Is it a sin not to eat meat?

Question

I heard it's like refusing God's purpose of putting them here or something...

Answer 1

Nope.

Answer 2

I'm an agnostic, so I don't know from god's purpose. But I do appreciate the joke that his/her original intent was to hang out in the garden with two naked vegetarians.

As for the concept of sin, that's also a sticky wicket as it's hard to define sin without bringing religion into it. But if there were a god, I think s/he would consider it a great sin what people do to animals so they can eat their flesh. I think s/he would be appalled to see factory farms and all the horrors associated with them.

Answer 3

I'm a christian and a vegetarian, so I'll attempt to explain to you how I see the situation.

Read the book of Genesis. When God created Adam and EVe, he put them in a beautiful garden. Everything was perfect. The animals were not afraid of Adam and Eve. No animal ate another animal or killed. God told Adam and Eve to eat of any tree in the garden (accept one). The original diet he gave to them was vegan. Seriously, read Genesis!! So, if that's how he originally wanted them to eat, then I can't see why he'd have a problem with us eating that way now!

When Adam and Eve listened to Satan, everything was tainted. Sin entered the world. Nature was cursed, and a predator-prey system had to be established to keep nature in balance. God never WANTED this, though. Its not perfect. Anyway.. later in Genesis humanity got so bad God had to wipe away all people accept one family. Since all plant life was also destoryed, God at that point GAVE PERMISSION for man to eat meat. (notice the decline in lifespan after the flood. Before, people were living over 900 years!!). Anyway...

Since then, man has eaten meat, and God does not consider it a sin. But since the original, perfect diet God gave to man in a perfect world was vegan, then I certianly dont' see how THAT could be sin either!

THat was NOT God's purpose for putting animals on earth. Ever had a pet? DId you get alot of enjoyment and companioinship from it? Are animals beautiful to look at and watch?? THAT was God's purpose for putting animals on the planet!! For our enjoyment (in the ways described, not food).

also, the arguments =^_^=, J.R., and Catkin put forth are also biblically correct, i'm just not repeating them because there's no need.

Answer 4

Remember that in the Garden of Eden (God's perfect creation), no one ate meat. Biblically, it wasn't until after the flood that anyone ate meat. It is thought that God told Noah he could eat meat after the flood because there was no vegetation left. So there was no meat eating until after mankind "fell from grace". There are actually several vegetarian Christian groups... definitely NOT a sin to abstain from meat. Of course I am assuming you are a Christian, though the same argument applies to Jews, and similar arguments can be made for several other religions.

Answer 5

The scripture in question is from the Noah's Ark/Great Flood story. Couple of problems with it, from a Christian standpoint: the Great Flood story is a retelling of the Epic of Gilgamesh, which was written over 1,000 years earlier. When I still held to dogmatic beliefs, I didn't believe in Noah's Ark. Some stuff in the bible is obviously borrowed, and this is one example.

In this passage, God gave the animals to us in the same way as the plants. However, factory farming didn't exist back then; nor did we have the benefit of completing our diets with fruits/veggies/nuts from all around the world (and multivitamins) as we do today. Our ancestors had a legitimate need to eat animals to be healthy. We do not.

I assure you that Yahweh does not approve of what's being done to his animals. He MAY approve of free-range farming, but there's no chance that any lord of creation would approve of factory farming.

Answer 6

According to Genesis, the first ppl were originally told to eat fruits from the trees. It wasn't until after the Flood that humans were allowed to eat animals but apparently they'd already been doing so without Divine permission. Along with permission to eat animals, humans seem to lose something much more important & beautiful-- we are told that animals will now run in terror before us.
A compassionate & loving God would probably prefer us to be compassionate & loving toward other creatures. Genesis also gives humans 'dominion' over other creatures, but this doesn't necessarilly mean it's ok to wreck havok upon them.

Answer 7

No, that is totally illogical. We are supposed to look after God's creation, including the animals. We aren't supposed to kill them if we don't need to. We can use them for food when necessary but the way we treat them today is not anything I believe God would approve of.

I should also add that it IS a sin to eat some meat, such as pork and shellfish. There are rules of how we are supposed to regard food clearly written in the Bible but most modern Christians tend to disregard them for some reason.

Answer 8

I don't believe in God so this is hardly a compelling argument for me. I would have a hard time accepting that a Creator put all these beautiful creatures on Earth for the "purpose" of being brutalized and exploited by humans.

Answer 9

Is is not a sin to abstain from meat.

It is a compassionate choice to be vegetarian.

Does the bible include any guidance on caging and abusing animals ?
what does it say about growth hormones or feeding animals with thier dead relatives ?

Answer 10

It all depends on how you look at it. There are twenty million different religions and twenty million ways those religions can look at it.

What you consider a sin someone else may not. Get my drift.

I personally think that that is not something he will be judging you on. I don't think he will be judging the 'what did I eat everyday" part of my life. I think he will be focused on other parts like did I kill someone, did I commit adultry....

Answer 11

Why would it be, there is plenty of meat, and all the other animals do it just to survive. we can choose to eat only meat, or only vegatables, but either way it would do you harm. we should eat a balenced diet, which is why, I think, we have the ability to do so. also, if eating it is fine, wasting it is definately a sin, to kill for no reason, but to waste the spoils is inexcuseable.