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Should we be vegetarians (according to the bible)?

Druidus

Keeper of the Grove
Thou Shalt Not Kill
Exodus 20:13 - Deuteronomy 5:17

The exact Hebrew wording of this biblical phrase is lo tirtzack which accurately translates as "any kind of killing whatsoever."

Thou shalt not kill any living thing, for life is given to all by God, and that which God has given, let not man taketh it away. ~Jesus, Gospel of the Holy Twelve, (earliest known recorded words of Jesus)

"And the flesh of slain beasts in his body will become his tomb. For I tell you truly, he who kills, kills himself, and whoso eats the flesh of slain beasts, eats the body of death."
~ Jesus, The Gospel of Peace

"Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox with hatred within." ~ Proverbs 15:17

"Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of something to eat." ~ Romans 14:20

"He who killeth an ox is as if he slew a man. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear, for your hands are stained with blood, and your mouths are defiled with flesh." ~ God, Isaiah 1:15,66:3

And all the creatures, which are under heaven, each according to its nature, serve, know and obey their Creator better than you. · And even the demons did not crucify Christ, but you together with them have crucified Him and even now you crucify (Him) by delighting in vices and sins.
- St. Francis of Assisi

And none shall hurt or destroy in my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Holy One even as the waters cover the bed of the sea. And in that day I will make again a covenant with the beasts of the earth and the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea and with all created things. And will break the bow and the sword and all the instruments of warfare will I banish from the earth, and will make them to lie down in safety, and to live without fear.

-Jesus

According to the bible, the first people were vegetarians. The first two chapters of Genesis tell a story of man and animal being companions, and trees being the source of food. In Genesis chapter 1, verse 29, God commands man to only eat fruits and vegetables.....

Genesis 1:29
Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.

It is very clear, that right there it says God gave the first people the plants and the trees for food.

Isaiah 65:25
"The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither hunt nor destroy on all my holy mountain," says the LORD.

Romans 14:21
It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause any man to stumble.

Daniel 1:11-16
Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over him: "Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see." So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days. At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. So the guard took away their meat and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.

While I am not Christian, I present this for reviewal. Apparantly, the Jesus, and the bible, preach vegetarianism.
 

Scott1

Well-Known Member
Druidus,

You're taking a lot out of context.... for instance
Romans 14:21
It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause any man to stumble.
has to do with the new Christians that felt the need to adhere to Jewish dietary laws.... the teaching was to not judge those who were weak in faith in Christ and felt the need to observe parts of the old law.

There are a few others that I would not expect you, a non-Christian, to have known, but it was interesting to see how things can mislead people.

Peace,
Scott
 

Green Gaia

Veteran Member
Well, being vegetarian I look for support of my dietary choices wherever I can get it, but I don't think the Bible was meant as a dietary guide, and should not be used as such by either side. Of course, I find it difficult to use the Bible to completely support the position of either side on almost any issue simply because it can be interrpreted in so many different ways.
 

Scott1

Well-Known Member
He doesn't..... those quotes are not acurate. Just because I write: "I love MEAT!" by Druidus does not mean that it's true....

Scott
 

Druidus

Keeper of the Grove
"He who killeth an ox is as if he slew a man. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear, for your hands are stained with blood, and your mouths are defiled with flesh." ~ God, Isaiah 1:15,66:3

Therefore, God proclaims that killing an ox is as wrong as killing a man.

Thou Shalt Not Kill
Exodus 20:13 - Deuteronomy 5:17

In hebrew, it says that "thou shalt not perform any form of killing". It's one of the ten commandments.

"Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox with hatred within." ~ Proverbs 15:17

Isn't the meaning clear?

"Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of something to eat." ~ Romans 14:20

It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause any man to stumble.
~Romans 14:21

The Romans never converted to Christianity until years after the birth of Christ. It was not in the years of the early Christians. (Yes I do believe he existed, just that he was not divine)
 

Scott1

Well-Known Member
Druidus,

I really can't explain the whole Bible to you..... you asked the question, I answered it.

The Romans never converted to Christianity until years after the birth of Christ.


If you honestly think the Book of Romans is directed towards Romans and not Christians (ok Roman Christians).... there is too much work to be done on your understanding of Christianity and the Bible.

Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of something to eat." ~ Romans 14:20

It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause any man to stumble.
~Romans 14:21

The Chapter (14) is dealing with Jewish converts to Christianity. It is about not judging someone for being weak in the faith..... read the whole chapter please.

These passages are about the Christian who understands he/she is not bound by the law being in the prescence of those who don't..... it would be better to not eat meat (non-Kosher foods etc..... sorry, I am not an expert in Jewish food laws) in their prescence than to risk hurting their faith... ie "destroy the work of God."

Context, context, context............. you gotta believe to understand this stuff, so I apologize if I am not getting my point across.

Peace,
Scott
 

anders

Well-Known Member
Druidus said:
The exact Hebrew wording of this biblical phrase is lo tirtzack which accurately translates as "any kind of killing whatsoever."
This is just wrong. A more accurate English translation would be "Thou shalt not commit manslaughter", with the proviso, of course, "unless God has ordered it". The verb root RTsCh is not the ordinary word for 'kill'. This is not just my personal opinion, but I have discussed it with an expert on Bible Hebrew and checked with translations into other languages. For English, the Revised English Bible has "Do not commit murder", which is fairly accurate.

