Vegetarianism in The Bible.

If heard some folks relate stories of how various Christians have given them flak for going vegetarian. G-d created us to be vegetarian and never intended for humans to eat meat. After evil entered the world G-d allowed mankind to eat meat as a way of shortening their lifespan.

Genesis 1:29 never mentions meat as part of the diet but it emphasizes a plant based diet.

G-d wants us to be happy and healthy and therefore wants us to be vegetarian.

btw: The Seventh-day Adventist church denomintation believes very strongly in vegetarianism and encourages but does not require its members to be vegetarians. Many of the soy based meat subsititutes where developed by Adventist scientists and nutritionists.

I'm tired so I'll give more pro-vegetarian Biblical references later.

 

I can't think of a single one.

 

After a flood the god meat seems has allowed to eat. But there are different places in the bible which contradict it. For example there it was spoken that pinning up bullock - the same, that killing people.
I think that the god would want that people were vegans

 

God will be happy wit me then!

 

That's fine.

I still can't think of a single soy based "substitute" that was developed by a seventh-day adventist.

Certainly tofu wasn't; tofu was originally realized on the Continent (China). Nor tempeh. And I can't think of any others at the moment ...

 

Ive read some things in the bible (back in the day) that said something about not eating meat. Specificly in genisis. I can't look it up though because I don't own a bible.

 

It says in the Bible to treat all of God's creatures with respect.

FACTORY FARMING IS NOT RESPECT.

IMHO, anyone who eats meat is not trying to be Christian in the slightest -- clearly as they haven't even read Genesis, and if they have, they haven't taken any of it to heart and mind.

 

I dont know much about the bible. my mother does, she is religious and she has said to me that "God said it was ok to eat meat because he knew our imperfect bodies would need it to be healthy." I disagree. I think if there is a god he loves his animals (which HE created, right?) and wouldnt condone killing them for food unless it was necessary for surivival. So IMO, i look at it like this. if someone was a really DEVOUT christian who follows the word of the bible every step of the way.....well if the bible forbade meat eating at all then a starving man (say too poor to buy his food and must hunt to survive) would die before hunting his own meat in order to please god, thinking he will go to heaven or whatever.......
but if god says that it's ok to eat meat then he surely would hunt before letting himself starve. survival of course trumps morality but in today's world most of us dont have to hunt to survive. so thats my take on it......

 

Actually, if you want to get scriptural about it, as a christian, in the new testament, Romans 14:2 says "One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is (B)weak eats vegetables only." Thus, you are weak if you think that one may scripturally eat *only* veggies.

 

Our bodies don't need meat, they didn't in the garden, but it is acceptable to eat meat, scripturally.

 

LOL Im so glad we are a Pagan family! What confusion in the bible!

 

yeah, if the bible really does say that its ok to murder animals for food when it isnt necessary to do so for survival purposes than i dont want any part of the bible.

note: the bible was written by a MAN and not a cow. i think if animals had any say (in terms that humans could understand, i.e. written english/latin and so on) then the bible would say some very different things.

i really dont care what some man written book says anyway, im a good person who knows right from wrong and i dont need a book to practice being a good, compassionate, thinking human being. bible smible i say.

 

ITA!

 

The Bible may be unclear about what is an acceptible diet for people, but it is clear that killing animals to glorify God is more than OK. Animal sacrfices are mentioned several times.

And for the animal rights folks, God finds sacrificing humans OK too. Jephethath sacrificed his daughter and was made a judge of Israel.

 

Ya~ one f*cked up g-d! lol

 

I like this forum better as a vegetarian thread than a theological one. I think we have one of those already...

 

Thank you. All the theology that I'm gonna throw in here is this: Jesus said, 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you...' and I apply that to animals as well as people. Just keep things simple.

 

From what I have studied, it looks like originally *man* (woman too, but y'all know about patriarchal authors) was not intended to eat meat. In Genesis 1:29 it says:

And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

I see no mention of meat or dairy or any other animal products there. Actually what this looks like to me is a raw diet. It is not until the fall of man, and the banishment from Eden that man eats meat. If you look ahead to Deutoronomy chapter 14 there is a list of foods which are decreed "clean" and "unclean." And the lists are fairly long and VERY detailed. If you look at the lists of clean & unclean animals, and think for a moment about the preparation that must go into those unclean meats to keep from becoming ill it starts to look like common sense really. 5000 years ago if you were to cook those animals it would be quite likely that you would fall ill, seeing as there was no way to properly deal with - or even the knowledge of - bacteria.

Personally, I do not see a contradiction between the Old Testament accounts, and the New. Yes, it says in the New Testament that we are now able to eat many of the animals labelled unclean in the Old Testament. But these instructions were given to those who were charged with spreading the word to nonbelievers. If a believer in Christ were to visit the home of someone who did not know Christ and refused to eat what was placed before them, how would that reflect on them or anything they might have to say? It's kind of like "when in Rome..."

All the same, I don't see anywhere in the Bible where it says that we HAVE to eat meat. Just a list of what one may, if they choose.
love,
mom

 

Homeschoolmama is pretty much on target, and the word 'meat' in older English versions of the Bible is usually a translation of the word 'food'. "and Thou givest them meat in due season" is really just a translation of the word for 'food' and doesn't have anything to do with flesh meat. Almost all of the 'unclean' foods in the Old Testament are some sort of meat or animal product-a vegetarian wouldn't have much trouble at all keeping a Kosher diet.