I am vegan because I am Christian.

Vegan Talk
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1

No religion bashing, please.

I am vegan because I am Christian. In the beginning in the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were vegan. There was no death, so how could they eat animals? There wasn’t pain, so how could they even inflict any of today’s animal cruelty horrors?

Something I hate is when people tell me, “God made animals for us to eat them.” No, he didn’t. He didn’t even give us permission to eat them until after the flood. I can see reasoning to why He would allow it then, though. With the earth being flooded with water for so long and everything being wiped out, it probably wouldn’t be possible to just go right out and farm food.

Now, we have absolutely no need to eat animals. We weren’t designed to eat flesh. Even if we were, I do not believe He would want animals to have pain. They’re still His creations.

Jesus said to be kind and stick up for the weak, right? Not to inflict horrible pain on them.

Any other Christians with this view?

2

Sorry, but basing your beliefs on something that is so contradictory and untrue isn’t a good way to live your life. You should think for yourself and not base your opinions and beliefs on an old book written centuries ago to explain things people didn’t understand then.

Simply put, the bible can be interpreted so many ways, there’s no point basing your life on something that isn’t proper evidence.

3

You bet! My wife and I have been far down this path (through many different scriptures that people try to point out that say it’s “ok” to eat meat). Basically, we believe that the Bible does not condemn eating meat, but that we were created to be vegan. And God certainly would condemn what is happening in the meat and dairy industries! So since we have such a vast array of alternatives to eating meat, then why in the world would we even consider putting an animal through the pain of death?

If you want to see more of what we believe on the topic, visit my wife’s site here: www.beavoiceforthevoiceless.com.

Oh…and by the way, after the flood, God didn’t give us permission to eat meat right away. The Hebrew is actually saying that Noah and his family could eat reptile eggs. After all that flooding, it would be some time before they would have been able to find food or grow crops again. But if they had been allowed to eat animals, then the animals could not procreate and repopulate. I believe the source for that is on allcreatures.org, but I don’t have the reference with me at the moment.

4

Yeah, Im a christian. I know that God’s ideal diet IS vegetarian… Ill have to look up some verses for you so I can back myself up here. But yeah, I know recently that God has been talkin to me about becomin(well a month ago now, since this point in time) a vegan. He allowed me to watch a clip on animals at the slaughterhouse WHICH was enough for me to change my mind and change for his creation. Later I asked him a question and this is what i got
“Do you think i do not care about ALL of my creation?” THAT is ALL creation.
However I have heard before that a few non christian vegans bash up the bible because APPARENTLY is tells us animals have no souls? IF that where true, could you please give me REFERENCES and chapters on WHERE it states this in the bible, thanks…

God bless you all
Violet :cheers:

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Thank you

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The way you eat and live your life is up to you however attributing your lifestyle to the bible is… not ignorant but more misguided.

An integral part of Christianity is taking into the body the flesh and blood of Christ (Holy communion). Now although this is largely symbolic it is representative of the bibles stance on meat eating. The bible does not explicitly support or condemn it so I don’t see how your Christian faith has somehow directed you to Veganism.

Although I do understand that the bible teaches tolerance and empathy which can be can be interpretted to apply to animals, it’s not really a primary message :slight_smile:

Anyway, good for you for making a life change though :slight_smile:

7

I believe that God prefers humans not to eat meat but at the same time he also doesn’t condemn them. Eating whatever you want is your choice. Being a vegan is our choice. We may all have different reasons and views for being a vegan but making Religion an issue is I think not appropriate.

8

I also think that the Bible does not condemn nor condone eating meat, it is a personal decision. I do find it interesting however, that many great thinkers throughout history chose to abstain from animal flesh :slight_smile:

9

Sure, buy many more chose to eat meat. What’s your point?

(Although I do agree a lot with the top of your post)

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there’s nothing wrong by having a Christian being a vegetarian. The Holy bible really does not order all of us to eat meat. There is nothing wrong with abstaining from eating meat. What the Bible does point out is that we ought to not push our beliefs regarding this issue about others or judge them simply by what they eat or perhaps tend not to eat. Romans 14:2-3 lets us know, “One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him.” :smiley:

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Christian Vegan myself!! I’m so tired of all the crap I put up with from other Vegans, am I less of Vegan for having religion? By that logic Veganism would become an elitist group, we need to emphasis more tolerance and less bashing.

It’s clear that Vegetarianism is a theme in the bible, such as the Israelites eating nothing but mana or Daniel choosing to be Vegetarian, Paul speaks out against not eating meat BECAUSE it was sacrificed to idols and Moses says some animals are worse then others, neither of these are imperatives, but again people who eat meat shouldn’t be shunned.

