Vegan Forum

Doesn't the Bible specifically state that it is ok to kill animals for food?

Remember, only one third of the world's population are Christian
The old testament of the Bible (which states it is OK to eat food - debatable) is only relevent to 54% of the world's population (all Jews, Christians and Muslims).

Hmm, there's a few other posts on this subject here somewhere...

I going to have a nice cup of tea and let some real Christians field this, before I turn into Angry Multicultural Woman again

Yes, it does. In particular, Leviticus of the Old Testament gives very specific rules for how animals are to be slaughtered and which animals can be eaten. Leviticus is also the section of the Old Testament which specifically states that slavery is permitted, and which gives very specific rules for how slaves are to be treated. During the movement to abolish human slavery, many abolitionists were accused of going against the will of God, due to the fact that slavery is specifically condoned by the Bible.

Nevertheless, the movement to abolish human slavery included many Bible believing Christians, as does the modern animal rights movement. People who believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible are often troubled by these types of passages in the Old and New Testaments. The following is one possible explanation which some of them can offer.

A society can absorb only a limited amount of change at one time. It could be argued that God knew that if he commanded humans to abolish slavery and abolish the practice of killing animals for food, then this would simply be too great a shock for society to accept all at once, and most people would just end up ignoring the commandments altogether. Therefore, by giving specific rules for how slaves are to be treated, and for how animals are to be slaughtered, it could be argued that God made these practices considerably less barbaric than they would have been otherwise - although his real intention was for people to one day eventually realize that the message of compassion should be applied to all beings, including slaves and animals.

Panin wrote:Doesn't the Bible specifically state that it is ok to kill animals for food?

Yes, the Bible does state in Leviticus that it is okay to eat animals. Although, in God's original creation BEFORE man sinned, we were created to eat anything that grows from the earth (except of course the apple). Man sinned and began to kill for food, which is how it remains today. God gave us permission to eat meat AFTER we were going against Him anyway. Take a look at this site for the Christian Vegetarian/Vegan view:

http://www.all-creatures.org/cva/

It will give you good insight into better understanding our view of the world today and the meat industry.

Happy learning!

First off, God only permitted meat eating after the world was destroyed with a flood. It was something that was NEVER in God's plan from the beginning, and I truly, truly do believe that God wants all of us to lead vegetarian/vegan life styles. It was God's plan from the start in the Garden of Eden. Animal sacrifices only came after sin, and that was to foreshadow Christ being crucified on the cross.

We only see this permitting to eat meat after God put the fear of man into all animals, and it's argued by some that this was only permitted after the flood because all vegetation on the earth was destroyed, which is a reasonable argument and not one I disagree with.

You will also see that meat eating in the Bible is commanded by God only in times of sacrifice and in foreshadowing to the sacrifice of Christ. It's in moderation, and NOT something he required them to eat every day, with every meal. Such as in Exodus 12...God commands them to eat a lamb on the tenth day of the first month of each year for Passover, and it was only to be a lamb big enough to feed them for one night only...no leftovers at all. And it was a foreshadow to the sacrifice of Christ. Since Christ could not shed his own blood for their sins then, the animal sacrifices were required not because God wanted us to be omnivores, but because of the sin of man and the requirement for innocent blood to be shed to wash away that sin. When God gave them something to eat on a daily basis, it was manna, and I am sure that was a very vegan meal.

Because God knew the health risks involved in eating meat, he gave very specific rules on how to prepare them. Again, that was for times of sacrifice, not because he wanted them to open a Sizzler and serve the animals with every meal, and God wanted them to remain healthy in their eating of the animal.

The eating of the animal is a foreshadowing of the communion ceremony where Christians symbolically eat the body of Christ.

And you also have to be careful to get a proper Bible translation. In King James Version and others the use of the word "meat" does not always mean the flesh of an animal...it often just means "meal" or "nourishment," which could be plant derived.

There is so much more...this could be a multi week Bible study, but needless "Christians" do not know the Bible very well if they think they should be gluttons on meat products and animal by-products. You'd be hard pressed to find any Scriptures in context to prove that point to me.

Remember, this is the same God who knows each sparrow individually. God's creation gives Him praise and glory. If you think your heart suffers and breaks over the cruelty to animals, how much more so do you think God hates it, and despises that His word was twisted into people justifying murder and gluttony?

The bible contradicts itself and common sence several times. 'The Bible not only failed to claim that the Earth was egg-shaped, but it also claimed in numerous verses as shown above that the Earth is flat, has Edges, has Four Corners, has Pillars, and has Foundations.' (answering-christianity website). It also mentions that selling slaves is morally alright too somewhere I believe, and that's against the law it's so wrong!

The "Bible" also permits you to sell your daughter.

The "Bible" TWICE has stories on a father handing his virgin child daughter to an angry mob to be brutally gang-raped (and this is seen as virtuous BOTH times).

The "Bible" has instructions on slavery and how to buy, sell and treat your slaves.

The "Bible" puts women on the status of slaves and states they (we!) are chattle and property.

The "Bible" commands you to burn a bull every Friday.

Pure heart should be the bible.
As the Bible quotes Jesus many times- there is only one law -LOVE.

And I love to eat meat.

So why are you in this forum?
This is vegan forum!

The forum is vegan meeting/discussion place sure, that doesn't mean I can't put forward a non vegan view does it?

You are welcome!
Forums are meeting places where mostly people support each other choices and share knowledge.
But sometimes feels that somebody is sometimes posting knowledge that was valid 50 and 100 years ago when there was neither proper nutritional knowledge nor reality what the chemicals will do to the human system.

Here are some points and links that cover some aspects quite well
http://www.vnv.org.au/
If you go to the site map there are some articles in relation to religion.

The bible has basically become the biggest choose your own adventure ever. You can interpret it any way you want so you can make it support any point you want. This makes it almost completely useless for supporting a point, for this reason if anyone uses the bible as support in a civilized modern debate they're practically laughed out.

In a civilized modern debate people do not laugh at each other. Only people with low self esteem and poor inner culture laugh at reasoning of others.

I thought my exaggeration was quite clear but evidently not. Laughed out in the colloquial sense was meant to mean 'not even considered to begin with' however maybe you don't use the term where you live.

Would you care to actually respond my claims beyond an colloquialism I made or not?
What I'm trying to say is please don't latch onto some tiny little colloquialism I made and actually address my claims.

Panin wrote:Doesn't the Bible specifically state that it is ok to kill animals for food?

And why would I care about that?

The bible may say it's OK but I have a problem with it. It's kind of like when I was in Catholic grade school and the nuns told me animals did not go to heaven and I said "Well, I guess I don't want to go there either then." My attitude has not really changed all that much. I've been vegetarian since I was 3 because I couldn't make eating living things OK in my head. I still can't. Now I've gone one step further and have been vegan for 6 years. My process is internal--doesn't come from anyone external telling me what my process should be.
I have empathy for the suffering of the animals and I have empathy for the struggle people go through in trying to do the right thing.