For Christians and food, it would anyway have been overridden by Mt 15:11, "Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man" (KJV).
 

Mister Emu

Emu Extraordinaire
Staff member
Premium Member
"Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox with hatred within." ~ Proverbs 15:17

Isn't the meaning clear?

Yes it is, if you read the surrounding text, it also says "Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith" Proverbs 15:16, the meaning is it is better to have the lesser of something(no money, a meal of herbs) with good values(fear of the LORD and love) than the greater (great treasure, an ox) with the opposite(no fear of the LORD and hatred)

"He who killeth an ox is as if he slew a man. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear, for your hands are stained with blood, and your mouths are defiled with flesh." ~ God, Isaiah 1:15,66:3

Therefore, God proclaims that killing an ox is as wrong as killing a man.

Why did you even put Isaiah 1:15 in there? Isaiah 66:3 is in reference to sacrifices.

On Romans 14 20-21 at least quote them to the fullest.

For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence. 21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.

To me it is saying, do not eat or drink anything that someone is offended by, trying to recover from or is addicted to.
 

Druidus

Keeper of the Grove
"Fish" is another frequently mistranslated word in the Bible. Its reference is often not to the form of swimming life, but to the symbol by which early Christians could identify each other. It was a secret sign, needed in times of persecution, prior to official acceptance of Christianity as a state religion.

The sign of the fish was a mystical symbol and conversational password. Its name deriving from the Greek word for fish, "ichthus" Much later it was represented an acrostic, composed of leading letters of the Greek phrase, "Iesous Christos Theou Uios Soter"-"Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour."

Frequent references to fish are intended as symbolic of The Christ and have nothing to do with the act of eating a dead fish. But the symbol of the fish did not meet with Roman approval. They preferred the sign of the cross, choosing to concentrate more on the death of Christ than on His brilliant life. Perhaps this is one reason only ten percent of His life record appears in the canonical scriptures. Most of His first thirty years has been omitted.

I hope that explains it.
 
I don't know what title to put down but, this is a very controversial subject today and many times in the past! As a very determined Christ follower I wish we knew more of what he consumed! At one point he told his followers that he had food they knew not of! They were conserned that he was not eating!
As to the Gen.1:29 command I think that the creator was giving man his proper meal! The earth of that time was so much different and the plants I would suppose were more nourishing! If you read the long life they lived you begin to wonder! The earth became full of violence and rebellion against the will of GOD and I can see much of mankind killing and eating flesh against GODS will! After Noah came out of the ark, GOD said that they could eat anything that moved on the earth and eat all the plants he gave in Gen.1:29!
Notice how long people began to live after the flood! 120 years,110 years but only Godly men! Noah lived over 600 years and his sons lived long lives but it degenerated to what, maybe 45 years old in the Dark Ages!? I feel it was because of the hardness of men's hearts and his thoughts are evil from birth that GOD gave all things for men to eat if they choose to do so! Death will come sooner! Moses was given a diet for all of Isreal to eat in the wilderness on their way to the promised land to build them into a mighty army of people
and take the land! After saying all this I do think we should be more VEGEN then anything else! I will eat at someones table to speak with them and enjoy their hospitality even if it means eating a little pork(yuck)! My diet is about 80% vegitarian and I wish it could be more then that but it takes alot of study in nutrition! Let's not forget all the proccesed slop Americans are eating today, no thank you! At least try to eat organic!Yes the day will come when we will all eat nothing but a VEGEN diet! I enjoyed the thread on do animals have souls? I will try to post there as well!
 

Druidus

Keeper of the Grove
Just because I write: "I love MEAT!" by Druidus does not mean that it's true....

Just because one of the writers of the bible writes something and attributes it to "God" doesn't mean it's true. :p
 

cardero

Citizen Mod
Why would you become vegetarian? Aren't plants living things? Just because you pick an apple from a tree and it doesn't scream does not mean it is not a living thing. The vegetarians adage that "meat is murder" is weak when we consider it from the viewpoint of the plant. From reading these other posts it seems that we are quickly running out of food options to survive.
 

Wleeper

Member
I find it interesting that Jesus cooked fish and served it to his disciples. He also fed fish to some 5,000 people on one occassion. Check it out. John 21:9-12. and Matt 14:16-19. Jesus also ate the Passover Meal part of which consisted of the Passsover lamb that was the main course. Just food for thought. Pun intended.
 

Dayv

Member
Why would you become vegetarian? Aren't plants living things? Just because you pick an apple from a tree and it doesn't scream does not mean it is not a living thing. The vegetarians adage that "meat is murder" is weak when we consider it from the viewpoint of the plant. From reading these other posts it seems that we are quickly running out of food options to survive.
Indeed, Druidus, while I dearly love nature and all that thrives upon this earth, to not eat meat would be to ignore the natural order. The Celts (the original Druids) did eat meat and in fact considered animal hides holy (for lack of a better term). And, as Carrdero said, plants are alive, too, just as alive as any animal. I do not believe that eating meat is wrong, though i do think it should be done sparringly, and we should strongly avoid eating meat from cattle farms or similar vile institutes, but to completely stop eating it is ignorant of the natural order.
 
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