Christian vegetarians had a strong place in early Christianity James the Just(Brother of Christ) is cited as a Veg along with other apostles, Saint Clement of Alexandria is a vocal Christian vegetarian, however under the Romans, vegetarianism become less popular, likely why Paul spoke about not forcing dietary rules on Christians as it would shun others from Christ. Francis of Assisi was a vegetarian and started on of the largest monastic orders in Christianity the Franciscans who are required to give up meat.

So an arguments against Christianity tend to be more personal then anything. People often equate Christianity with Texas and the Bible Belt where red meat is culture. This is ironic because Christianity is become increasingly strong in non-white areas of the world, such as Asia, Africa and South America, and Fundamental Evangelical Christianity is a very small, often monocultural representation of Christianity

12

I am Christian, however I see no sin in eating meat. Namely because Jesus ate meat. Now since Jesus committed no sin and ate meat, eating meat is not a sin. Simple as that. And Foreverfaithful, in addition to manna the Israelites also ate quail which god sent them.

13

Bash all you want but I am convinced God brought me to the point where I dont eat meat. Nobody was there to guide me, just a feeling deep inside that eating meat is wrong. I dont believe it was always sinful but the way we do it today is detestable and morally reprehensible. The suffering the animals endure is sickening and cannot be condoned by God.
I am not a pacifist and I spend most of my life in the police force and I have no problem with using force when there is no option but surely we cannot be cruel to other living creatures as human beings when there are other options available.

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Hi all
Surprising …This topic catch my attention , i not read the contents. I thought only buddisme encourage no kill no meat…be compassion etc …as i remember a Christian friend said animal is gift from god for us to eat …& she can’t imagine just live on veg…

15

If you don’t wish to be criticized over being a christian, then may I suggest, that in the future, you don’t mention it. Posters, replying to your statements, have the right to cross-examine them.

16

I agree with some of the thoughts of the above poster.

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i think so long as someone respects the religious point of view you are coming from they should have no reason to argue with you. unfortunately i feel like people will poke fun at you just for the religion. i was very religious for a long time and people were constantly arguing with me. it can be really frustrating. although my faith has wavered in the last few years i still am really appreciative and thankful for people like you. what a wonderful way to view life on earth. how amazing would it be to live in the garden of eden where there is no death or pain? now that we do not have to rely on meat to survive, why not be vegan and reduce the suffering of animals? i think that whether god put them here or not, they do not deserve to be treated the way we are treating them. still, your view is unique to me. i have not heard someone make an argument quite like this one before. i think that its great. no matter what people say to discourage you, just keep on believing what you believe and acting in accordance. your strength and compassion will inspire others.

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It’s got nothing to do with religion 8)

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In the Garden of Eden, God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.” Gen 1.29

To remember Jesus, we are to eat bread and wine.

Those are vegan.

I would say that the ideal diet is vegan, but because mankind has fallen, etc. it is not an imperative for Christians, like non-violence (ahimsa) is in Jainism, Buddhism, and (to a lesser extent) Hinduism.

So I think it is absolutely consistent for you to be vegan because of your Christianity. But it is not an imperative part of Christianity, unlike in the Indian-origin religions.

Also, to respond to the anti-religionists, veganism was often inspired by intense spiritual desires and religious convictions, be they Christian, Theosophical, or what have you. The idea of absolute right and wrong (not relative), of all living beings being connected, of every living thing have a soul, of absolute mercy, of selflessness, of non-violence, of compassion. I think these should be respected, even if you strongly agree with religion or other metaphysics.

Very often, in fact, people who are hostile to religion actually hold these (originally religious) ideas as the standard by which they criticise religion, which they rightly see as being hypocritical. So ironically, they criticise Christians for not being Christian enough! Or even God for not being Christian enough!

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I also wanted to add, that those Christians who really want to believe that G-d sees nothing wrong with the unnatural breeding, torture, murder and slaughter of animals, they are still in the dark. Very dark… I can show you passage after passage where it is clear He does not want us to eat animals - we are not to use or abuse any living thing. The Bible has been misunderstood and misinterpretted. In no way should we take Jesus’ sacrifice and communion as purely symbolic, but for animals, it is literally carnal and approved for a blood bath. If you’re sincere in wanting to know His will and His truth, pray first for a sincere heart, eyes to see and ears to hear - then for revelation of the scriptures and ask Him to reveal what these mean - He will lead you to ALL truth.