What are your thoughts on eating meat?

Question

Me myself am a vegetarian. I have been for the past 6 months. My mum is vegetarian and so is my sister so it was kinda going to happen sooner or later. I have my opinions on eating meat and I know others do, but I honestly cant understand why we started to eat meat in the first place!

In the Book of Jobe, God punishes people by making them eat meat, So why do christians eat meat? Weren't we put on this world with animals to live in harmony? Call me hippy but if you dont like cruelty to animals, but eat them, aren't you being cruel? Isn't killing an animal and eating it cruel?

I know humans evolved from apes by eating meat, but what if a sheep started eating meat too? Would the sheep eventually evolve into another species of human? Does that mean weere eating fellow humans?

Please give your opinions Im accepting no matter what your eating habits are! ;]

Answer 1

I am athiest and a meat eater. I believe Abraham and Able both sacrificed animals to please God so I am not sure that we are there to live in harmony. I also believe that there is a Jesus story with an endless supply of fish.

From an evolution standpoint, men were scavangers. We ate whatever we could get in our mouths. Bears and pigs have the same diet as us and inn nature they will eat anything. Animal carcuss, fish eggs, bugs and veggies. Our digestive track has evolved to eat these things. We have evolved to eat it. It is nature.

Answer 2

Quote:
"In the Book of Jobe, God punishes people by making them eat meat, So why do christians eat meat? Weren't we put on this world with animals to live in harmony?
End of Quote.

The Christan Bible has been interpreted many ways. The exact translation will yield what you may or may have said, however others will twist the whole thing about being Shepperd's of the earth and king of the dominion on earth as an argument to eat meat. While the Shepperd's thing can be used to argue not to eat meat.

Quote:
"I know humans evolved from apes by eating meat"
End of Quote.

If that is what your biology teacher told you she needs to find another job or teach a different subject. We did not evolve differently due to "eating meat". There are other primates as well that are omnivores, not just humans.

For more information on the evolution of the human diet from pre-human to modern current day human go see my answer here that I already briefly explained:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AkqV7l1_chk1bWZpGBAUY0fty6IX?qid=20070730065806AA0HmIC&show=7#profile-info-AA10291906

My thoughts on eating meat are, if you eat the proper portion of meat per week you should be fine. If you don't eat meat, that's fine too we can find everything that's in meat within other sources of nature some are just harder to find or know about then others. Unlike ignorant meat eaters might think, it is true. However, most proteins in plants are a different cell shape then meat proteins but in scientific research they have shown no difference in nutritious value between the different types of proteins. If meat eaters eat more then they're weekly portion size of meat, I say "it's up to you if you want a longer life or not". Granted anyone could be hit by a bus, but the fact remains if you take the random factors out of death, if you are healthy you will live longer if you are not you will get a side effect aka sickness like heart disease and die an early death (assuming they don't get hit by a car first). No matter, the health quality of life is generally better for people who eat a balanced vegetarian or vegan diet then it is for people who eat any kind of meat. So even if a meat eater uses the statement "we'll never know when we're going to die so might as well live it up" (smokers use this too) you can remind them that the next time they are doing something physical they will perform at a lesser level then their healthier counter part the non-meat eaters.
;-)

Edit:
Aw man ...
"Mat the Elder"
Totally beat me ... bummer, well I gave my 2 cents what the h3ll.

Answer 3

It's your choice to be totally honest, I'm not going to give you reasons why to go veggie. I'm a guy, 17 years old, and I'm vegetarian. Before I became vegetarian, I was a huge meat-eater, my favorite foods were buffalo wings, cheeseburgers, and chicken parmesan. However, I realized that what went on in the slaughterhouses were wrong and I felt I had to do something, so I became vegetarian very gradually. First, I ate meat 4 times a week, then 3, then 2, then once, then I just stopped. I will admit, it's not easy, and a little challenging, but if you really wanted to become a vegetarian, I have full faith in you, because I was practically carnivore before I went veggie.

Answer 4

"I know humans evolved from apes by eating meat,"
Huh? Uhhh... no... that's not how it works.
I don't think we came from apes. Certainly apes are a very similar species, but we are two different things. Evolution doesn't work that way -- as far as we know today.

In evolution, we can develop certain characteristics and traits, but we cannot change from say from a cow to a pig or an ape to a human. As far as we know, there is no such thing.

