat meat, then we would eat all of our meat raw and bloody. The thought of eating such meat makes one’s stomach turn. This is my point on how we as humans are conditioned to believe that animal flesh is good for us and that we were meant to consume it for survival and health purposes. If we are true carnivores or omnivores, cooking our meat and seasoning it with salt, ketchup, or Tabasco sauce would disguise and we as humans would refuse to eat our meat in this form.

...to be continued in the next post....

 

[kakudmi]

...part III....

Overall advantages of vegetarianism

You can indeed reap a lot of benefits by being a vegetarian and people have become more aware of the health benefits of being a vegetarian. Animal rights issues is only one of the reasons why people decide to go on a vegetarian diet. People are beginning to care more about the environment. However, the main reason why people go on vegetarian diet is because of health benefits.



Meat is not good for you as it clogs your thinking. This is especially true if you eat red meat; white meat has less fat compared to red meat. Excessive intake of fats into your body can result in having a high level of cholesterol. If you think that not eating meat is going to make you look scrawny or unhealthy please think again. Just imagine that cows, goats, gorillas, elephants, rhinoceroses and so on are all vegetarians (herbivores) but look at how tough these animals are, not to mention their life span which is longer compared to the carnivores (meat eating animals).



If you look at the chicken and vulture (carnivores), these animals eat just about everything and notice how unhealthy these animals look. The Chinese believe that the chi or life force in your body is less when you consume meat and so do the Indians with their ancient yogic principles, their life force was called prana.



It has now been scientifically proven that a balanced vegetarian diet is better compared to a diet that is taken with meat.



There are a lot of misconceptions about being a vegetarian; protein is one of the main topics of debate as a lot of people think that you can only get protein from meat. Vegetarians get a lot of protein, if they eat a variety of fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes. What vegetarians don't get is the excess protein of traditional American diet; excess that leads to kidney overload and mineral deficiency diseases.



A lot of people also think that a vegetarian diet is not a balanced diet. Vegetarian diets have a proportion of three macronutrients, which are complex carbohydrates, protein, and fat. Vegetarian food sources (plants) tend to be higher sources of most micronutrients. Another myth that needs to be clarified is the so-called lack of calcium among vegetarians. Many vegetables, especially green, leafy ones, have a good supply of calcium. The truth is that vegetarians suffer less from osteoporosis (a deficiency of calcium that leads to weak bones).



It is not my intention to force people to become vegetarians. However, vegetarianism is my answer to complete health and wholeness. The three issues to consider in regard to vegetarianism are: spiritual, mental, and physical (nutritional).



The spiritually aspiring person attempts to work on his/her self. The purpose of spiritual growth is to move away from the animal nature into the more human nature that God intended for us to have. Meat eating inhibits this. Again, the same science that sometimes attempts to ignore the existence of a force higher than man also has proved, in the laboratory, that aggression levels are much higher in meat eaters than non-meat eaters! The animal instincts become more powerful every time you eat meat. Another spiritual aspect of being a meat eater is when one must question the necessity and the method as well as the karma of killing animals. However, everyone has their own mores which they must determine for themselves. It is not the purpose of my dissertation to force a specific moral behavior on anyone. Is it not personal evolution that the spiritual candidate is interested in? If so, meat eating is urgently prohibited.

“You are what you eat”, is a slogan that I love to use to show the mental aspect of vegetarianism. When animals are slaughtered, fear and aggression enzymes are shot into their cells from their glands and other organs, just as in humans, and are part of the dead carcass that goes on to the food store. They remain in the meat until the consumer ingests those same enzymes, which are molecularly very similar to those found in humans. Fruits and vegetables do not have emotions; therefore, when they are picked they do not release any emotions cells prior to digestion. The enzymes within fruits and vegetables supply the body with sufficient nutrients that will always uphold a healthy state of mind.



Fruits and vegetables are high in nutrients; the very thing the body needs to live a long disease and pain free life. The same cannot be said for meat. Nutritionally, the alkaline-based digestive system of humans will not properly break down substantial acid substances, the greatest of which is meat.



Colon cancer is rampant! The slow evacuation and the putrefaction in the colon of the remains of meat cause this. Lifelong vegetarians never suffer from such an illness. Many meat eaters believe that meat is the sole source of protein. However, the quality of this protein is so poor that little of it can ever be utilized by humans because it is incomplete and lacks the correct combination of amino acids, the building blocks of protein. Studies show that the average American gets five times the amount of protein needed. It is a common medical fact that excess protein is dangerous, the prime danger being that uric acid (the waste product produced in the process of digesting protein) attacks the kidneys, breaking down the kidney cells called nephrons. This condition is called nephritis; the prime cause of it is overburdening the kidneys. More usable protein is found in one tablespoon of tofu or soybeans than the average serving of meat!


