Does it say anywhere in any poular religious texts that it is wrong for us to eat meat?

Question

I can understand why people may not want to eat meat on the grounds of cruelty to animals (in the way it is treated whilst being reared for slaughter) or simply because they do not like to think of eating an animal but Jesus does not mention in his teachings that we should try to avoid eating meat. Why do you think he didn't mention this at all? Do any other religious texts discuss this? The Christian viewpoint almost seems to be that God gave us animals so we could eat them. What are your views on eating meat?

Answer 1

Although Jesus didn't mention it the bible is Gods word and ..Paul had something to say about it...Read the whole chapter of Romans 14...it speaks of eating meats ..unles it offends your brother..if it offends him ..don't eat to offend him ..

obviously God will in due time deal with the weaker brother...and once again you will be able to eat...

also in colossians 2:16. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:

Almost forgot 1 Timothy 4:1-4
1. Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
2. Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
3. Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
4. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
Amen ..God bless

Answer 2

No. There is no Christian teaching against eating meat. See the following in the Book of Acts:

Acts

10:9 On the morrow, as they went on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour:

10:10 And he became very hungry, and would have eaten: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance,

10:11 And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending upon him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth:

10:12 Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air.

10:13 And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat.

10:14 But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten any thing that is common or unclean.

10:15 And the voice spake unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common.

10:16 This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.


Some say this is merely symbolic of Peter being instructed to allow non-Jews, or Gentiles, to become Christians. I hold that, as many other Biblical texts do, carry both meanings at the same time. Even Old Testament laws permitted eating meat. It only was more restrictive in that it told what was "clean" and what was "unclean" and to be avoided.

We can eat meat. Just remember to say grace and ask God's blessing over your meals.

Answer 3

Leviticus. Defines which animals are and are not kosher.
The christian teachings came far later than the Bible (specifically the Torah). Don't fall into the trap of thinking that the so-called new testament is the whole bible. Jesus himself was a Jew and certainly would not have eaten pork or shellfish (or armadillo for that matter). He probably didn't mention it because it was second nature to himself and everybody he knew. In any case, it's not even sure what he did and did not discuss. We only have the words of people many years later. Apparently there are believed to be at most, six statements that can, with reasonable certainty, be attributed to Jesus. Even his most famous statement "Do unto your neighbour....." is actually a well known quote from Rabbi Hillel who lived around 100 years before JC.

In response to you last sentence, I eat, and thoroughly enjoy, meat and fish. We are biologically speaking, omnivores - that is, we eat anything good that comes along. Too much meat may be harmful but too little isn't too good either. No way would I give it up for the tasteless pap "enjoyed" by so many cranks and oddballs.

Oh and by the way, there is no evidence that Jesus was an essene or that he was a vegetarian. In fact, it is considered by Jewish law and tradition to be a good thing to eat meat on Shabbos.

Answer 4

genesis starts out w God saying..."hey, you can eat all the fruit & veggies u want son, its good for you and tasty! But its gotta be seed bearing." that was the king corbetts paraphrazed edition for the morning..which i will be continuing with yet also providing you w the chapter and verse in most other editions. that last one was located in Genisis 1:29...

Then man got Wicked and the nephilim was trippin( gen ch 6) the "sons of God" ( theres a few views on this story if u want em...ask) was actin bad and it was goin down right. So God foung a pretty cool dude named Noah and said " look out Noah. Let me holla at ya for a sec. Its fixin to flood round here and you gotta get ready so here's what I want you to do.....and load up these specific animals in 7's males and females...and these in 2's males and females..." Genesis chapter 7. then when it rained it poured! ... after that...Gen 9:2 says..." BAR- B -QUE!"

Thought of the moment!...Why did God allow them to eat meat "All of the sudden?" Logic says there was no mo' vegetation due to the flood drowning everything, i know the bird story in all that, but not enough vegetation to sustain the life of the animals and the couple people....also the majority of the animals were "Clean"...showing the plan wuz they wuz gonna be for sacrifice and chow...

