Do you think God's okay with vegetarianism?!
"He created them male and female, blessed them, and said, 'Have many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth and bring it under their control. I am putting you in charge of the fish, the birds, and all the wild animals. I have provided all kinds of grain and all kinds of fruit for you to eat; but for all the wild animals and for all the birds I have provided grass and leafy plants for food' -- and it was done. God looked at everything he had made, and he was very pleased."
Because God created the "grass and leafy plants" for the animals, does that mean that they were created solely for the animals? Because He placed humans in charge of the animals, do we HAVE to eat them? Is it okay for us to NOT eat animals and only natural vegetation?
Answers: I'm a Christian, and I've been thinking alot lately about my vegetarianism. In Genesis 1:27-31,
"He created them male and female, blessed them, and said, 'Have many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth and bring it under their control. I am putting you in charge of the fish, the birds, and all the wild animals. I have provided all kinds of grain and all kinds of fruit for you to eat; but for all the wild animals and for all the birds I have provided grass and leafy plants for food' -- and it was done. God looked at everything he had made, and he was very pleased."
Because God created the "grass and leafy plants" for the animals, does that mean that they were created solely for the animals? Because He placed humans in charge of the animals, do we HAVE to eat them? Is it okay for us to NOT eat animals and only natural vegetation?
I applaud your deep insight into your conundrum :). Personally, I believe that God, with his compassion, caring, and understanding would be more than delighted if you became a vegetarian, however only if your heart truly desires to be. God would be more than happy with you becoming a vegetarian because you are using the "god-given" will, thought and heart to make your choice. God made us all individual in thought and actions. We are meant to make our own path through life and God wants us to make the decisions that we truly believe in.
Hope this helps & Good Luck :)
I'll just have to ask the Big Guy when I meet Him which I don't plan on doing for another 40-50 years.
Go just a few more chapters into Genesis and the answer's there.
Genesis 9
God's Covenant With Noah
1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
Count your ribs then count a woman's....what do you make of that? They have the same number of ribs. Why don't you ponder that one as well and then reach the logical conclusion.
don't base EVERYTHING you do on the bible..some things are personal preference..there have been holy men who were vegetarian , and holy men who have eaten meat
Personally I think vegetarianism is a beautiful thing and a gift to the planet.
When I read that verse I think of it as being a big brother/sister to the animals, or like a mothering figure.
Your mother figure is in charge of you (or was), and s/he didn't eat you. S/he took care of you when you couldn't take care of yourself, and controlled your environment for your safety and happiness.
Like that mother figure, I believe we have a responsibility (given our power) to take charge and make sure our animal friends have a good time on this planet. And that means you are doing the right thing by being a vegetarian.
I believe if you read in Genesis, there's no mention of eating animals, just living in harmony with them.
First off I should mention I do not see the Torah to be an infallible piece of literature. It does however have bits of truth and red herring along the way.
With this said I think it interesting before there was sin and death that there was no consumption of animals. To me this makes sense. Eden being the closest representation of heaven on earth there should be no suffering there, not even of animals.
Believe it or not, it is extremely painful for a animal to go through the slaughtering process. Imagine your throat being slit and while you are still alive to be striped of your skin and limbs. Obviously no fun at all.
I do believe in a higher power. One that I do not believe who can be codified by any one book or religion. I believe this God for lack of a better word is much better of a being that many a person has projected upon him/her (God being spirit transcends gender but has qualities of both).
Such I God I believe allows us to create suffering for our own benefit. I believe this is all part of a karmic process. As we cause suffering for others that suffering is reflected back upon ourselves. In time (eternity if I might ad) we wake up to these sufferings and how they relate to our actions and mind set.
I believe one such revelation that a person reaches on the road to enlightenment is to not cause unnecessary suffering. I believe it to be unnecessary suffering to kill and animal and eat it when there are other options available. Even in Christianity there were large movements such as the Cathars who were primarily vegetarians until Pope "Innocent" the third wiped them out.
Unfortunately religion like evolution is sometimes dominated by those who are the most aggressive and callous. Those who were persecuted and marginalized were nearly wiped out, and those who were willing to be violent thrived.
Fortunately I am a spiritual optimist, that is in the end of ends. I truly do believe the meek will inherit the earth in which veganism is a part of what it means to truly be spiritual gentle and right with God.
"Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."
-- Isaiah 2: 2-4 (KJV)
"The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child will put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the wasters cover the seas. Isaiah 11:6-9
ask your self this, - if god was standing outside of a slaughter house - would he try to stop the killing or would he just stand there and let it happen?
God gives us choices, my choice is to cause as little paion as possible.
Also there is always reactionm to an action,. so if my action is causing pain to another animal, there will be a reaction for me, and that may be really horrible that i do not wish to have.
I don't believe in god so that's not an issue for me.
Do you think God's okay with vegetarianism?
No. Imaginary entities don't have opinions on real world situations.
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I believe it is fine. God also gave us free will (Adam and Eve could eat from the tree of knowledge as well as the tree of life) and a variety of foods. As Christians, God gave us free will (it's what we use to determine whether or not we believe in Jesus :-)) so God's probably cool with vegetarianism. :-)
i believe in God and Jesus and i and would consider myself pretty holy. but i definitely do not belive in the bible. you can say im a hypocite but i dont care. most of the bible says is bs.
-we have to eat meat
-homosexuality is a sin
-not to mention VERY Little womens rights
the bible was not written by god. it was written by people who thought that they knew what god wanted. they easily could have been wrong. god is loving and understanding. if you choose to not eat animals i doubt that he would send you to helll
god did not provide us with matches to cook our food, so if you can not eat something in its raw form then you should not eat it in any other way. would you eat fresh road kill?
well i dont exactly believe in god but that's okay...
of course he is okay with it! he gave you grain and fruit, which is what you're eating. he never said to eat the animals (well, at least not in your quote... i dont know about the rest of the bible, but i'm guessing he didnt). vegetarians dont eat grass, and no more leafy plants than most people do
Mellen19 is correct the bible does say that but I feel that becoming a vegetarian is a personal choice. I don't believe that the Lord would care if we were vegetarian. He did however set some strict rule as to how meat that is to be used for human consumption is to be handled in processing.Those guidelines are rarely followed.