Why Christians eat meat?
Well, at one time they didn't. See, religions were very strict at one time, but over thousands of years slowly they have become less strict because of one simple reason: people are lazy (let me add that evil is the easy way, the lazy way) and religious leaders had to make a choice when fewer and fewer people were joining due to their strict ways. The choice was, 'do we shun those that cannot keep with our strict ways, or do we loosen the rules to get them in the door, then try to teach them the proper ways?' So, for example, at one time it was 'eat no meat, do no harm to any living thing, live in harmony with nature, etc.' Then, you were allowed to eat meat on one day. Then fish was OK. Then OK, you can eat all meat except pork because that is the most similar to human flesh (and thus disease is easily transferable). Then it was changed to, OK, you can eat pork but not on the holy days. And so on. There's a book that details such things and it was a slow process starting before the time of Jesus. You can even find Buddhists these days that eat meat, or Jews that eat pork, and so forth. The rules are very lax because people are very *busy* and having to adhere to some lifestyle rules is just very inconvenient. "Oh, but what if my boss has a big BBQ pig on the holy day or day of fasting... I don't want to be rude... and all my friends eat it all the time..." The excuses are just endless, right? People cannot even stick to their New Years Resolutions for more than the month of January, so you can see what these religions are dealing with.

Answer 5

You have some oddball theories on evolution; my dog eats meat products in her food but hasn't become human yet (although she is trying).

I wanted to be a vegetarian since I was a little kid. As soon as I found out I was eating dead animals, I wanted no part of that. My mother made me eat meat because she said you had to for the right nutrition, but she said "in Heaven, we won't have to do that."

I kind of put the idea out of my mind for many years. Then I met some people from ISKCON (Hare Krishna); they are all vegetarian. I noticed they didn't "look sick." I started to find out what I could about vegetarianism and stopped eating meat 23 years ago.

I never joined ISKCON, but I'm friends with some members. I also married a Hindu woman (vegetarian) and ISKCON is based on Hindu beliefs.

Answer 6

I never really got that into eating meat. Like you, my family is vegetarian. I grew up with no meat in the house and only ate it when we went to McDonald's or something. I have been a vegetarian for nearly 6 years and a vegan for 3 months, so it is hard to imagine going back to eating meat. I'm all for animal rights and stuff, but that isn't the main reason I'm a vegan. It just kind of sickens me to eat meat. However, I'm tolerant of other people's beliefs regarding meat, although they might not be as tolerant of my eating habits.

Answer 7

Let's look at a scientific view. We're all part of the evirement son it's important that we stick to it. When you alter something then the balance is disturbed. When we killed a lot of sharks we found out that they ate a lot of jelly fish that could wash up on shore. Or if all Spiders are killed then you'll have termites, ants, roaches, moths ,ext. so basically everything eats each other to survive, help others, and to mantain the balance. if you want to learn more ask a Native American or a Sciecetist about this
Good Luck

Answer 8

I don't have much control over the way we have gotten to where we are, IE: Meat Eaters, but here we are. Hundreds of Thousands of years of evolution have resulted in humans becoming the dominant species of animal on earth, not because we eat meat but because we have a brain and can design & make tools. The meat thing is only because it's a good source of protein and is easy to obtain and prepare.

Answer 9

I think that eating meat is totally wrong and even tough it might taste good it dosent mean its right...I mean sure animals sometimes eat humans but they do it to survive sometimes they dont know any better but we do I mean there are other perfectly good things to eat such as mock meat it has all the flavor of regular meat but its less cruel is that so bad?I think people who say they love animals but still eat meat are hypocrits they just love the animals they dont eat...I mean it makes your life shorter so y do it?I became a vegetarian after watching a horrible video clip I would give u the link but it was too painful to watch it showed animals being prepared to go put into the store it was horrible

Answer 10

I don't really like it, so I don't eat it. I don't really have a problem with the act of killing and eating animals for food, but raising them for it seems ridiculous. Humans evolved as omnivores to increase protein intake to support a larger brain. It's natural, to a point.
Also, the fact that our society's eating habits, health, and economics all suffer because of the meat industry, I just think it's wiser not to eat it.
I admit, I still do make an occasional exception... of all things, one of the only ways I'll eat meat is the prime rib at a local indy steakhouse, but that might be because it's unprocessed and cruelty-free, so I find it kind of hard to deny myself since I like it. This only happens once or twice a year, though.

Answer 11

i dont put religion an meat in the same considerations. I'm spiritual but not religious. i think the answer is it cant be at either side of the spectrum. its somewhere in the middle between cruelty an harmony. a wolf doesn't hate himself for eating a sheep, he does so because that's the circle of life. should a human hate himself for eating a sheep? no. but should a human just go out an beat one with a stick? no. should a human stare at the sheep an instead eat grass an beans an shrivel up an die? no.
and your sheep evolving into humans is too ridiculous to even answer lol.