My friend would never be interested in social justice issues because I suspect he sees the scripture as written to reveal the way of individual salvation and to urge the church to sanctify itself.
So, interesting that his son has deeply interested himself in food as a moral and ethical and spiritual issue. He has become a vegan. He offers arguments from World Hunger, Intelligence, Anatomy, Unwanted Extras in our food, Our Humanity, Our compassion and also, significantly the scriptures.
The theology is simple. Genesis 1:29 says
“I give you every seed bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.”
Whatever follows in the rest of the bible concerning regulations about food does not detract from the fact that God's original ideal for us was to live on a plant based diet.
Our maker's instructions say we were made to run on plant based foods only. This is optimal for our health and allows us to live in harmony with the rest of creation.
The son now says that he has discovered a level of harmony with what he sees as God's creation and His original (pre-permissive) institution for us in the garden of Eden.
The point I am making is not whether the son is right, but the fact that his father has totally missed all of this in the scriptures and yet it is a real contemporary issue that the scriptures have something important to say. Is the son the "Doer of the Word"? Is that why he is so much more fulfilled?