Lets take a look at THE AGE TO COME cause a few folks up top done got into it pretty good about the OT and NT POV on meat but they forgot...THE AGE TO COME!!!!!

Please see Isaiah chapter 11 and focus on v.'s 1-9 notice the carnivors becomming vegetarian!

and check these out also!

Isaiah 65:17-25 ...notice the carnivors becomming vegetarian!

Rev 21:1-4...same as above pretty much if you think about it a bit.

How you gonna chowdown on a Burger if you cant kill the cow? NO MORE DEATH!!!!!

So this being a limited sharing of scripts off the top of my heart...Praise God! If you want a seriously in-depth systematic study of this topic simply scriptural and not influenced by any particular denomination of Christianity...contact me and I will give all God has given me.I'll even throw in a little etiquet, and sound all sofisticated if it floats ur boat.

I like the above answerers for savin me some trouble lookin for them there scripts and POV's. Thank ya. And I suggest the reader to take it all into consideration and put them into perspective -n- all.

Answer 5

Jesus was an Essene rabbi, and Essenes were strict vegetarians. They also taught reincarnation and karma, believed in a divine messiah and baptism and the sharing of community property. Then as now, politics has a way of distorting the facts.


Vegetarians like Cohon not only condemn general meat-eating, but kosher meat as well. They say shechita is particularly heinous because animals are fully conscious when the blade is brought to their throat, whereas conventional slaughterhouses stun the animals first.>

I'm shocked to see that so many people answering this question aren't aware of the biblical definition of "meat" - which is food.

Consider the verse where it is said that Jesus' disciples "were gone away unto the city to buy meat" (John 4:8). This translation from the King James version has been misunderstood as meaning literally "meat". In fact, the Greek word for "meat" from which the James translation based its choice for this word, simply meant nutrition in the generic sense. Hence, the Revised Standard Version now simply translates this same passage as "his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food".

Author Lewis Regenstein notes that nowhere in the New Testament is Jesus depicted as eating meat and "if the Last Supper was a Passover meal -- as many believe -- there is, interestingly, no mention of the traditional lamb dish".

Answer 6

I too was "absolutely astounded" to read such crap by some answering this question. Jesus was a Jew, Judah being one of the tribes of Israel, and under the old covenant Israelites were clearly allowed to eat meat as well as killing animals by cutting their throats on the altar as sacrifice to God.

Jesus, as the divine Son of God, cannot be considered to have been anything but a true Israelite, abiding by all of the Law. As such, he would have regularly eaten the roast lamb at Passover. It was only at the Last Supper, which probably wasn't held on Passover but the night before, that he didn't eat meat, because he himself was to become the "True" Lamb of God. He was actually crucified at the same time as all the passover lambs were being killed, so Passover could well have been celebrated the same evening as the day he was put to death.

Answer 7

There is no mention in the new testament about not eating meat. in fact it says many times Jesus and his disciples sat down to meat. The Old testament had Abrahaimic laws which clarify which types of animals were considered clean or unclean at that time for the Jews.

Answer 8

Man was permitted to eat meat only after Noah's flood. God himself also provided meat to the people when they were wandering in the desert after their exodus from Egypt. That is why Jesus never found it necessary to comment about eating meat.

But God did not give us all meat to eat - He classified them into two categories - 'clean' and unclean'. He had laid down instructions which meant that we should consume only meat that fell under the 'clean' category.

My answer is from the christian standpoint.

Answer 9

I personally, after reaching a certain stage of spiritual development, cannot eat animal flesh. Hindus do not believe in eating animals. Buddhists are many times vegetarian. Many Christian factions do not eat meat either. Can you be truly spiritual and kill and eat other sentient, living beings? I say no.

Answer 10

the mosaic law defined clean andnunclean animals. that was a law for the jews. whenJesus was baptised, Christianity was born and the mosaic law was replaced by his teachings. Christians are allowed to eat all kinds of meat, but acts 15:29 says we must abstain from things sacrificed to idols, things strangled, and from blood.