"God said we could eat meat"?

Question

If this is true then why does God in some Eastern religions (Jainism, Hinduism, some Buddhist sects) discourage or even forbid meat consumption? So why bring God into the argument at all? It's obvious every God has a different opinion;) *eyeroll*

Answer 1

There is no compulsion that we can't eat meat. Eating meat is discouraged for a variety of reasons.

We need to see the spiritual nature, divinity within all living beings, and that includes the animals and other creatures as well. Universal brotherhood means nonviolence to both humans and animals. We should all understand that animals also have souls. They are alive, conscious, and feel pain. And these are the indications of the presence of consciousness, which is the symptom of the soul. Those who eat meat, however, because of their desires to eat animals or see them as a source of food for one's stomach, are not so easily able to understand the spiritual nature of all beings. If one realizes that all living entities are spiritual in essence, and that all living beings that are conscious show the symptoms of the soul within, then I don't think that any person would kill them unnecessarily. Any living creature is a part of the same Supreme Being. I think that the killing of animals shows nothing but a great lack in spiritual awareness. To be kind and spiritual toward humans and be a killer or enemy toward
animals is not a balanced philosophy, and exhibits one's spiritual
ignorance.

Animals go through unimaginable amount of fear and suffering in the slaughter industry. There are countless stories of how in fear cows cry, scream, and sometimes fall down dead while inside or even before they are taken into the slaughter house. Or how the veins of dead pigs are so big that it shows they have practically exploded from the fear the pig felt and the adrenalin that was produced while it was being led to slaughter. This certainly causes an immense amount of violence to permeate the atmosphere, which goes out and falls back on us in some form. The adrenalin and fear in the animal also produces toxins which then permeate the body of these animals, which meat-eaters
ingest. People who consume such things cannot help but be effected by it. It causes tensions within them individually, which then spreads in their relations with others.

All the religious scriptures of the world, including manu samhita,
bhagavad gita, bible, talmud, Sutta-Nipata, Mahaparinirvana Sutra, prohibit and discourage eating meat. St. Basil taught,"The steam of meat darkens the light of the spirit. One can hardly have virtue if one enjoys meat meals and feasts."We should find alternatives to killing animals to satisfy our appetites, especially when there are plenty of other healthy foods available. We cannot expect peace in the world if we go on unnecessarily killing so many millions of animals for meat consumption or through abuse.

A famous law states that: for every action, there must be an equal and opposite reaction. This basically is the law of Karma. What goes around, comes around. This affects each and every individual. As you sow, so shall you reap. If so much violence is produced by the killing of animals, where do you think the reactions to this violence goes? It comes back to us in so many ways, such as the form of neighborhood and community crime, and on up to world wars. Violence breeds violence. Therefore, this will continue unless we know how to change.

Isaac Bashevis Singer, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature, asked, "How can we pray to God for mercy if we ourselves have no mercy? How can we speak of rights and justice if we take an innocent creature and shed its blood?" He went on to say, "I personally believe that as long as human beings will go shedding the blood of animals, there will never be any peace."

In quite an old issue of L'Osservatore della Domenica, the Vatican weekly newspaper,(1966) Ferdinando Lambruschini wrote: "Man's conduct with regard to animals should be regulated by right reason, which prohibits the infliction of purposeless pain and suffering on them. To ill treat them, and make them suffer without reason, is an act of deplorable cruelty to be condemned from a Christian point of view. To make them suffer for one's own pleasure is an exhibition of sadism which every moralist must denounce." Eating animals for the pleasure of one's tongue when there are plenty of other foods available certainly fits into this form of sadism. It stands to reason that this is counterproductive to any peace and unity or spiritual progress we wish to make. It is one of the things we need to consider seriously if we want to improve ourselves or the world. So here were a few reasons
why a genuinely spiritual person will choose to be vegetarian.

Following are quotes from famous personalities about Non Veg /
Vegetarianism

Mahatma Gandhi said "I do feel that spiritual progress does demand at some stage that we should cease to kill our fellow creatures for the satisfaction of our bodily wants."
"It is necessary to correct the error that vegetarianism has made us weak in mind, or passive or inert in action. I do not regard
flesh-food as necessary at any stage"

Albert Einstein said, "It is my view that the vegetarian manner of
living, by its purely physical effect on the human temperament, would most beneficially influence the lot of mankind."

Pythagoras says, "As long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seeds of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love."

George Bernard Shaw said, "When a man wants to murder a tiger, he calls it sport; when a tiger wants to murder him, he calls it ferocity."

The Dalai Lama says "I do not see any reason why animals should be slaughtered to serve as human diet when there are so many substitutes. After all, man can live without meat..."

