HOW CAN VEGANS REACH CHRISTIANS WHO SAY, "God gave us the animals to eat, so its' ok"?
Hi all. I am not religious but I am spiritual. I do however believe in a kind loving non-judgemental God of light as well as Yeshua.
All religions emphasize kindness and compassion, yet they also okay and even promote eating animal flesh and blood. Some
churches host hunting events, in addition to get-together dinners where animals are served. Many religious humans use
the justification of eating animals saying, God gave them to us to feed us. So that makes it okay.
I believe that God blessed us with the animals for us to be caretakers, stewards, even parents, so we could have companions.
Not so we could kill, destroy, use, and eat them. We were also blessed with the Earth to live and thrive on, as caretakers and stewards,
yet we have really disrespected this gift.
What is the best approach to reach religious humans about the killing and consumption of animals by humans?. Namaste'.
@VeganRachel,
I am so glad you brought this up, and I would base my response off the bible so you can use it to try and educate the Christians who still believe the statement that; "God gave us the animals to eat, so it's okay to eat them". But I would also be using reason(logic) to affirm what the bible says, because man alone was given reason among all earthly beast so he can know his Creator and dominate all other beasts by ruling over them.
I am not religious anymore, I don't go to church anymore, I have established a personal relationship with God through His Son Yeshua, and He has opened my eyes to so much more information Christians are ignorant of.
Let's go to the beginning in the book of Genesis, God created the animals before man, and He gave man the first Law, which applies to each and every one of us today;
"God also said, 'I give you all plants that bear seed everywhere on earth, and every bearing fruit which yields seed: they shall be yours for food. All green plants I give for food to the wild animals, to all the birds of heaven, and to all reptiles on earth, every living creature.' So it was; and God saw all that He had made, and it was very good (Gen. 1:29-30)".
This clearly shows that man and the animals were never supposed to eat the flesh of one another, and those that rebelled and didn't obey this order, suffer the consequences till today. Let's use reason to confirm this, compare these two birds; a vulture and a pigeon, which looks better and more healthy? Compare these two wild beasts; an hyena and a zebra, which looks beautiful and more healthy? You should know the answer, and the reason for the answer.
Let's move a bit further, the question that would be on your mind then should be, when did eating of animals begin? It started during the time of Noah, when the Watchers took the daughter's of men as wives and started giving birth to Giants. The bones of these giants are being discovered by archeologist till today. Now these Giants couldn't be sustained with a plant-based diet, they were enormous and needed more calories, so they started eating the flesh of animals, thereby teaching man to do the same. And when the animals started growing short in population, the Giants turned on man and started eating them instead, that was the reason for the flood, to cleanse the land from the excessive shedding of blood (Gen. 6:1-8). Now, many Christians would argue that God gave Noah the permission to eat flesh after the flood. I would implore us to use reason once again, if they believe that God doesn't change His mind (1 Sam. 15:29), why would He change His mind and tell Noah that he and his family can now eat the flesh of animals, when He had given all men the first Law of diet. The bible reveals the truth about that in (Num. 11:4-34), the Israelites had left Egypt with their cattles, beast and all, but they couldn't kill or eat any because it's against the dietary law of God. That was the reason God rained manna (bread of Angels), but because they had become so addicted to eating meat in Egypt just as we all are today, it was kinda difficult to stop, so they grumbled for meat and they got their wish, with death as a punishment.
Due to a desire not to make this longer than it should for reading sake, I would try to round it up with one of my favorite mentors for motivating me to stick to a vegan diet. Daniel is his name, He was a vegan who understood the dietary law of God even when all others had forgotten (Dan. 1:6-16). His decision not to defile himself with meat, earned him the favor of God and protection from evil. Ever noticed this as a vegan, that even animals sense the change in our body chemistry, that they seem to be at peace with us even if they were aggressive by nature? If you haven't, I sure have, and I love the experience.
Yeshua and His disciples were vegans, John the Baptist was, the part in the bible which says that Yeshua claimed that: "a man is not defiled by what goes into his mouth, but by what comes out of it" (Matt. 15:10-20), is true but must be understood. Eating of flesh is an act, an act of disobedience - 'disobedience will not enter into a man, but will come out of the man, from his heart; and therefore will he be defiled when he shall eat forbidden food'. This was basically what resulted in the fall of Adam and Eve, they were defiled by disobedience not by the fruit itself.
Honestly, there's a lot I could share to reinforce my beliefs, but like I said, it's my beliefs, so you don't need to agree to any of it, all you can do is seek it out yourself and I hope you find it.
Peace & Love.
Cyril