Have you ever seen what happens to a piece of meat that stays in the sun for three days? Meat can stay in the warmth of the intestine for at least four days until it is digested. It does nothing but wait for passage. Often, it usually stays there for much longer, traces remaining for up to several months. Colonic therapists always see meat passing through in people who have been vegetarians for several years, thus indicating that meat remains undigested there for a long time. Occasionally this has been documented in twenty-year vegetarians!


Some vegetarians claim they are more satisfied after they eat. The reason for this is that there are fewer ketones (protein-digestive substances) formed when vegetable protein is digested. For many, ketones cause a trace amount of nausea which one normally interprets as a decreased desire for food due to this uncomfortable and slight degree of queasiness. Although the body calls for more food, the taste buds tolerate less. This is the danger of the popular high-protein diet substances on the market. This abnormally high level of ketones is called ketosis and refers to the state of starvation that the body incurs due to the inability of the appetite to call for nutrition. Most Americans who eat the wrong type of carbohydrates never recognize the high amount of complex carbohydrates required to overthrow this condition. Also, when the blood ketone level is too high, it results in abnormally acidic blood, called acidosis.

Tigers or lions who eat meat and grow strong on it have acid-based digestive systems. Our Hydrochloric Acid isn’t strong enough to fully digest meat. Also, their intestines are in a straight run of about five feet long, not twisted and turned, layer over layer, compacted into a small area like the human intestine, which is twenty feet long.

Meats are frozen for a long period of times. Some meat (especially poultry) is frozen up to two years. Cold temperatures do not kill all species of bacteria. Worse than this, as it is shipped and stored, most frozen meat is thawed and refrozen many times. This is almost unavoidable.

Meat eaters suffer more frequently from various types of food poisoning than vegetarian eaters, so much so that statistics show that every American has had food poisoning on at least one occasion. When you've felt ill, out-of-sorts, had diarrhea, or were just a little sick to your stomach, no doubt you had not the slightest idea that you had been poisoned by scavengers living off the dead carcass you just ate.

Meat is costly and it is the most wasteful source of resources. When one removes meat from his or her diet, a whole new world of eating opens up. Cooking and preparing vegetarian style is no more time consuming than cooking meat. It costs less than half as much to eat vegetarian as it does to eat meat. There are excellent, nutritious, and easy to prepare vegetarian dishes that are Italian, Chinese, Indian, Mid-Eastern, French, Spanish, etc.

Additionally, one can enjoy many other foods that he has never tasted because of the meat craze. Most consumers have eaten no more than five or six varieties of beans and legumes — less than 10% of what is available and grains, including different appetizing types of wheat, nuts, and seeds. And they can be prepared very creatively!

In my opinion, there are far more benefits to becoming a vegetarian then there are becoming or staying a meat eater. Due to the fact that I was raised on meat, I have the wonderful experiences from both worlds. As a vegetarian, I am healthy, full of energy, and maintaining a perfect weight. I love being a vegetarian and it shows. Because I wish the best for myself, it’s just second nature to want the best for others. From my past experience and research, going vegetarian is the best thing anyone can do for their mind, body and spirit and because of all these scientific facts, it is natural to conclude that God made use to be vegetarians not meat eaters.

The other important factor is economic. Did you know that when you eat your half pound steak for your lunch, you're taking food from other people's plate?
Many people starve because you eat meat.
Let me explain:

Say you have 45 people in one room, with emply plates. For you to eat 1/2 pond steak you have to let those people walk away with empty stomachs.
Why?
Beceuse the cost of your steak can feed 45 people with vegetarian food.
It is very simple:

It takes so much more grains to feed one meat eater than to feed one vegetarian.
Meat is much more expensive than any vegetarian food. In some parts of the world a pound of meat is up to 10 times more expensive than the most expensive vegetarian food on the market and the cheapest meat (poultry) is up to 8 times more expensive than the cheapest vegetarian food such as potatoes or grains.
However, as you can see above, it doesn't take vegetarians 10 times more food to get the same nutricions as meat eater get. On the contrary, vegetarians get more.



The scientists have come to a conclusion that if only Americans would decrease their meat consumptio for 10% for one year, replacing it with vegetarian diet, there would be enough food to feed ALL the hungry people in the whole world.

...to be continued....

 

[kakudmi]

...the last part...