Alexander Pope said, "How do we know that we have a right to kill
creatures that we are so little above, as dogs, for our curiosity or
even for some use to us?"

Benjamin Franklin said, "Vegetarianism is a greater progress. From the greater clearness of head and quicker apprehension motivated him to become a vegetarian. Flesh-eating is an unprovoked murder."

Leo Tolstoy, "he be really and seriously seeking to live a good life,
the first thing from which he will abstain will always be the use of
animal food, because ...its use is simply immoral, as it involves the performance of an act which is contrary to the moral feeling -- killing."

Thomas More, "The Utopians feel that slaughtering our fellow creatures gradually destroys the sense of compassion, which is the finest sentiment of which our human nature is capable."


George Bernard Shaw once said,

We are living graves of murdered beasts
Slaughtered to satisfy our appetites.
We never pause to wonder at our feasts,
If animals like men could possibly have rights.

We pray on Sunday that we may have light,
To guide our footsteps on the paths we tread.
We are sick of war, we do not want to fight,
And we gorge ourselves upon the dead.

Like Carrion Crows we live and feed on meat,
Regardless of the suffering and pain
We cause by doing so, in this we treat,
Defenseless animals for sport or gain -

How can we hope in this world to attain
The peace we say we are so anxious for,
We pray for it o'er hetacomba of slain,
To God while outraging the moral law,
Thus cruelty begets the offspring --- WAR !

Answer 2

In the old testament it was a law to refrain from eating meat, especially pork as it was considered unclean, but the new testament shows that God blesses meat, and tells us it is okay to eat since there were no more need for animal sacrifices since the crucifixion of Jesus.
However, I feel God gives us a free will on what kind of food (and i did specifically say food) goes into our bodies. I am personally a vegetarian because it is right for me. People need to do what is best for them and their bodies, and God will honor that decision.

This is a christian perspective. This is not based on any other religion.

Answer 3

Well, I'm just guessing, but maybe some people care about what God thinks because...oh I don't know...they believe in the Christian or Jewish God and not the Hindu gods, or what have you, therefore meaning Hindu teachings are completely irrelevant to them.
Now, they are in fact different religions with different gods and different teachings. To say 'your religion says this, but a different religion (which you don't believe in) says THIS, how d'ya explain THAT?' is idiocy.

Some people are religious, and thus they bring God into the argument, and the Abrahamic religions do condone meat eating. Christians aren't going to give a monkey's about what another religion thinks on the subject.

Answer 4

I'm not quite sure what your point is with this argument... What God are you refering to that says we could eat meat? Is that the Christian God? If so, I don't believe he wants people to eat meat. I don't believe that's their pupose. It's certainly not a sin to not eat meat. That's insane when people say that. If it says "people must slaughter animals" in the Bible or any other such article, then I'd have a different opinion of the matter.

I personally don't like the religious arguments of vegetarianism. It's not very strong or solid. There is no direct proof that any gods exist. So, you're basing either sides of that off of nothing.

Answer 5

Genesis 1:29-30
And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food: and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, [I have given] every green herb for food: and it was so.

Isaiah 66:3
He that killeth an ox is as he that slayeth a man.


I agree. I believe the Bible says we aren't supposed to eat meat. But I have meat eaters tell me all the time that Jesus and his disciples ate fish and if I don't eat it then I'm saying Jesus was wrong/immoral. I think that's about humility/graciousness. They took what was offered to them.

Answer 6

I've never understood this, either. I've actually had Christians tell me it's sinful not to eat meat because god gave us the animals to eat. Man, that's silly. I think it's just more justification for doing what you want to do.

Answer 7

I assume you're talking from a Christian perspective here. Parts of the bible disagree about whether Christians should be vegetarian, but on the whole it seems that Christians believe that it's a personal choice.

Answer 8

Indeed. I think God's got a lot more important things to think about than somebody in Hackensack chowing down on a burger -- veggie or otherwise.

Answer 9

god never said anything about meat. People eat differently in different countries. They eat what they have or raise. Some folks think meat is unhealthy or too hard to digest. If you like it and it agrees with you, eat it. Just be careful how you prepare it.

Answer 10

I guess an alien could replicate meat so possibly God above doesn't eat meat, but He allowed uncivilized people to eat meat.

Answer 11

There is only one God but there are different oppinions of Him. I know that God gave humans permission to eat meat to shorten human life. Before the flood (of which there is scientific proof) and even shortly after the flood humans could live between 500-900 years and in that long of lifetime much evil could be accomplished, ei. imagine going to college and studdying for that long? With that much time in one persons lifetime they could figure out how to combine human and animal cloning for example. That is an example of why God allowed humans to eat meat and why He needed to shorten life.