Vegetarianism and the Bible
Actually, I do read my Bible, and that is why by being a vegetarian, I feel closer to God. As soon as you said that the reason they didn’t eat meat in the old testament was because they used animals to sacrifice it is obvious how mistaken you have been all along. So, I have decided to enlighten you on the situation.
First of all animal sacrifices were VOLUNTARY, and God even preferred living a righteous life over animal sacrifice.
Leviticus 1:2
"Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock."
Jeremiah 7:22-24
"When I delivered your ancestors out of Egypt, I never said anything to them about wanting burnt offerings or sacrifices. But I did say this, commanded this: Obey me . Do what I say and I will be your God and you will be my people. Live the way I tell you. Do what I command so that your lives will go well." "But do you think they listened? Not a word of it. They did what they wanted to do, indulged any and every evil whim and got worse day by day"
Proverbs 21:3
"To do righteousness and justice
is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice."
Hosea 6:6
"What I want is mercy, not sacrifice."
Isaiah 1:11-16
"The multitude of your sacrifices– what are they to me?" says the LORD. "I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations– I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean.Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong!
Second of all God’s ORIGINAL plan was for all of mankind and all other animals to be herbivores, this is very obvious in Genesis:
Genesis 1:29-30
"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 food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for food: and it was so."
It is only after humans defy God and start sinning that he gives us the right to eat meat. So in reality, God’s perfect world (heaven), everyone would be vegetarian. Like you see here:
Isaiah 11.6-9
"The wolf will romp with the lamb
the leopard sleep with the kid
Calf and lion will eat from the same trough
and a little child will tend them.
Cow and bear will graze the same pasture,
their calves and cubs grow up together,
and the lion eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child will crawl over the rattlesnakes dens,
the toddler stick his hand down the hole of the serpent.
Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill
on my holy mountain.
The whole ea
rth will be brimming with knowing God-Alive,
a living knowledge of God ocean-deep, ocean-wide."
(Also see Isaiah 65:25)
In my opinion, it is very obvious in the Bible (both in the new and old testament) that God shows compassion towards animals and therefor would expect us to do the same since we are made in his image. This can be seen in the following verses:
Numbers 22:24-34
"Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab. But God was very angry when he went, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding on his donkey, and his two servants were with him. When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with a drawn sword in his hand, she turned off the road into a field. Balaam beat her to get her back on the road. Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path between two vineyards, with walls on both sides. When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam’s foot against it. So he beat her again. Then the angel of the LORD moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left. When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat her with his staff. Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and she said to Balaam, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?" Balaam answered the donkey, "You have made a fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now." The donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day? Have I been in the habit of doing this to you?" "No," he said. Then the LORD opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell facedown. The angel of the LORD asked him, "Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me. The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If she had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared her." Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, "I have sinned. I did not realize you were standing in the road to oppose me."
Proverbs 12:10
"The good people are good to their animals, the ‘good hearted’ bad people kick and abuse them"
Exodus 23:12
“You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but on the seventh day you must stop working. This gives your ox and your donkey a chance to rest. It also allows your slaves and the foreigners living among you to be refreshed."
Deuteronomy 25:4
“You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.
Many people contrast this, saying that the Bible condemns vegetarianism by pointing out that God gave us dominion over animals. This is true, I am not arguing that point. But were does it ever say that dominion = the right to exploit and kill them for our food/entertainment. Dominion means responsibility, stewardship, taking care of. Humans are the most intelligent beings on this planet, animals are defenseless. Even if God did mean for the human race to eat meat (which I don’t think so because of this verse: Romans 14:6
"He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord. He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who abstains, does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God."
This verse is saying that it doesn’t matter whether you do or do not eat meat, so long as you do it in thanks.
and this verse
Romans 14:20-21
"Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall."
Which says it is only ok to eat meat as long as it does not cause you to "stumble".
Anyways these show that God says you CAN eat meat but do it RESPONSIBLY. I don’t think God would approve of the way that we go about eating meat today. I do not think God would approve of factory farms as they are cruel beyond nessesity: keeping animals locked in pens so small they cannot take one step their whole life only then to be slaughtered by being hung upside down and put threw a conveyor which slits their throat sloppily so they die a slow painful death. Keeping them in dark dirty uncomfortable cages their whole life, using machines that hurt cows udders to get their milk, pumping them full of growth hormones and antibiotics in order to make them grow so large that they develop tumors and other illnesses that prevent them from being able to walk. Chopping chickens beaks off when they are just babies with a hot blade and no pain killers so they wont pluck themselves or other birds to death out of boredom and frustration. Feeding cows corn because it is cheaper when it is not natural and actually harmful to them sense they are naturally suppose to eat only grass. I could go on and on. We are being greedy by using factory farms, keeping animals in the smallest areas possible, giving them the littlest care possible and feeding them the cheapest things possible, not allowi
ng them to spend more than a couple minutes with there young. We treat them as food machines and not like the creatures God made them to be. Yes these animals scream and run, yes you can see the terror and pain in there eyes when they are hit and abused by the underpayed factory farm workers. If you say God wants you to eat meat than at least have the decency to buy free-range meat from small farms, the way God created these animals. Grass fed cows as well. God is a loving God, and I know that he would be disgraced to see that our greed for the need of animal flesh has grown so large that we need to treat our animals the way we do. We don’t even give this suffering a second thought. I’m not against eating meat all together, being a vegetarian is my personal choice but I AM against factory farms. They should be outlawed as they are just disgraceful.