Now the environment:

The first environmental concern that I wish to focus on is wildlife depletion. Currently, forests and national parks cover about 34% of Earth's land. Can the forests and national parks be sustained? The human population has been increasing for the entire history of the species, greatly accelerating since 1850; currently, the population is reaching 7 billion. The U.S. Census Bureau predicts that the population will surpass 9 billion in fifty years. Scientists have estimated that the world can support approximately 15 billion people under today's current conditions. However, this estimation does not assume that 15 billion people can be supported and wildlife areas can be maintained at the same time. People have very basic needs that must be met, and doubling the production of the goods that satisfy these basic needs, such as needs for food, clean water, and shelter, will be a difficult task given that we have only a limited amount of land to work with. David Pimentel, professor of Ecology and Agricultural Science at Cornell University, has done extensive research on current available resources in the world, and his findings indicate that we do not have much room for expansion. The total land area on the earth, including the poles, can be broken up in the following way: National Parks: 3% Food/Fiber Crops: 12% Pasture for Meat/Dairy: 24% Forests: 31% Unsuitable for crops/pasture: 30%



Pimentel's studies confirm that two-thirds of the world's current land used for agriculture is dedicated solely to raising livestock and producing food for livestock . Imagine a situation in which the world's human population increases by fifty percent, as is predicted to happen in 50 years. With this increase in population comes an increase in need for food, water, clothing, and shelter. For simplicity's sake, let's assume that increases in housing and commercial units do not invade any areas that are currently used for natural parks, forests, or agriculture, that humans simply expand on the current 30% of non-arable land .

A fifty percent increase in population will result in a fifty percent increase in food (and clothing) consumption. Assuming that humans do not change their dietary (and clothing) habits, this means that the current 12% of the world that is being used for food/fiber production will need to be increased to 18% (we can show this using simple algebra; a fifty percent increase means that one-and-a-half times more land will be needed for food/fiber crops, an increase from the current 12% of land dedicated to food/fiber to 18%). In addition, the current 24% of the world that is used as pasture and food production for meat and dairy will need to be increased to 36%. With this increase in agricultural land needed to support the future human population, we can see that the forests and national parks that now make up one-third of Earth's land will expand over only 16% of the land in the future.

Two-thirds of the world's crops are being fed to animals so that animals can, in turn, be fed to humans. In fact, about 90% of the grain produced in the United States goes to feed livestock (De Haan, 1998). About half of the land area in the continental US is dedicated to agriculture, and most of that goes toward the production of meat. In order to meet the demand for meat that will significantly increase with an increasing population (assuming no change in diet), animal farm productivity will need to be increased, resulting in an increase of land area that is needed to maintain the production of meat.

Increasing the amount of land that is needed to maintain the production of meat leads to severe depletion of nature reserves, forests, and wildlife areas. Acting in ways that preserve wildlife has a greater hedonic utility than acting in ways that deplete wildlife. First, we need forests in order to survive: trees produce oxygen and the depletion of trees (the depletion of forests) causes an increase in carbon dioxide levels. Increases in carbon dioxide levels have been asserted as one of the leading causes of global warming 4 . Second, people take great pleasure in strolling through nature reserves, taking boating trips, and experiencing wildlife. Depleting wildlife areas for agriculture will decrease such pleasure-generating activities. For example, biologists will have fewer plants and animals to study (which will decrease chances of discovering new drugs for the treatment of severe diseases), living areas will become more crowded as farms take over available land space, many species of animals and plants will be lost as their habitat disappears, and the Boy Scouts will have less camping ground. There is one way in which we can significantly reduce the amount of land needed for agriculture: adopting a vegetarian diet. Per calorie, one vegetarian meal requires about 1/12 of the land area that is required to produce one hamburger. If the human population were to exclude all animals and animal by-products from its diet, there would be no need for pig farms, chicken factories, cattle and dairy farms, or egg hatcheries. If the United States alone stopped feeding 90% of its grain to livestock, there would be much more available land to grow food for human consumption. There would be plenty of room to expand food/fiber crops if we abolished animal farming, and sufficient space would be available for the population to increase threefold, without destroying any forests or national parks. If we all (special cases aside) adopted a vegetarian diet, we would not need to face all of the negative consequences that come from wildlife depletion. So, it appears that even the hedonic utility of vegetarianism is greater than that of the principal alternative; eating meat and meat by-products leads to wildlife depletion and the negative consequences I mentioned earlier.

How is it possible then, that God, the perfectly inteligent beign, gives us the diet that diestroyes our bodies, minds, nature and other living beigns?

I have also considered things that may bring about a loss of utility upon this conversion to vegetarian diets. The rise of vegetarians will bring about a loss of demand for animal farmers, which leads to a decline in animal farms and meat factories. Many people are dependent on animal farming for their livelihood; slaughterers, farmers, livestock veterinarians, meat processors, and others will need to look for alternative sources of income. Many will lose their jobs, and those dependent on the meat business will incur a significant amount of pain.



