And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.
- Genesis 1.29, ESV
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
- Isaiah 11.6-9, ESV
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Disclosure: I am a lapsed vegetarian, but very sympathetic towards vegetarianism, and I am currently working my way back towards that way of life... Lance
We all have read about and know the impacts of eating meat on human health, the environment, and world hunger; we know about the cruelty and inhumane conditions of factory farming; we all know that beef cows are fed corn instead of grass, and injected with anti-biotics.
The original Divine Intention was for plants to be our food (Genesis 1:29). The Messianic Kingdom will abolish the predator relationship and create harmony between all creatures (Isaiah 11). Giving up meat is an act of compassion toward our fellow creatures. It is good discipline for us and healthy for our bodies, which are temples of the Holy Spirit. Eating lower on the food chain lessens our carbon footprint. It is a compassionate, holy, healthy and environmentally friendly way to live.
What is a charitable heart?—it is a heart which is burning with charity for the whole of creation, for men, for the birds, for the beasts, for the demons-for all creatures. He who has such a heart cannot see or call to mind a creature without his eyes becoming filled with tears by reason of the immense compassion which seizes his heart; a heart which is softened and can no longer bear to see or learn from others of any suffering, even the smallest pain, being inflicted upon a creature. This is why such a man never ceases to pray also for the animals, for the enemies of Truth, and for those who do him evil, that they may be preserved and purified. He will pray even for the reptiles, moved by the infinite pity which reigns in the hearts of those who are becoming united to God. - St. Isaac the Syrian
As God-ordained priests, our vocation as Christians is to offer up the Creation as a Sacrament back to God in thanksgiving. Perhaps it is time to take another look at what the Fathers of the Church say about eating meat.
- Lance++++++++++++++++++++++++
It is far better to be happy than to have your bodies act as grave yards for animals.
- Clement of Alexandria
Sacrifices were invented by men to be a pretext for eating flesh.
- Clement of Alexandria
Those who use the most frugal fare are the strongest, the healthiest and the noblest...We must guard against those sorts of food which persuade us to eat when we are not hungry, bewitching the appetite...is there not within a temperate simplicity, a wholesome variety of eatables—vegetables, roots, olives, herbs, milk, cheese, fruits...?...But those who bend around inflammatory tables, nourishing their own diseases, are ruled by a most licentious disease which I shall venture to call the demon of the belly: the worst and most vile of demons. It is far better to be happy than to have a devil dwelling in us, for happiness is found only in the practice of virtue. Accordingly the apostle Matthew lived upon seeds, fruits, grains and nuts and vegetables, without the use of flesh.
- Clement of Alexandria
How unworthily, too, do you press the example of Christ as having come ‘eating and drinking’ into the service of your lusts: He who pronounced not the full but the hungry and thirsty ‘blessed,’ who professed His work to be the completion of His Father’s will, was wont to abstain—instructing them to labor for that ‘meat’ which lasts to eternal life, and enjoining in their common prayers petition not for gross food but for bread only.
-Tertullian
I ever recognize Esau, the hunter, as a man of taste and as his were, so are your whole skill and interest given to hunting and trapping...It is in the cooking pots that your love is inflamed—it is in the kitchen that your faith grows fervid—it is in the flesh dishes that all your hopes lie hid...Consistently do you men of the flesh reject the things of the Spirit. But if your prophets are complacent towards such persons, they are not my prophets...Let us openly and boldly vindicate our teaching. “We are sure that they who are in the flesh cannot please God...a grossly-feeding Christian is akin to lions and wolves rather than God. Our Lord Jesus called Himself Truth and not habit.
-Tertullian
We are sure that they who are in the flesh cannot please God...a grossly-feeding Christian is akin to lions and wolves rather than God. Our Lord Jesus called Himself Truth and not habit.
-Tertullian
When we do abstain (from eating meat), we do so because ‘we keep under our body and bring it into subjection’ (I Corinthians 9:27), and desire ‘to mortify our members that are upon the earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence’ (Colossians 3:5); and we use every effort to ‘mortify the deeds of the flesh.’ (Romans 8:13)
- Origen
The steam of meat darkens the light of the spirit. One can hardly have virtue if one enjoys meat meals and feasts.
- St. Basil the Great
With simple living, well-being increases in the household, animals are in safety, there is no shedding of blood, nor putting animals to death. The knife of the cook is needless, for the table is spread only with the fruits that nature gives, and with them they are content.
- St. Basil the Great
The steam of meat meals darkens the spirit. One can hardly have virtue if one enjoys meat meals and feasts. In the earthly paradise, no one sacrificed animals, and no one ate meat.
- Saint Basil
We, the Christian leaders, practice abstinence from the flesh of animals to subdue our bodies.
- St. John Chrysostom
The eating of meat was unknown up to the big flood, but since the flood they have the strings and stinking juices of animal meat into our mouths, just as they threw in front of the grumbling sensual people in the desert. Jesus Christ, who appeared when the time had been fulfilled, has again joined the end with the beginning, so that it is no longer allowed for us to eat animal meat.
- Saint Jerome
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