In response to this objection, I draw an analogy between jobs in agriculture production and jobs in weapons production. It is true that a decrease in demand for animal products will lead to a decrease in jobs for people who produce animal products. It is also true, however, that if we completely end war and the use of guns, tanks, bombs, etc. then there will be a decrease in jobs for people who produce weapons. I remind the reader that the goal is to maximize utility, and that many farmers do not depend solely on animal products to make their living. In addition, according to Great Britain's Annual Business Inquiry (in conjunction with the Office for National Statistics), the number of people worldwide employed in agriculture pales in comparison to the number employed by manufacturing and service-oriented jobs. Approximately one percent of Britain's employees are involved in agricultural careers, and that number only reaches 3 percent world-wide.



There is a limited source of fresh water in the world. Currently, there are 80 nations in the world experiencing significant water shortages. 82% of fresh water pumped worldwide is consumed (non-recoverably) by agriculture. In the United States, 85% of freshwater is consumed by agriculture, and much more than two-thirds of this is pumped into animal farming (Pimentel 2001, pp. 128-130). As I mentioned before, animals are already consuming two-thirds of the crops produced in the United States, and in addition to the water that is pumped into the crops eaten by livestock, animals must also have drinking water, and massive amounts of water are used in other agricultural processes such as cleaning processes and waste removal. We are already depleting the water supply in the largest aquifer in the United States, the Ogallala aquifer, 140% faster than the rate needed for fresh water to be restored to the aquifer. Pimentel estimates that if we keep draining the aquifer at this same rate, it will be dry in 40 years (Pimentel 2001, p. 129). An increase in world population will result in an increase in the amount of fresh water required to support it. In addition, fresh water will be needed to be provided to livestock and used to grow the plants that livestock eat. It seems that at this rate, an increased population in the future will have much less fresh water available than we have today.

Humans rely on fresh water for health and sustainability. Certainly preserving fresh water contributes to maximizing utility; if we deplete our water sources too quickly, we will be left with contaminated water that can lead to diseases, pollution, and decreased crop yields. Animal farming only accelerates fresh water depletion. It takes about 660 gallons of water to produce one pound of chicken, including the skin and bones. With this same amount of water, farmers could produce enough wheat for 5 pounds of wheat bread or 16 pounds of broccoli. The US poultry operations (chicken and egg-producing) use 96.5 billion gallons of water each year (Lustgarden, 2003). If we get rid of animal farming (which is accountable for at least 50 percent of our current water usage in the United States), more water will be available for human consumption. Pimentel's studies yield the following data concerning the amount of water that certain agricultural practices require:
Food Water
Potatoes 60 gallons/pound
Wheat 108 gallons/pound
Corn 168 gallons/pound
Rice 229 gallons/pound
Soybeans 240 gallons/pound
Beef 12,009 gallons/pound

In other words, it takes approximately 200 times more water to produce one pound of beef than it does to produce one pound of potatoes. The United States Drug Administration (USDA) has compared beef to potatoes based on calories. There are 1197.5 calories in one pound of beef, and 288 calories in one pound of potatoes. This means that 4.15 pounds of potatoes provides an equal amount of calories as one pound of beef. It takes approximately 249 gallons of water to produce an equivalent number of potato-calories as 12,009 gallons of water takes to produce the same number of beef-calories. This means that it takes 50 times more water to produce one beef-calorie than it does to produce one potato-calorie.

Pollution is one of the largest environmental concerns, and the animal farm industry is not helping to decrease worldwide pollution. Environmental contaminants from factory farms include animal waste, dead animals, dust, silage, production water, storm water runoff, animal bedding, contaminated products, machines, chemicals, and wasted fossil fuels (Oltjen 1994, p. 10). While animal waste is sometimes used as fertilizer and can actually benefit the environment by reducing the amount of chemicals that are used in fertilizers, the amount of animal waste that is produced each day is well over the amount that organic farmers could ever use on their crops. In addition, disposal and transportation of animal waste is often times very costly, especially for a large egg farm producing 125 tons of maure each day. In Arkansas, chickens generate as much waste as 8 million people–nearly three times Arkansas' entire population. In 1992, The Washington Post reported that nearly half of the streams in northwestern Arkansas are so polluted with chicken and livestock waste that they are off-limits to swimmers. Bacteria and nitrates found in animal feces have contaminated almost every tributary of the White River, in turn contaminating the drinking water of 300,000 people (Holleman 1992, p. 10). Pollution resulting from dairy farm manure and hog farm manure threatens many places in the United States – the contamination amounts in North Carolina are massive.

Now dear Christians, just think how did God think of maintaining human race on the face of this planet if He mean for us to consume meat?
I'm sure we tried our best to decrease all these problems meat industry presents before us. However, it looks like no matter how hard we try to solve the economic, health and environmental problems by eating meat, we will destroy ourselves and our nature if we continue.

If Bible propagates meat eating instead of vegetarian food, then it's clear that Bilbe is wrong and not written by God.
God would have never made that kind of mistake.

Thank you,
Kristijan