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The Sadness of the Extremist View of Veganism

What a person determines that they are going to eat is entirely a personal choice. Most of the people I know are omnivores. They eat both meat and vegetation, though they don’t necessarily at all kinds of available meats or edible plants. I know quite a few vegetarians and vegans. I even know a few (very few) carnivores who eat nothing but meat. I have no problem at all with the food choices of other people. What is more than bothersome is when people hold extremist views and will invent things to justify their choice, with the obvious hope of forcing their beliefs on other people.

I should say that omnivores, carnivores, vegetarians, and vegans can all have extremist views. Extremism is a mental aberration that anyone can have in regard to any topic. However, I don’t personally know of any omnivore or carnivore that actually tries to attack or belittle specific vegetarians or vegans. Sadly, I can’t say the same about vegetarians or vegans. I’ve met several who will outright attack, verbally or otherwise, anyone who chooses to eat meat. They use delusional arguments and the sad part is that they are only deluding themselves.

Very recently, I encountered such a person who was responding to an answer I’d written about if a vegan diet was really healthier than an omnivorous diet. Without slamming either diet, I explained that it was a personal choice and explained the strong points and weak points of both choices.

Today, a person wrote back, claiming that meat wasn’t a “food” and that eating meat was an abomination to God. Clearly, they don’t know what the definition of ‘food’ is and they have certainly never read the Bible.

At its simplest, food is anything that has nutritive value when it is eaten. Many plants fit that definition, but some don’t. For instance, for humans, wood is not food because it can’t be digested. Wood has no nutritive value for people. Most meat does have nutritive value to people when it is eaten. In some ways, meat has more nutritive value than plants and it other ways, it has less, but logically, it is definitely food.

How about the abomination to God part? The Bible makes it plain that it is nowhere close to being an abomination to God. In a number of places, particularly in the Old Testament, God was very clear about what he expected. There are a number of instances when God commanded burnt sacrifices of sheep, cattle, or other animals. The animals weren’t simply slaughtered, burned to a crisp, and left to rot. God has never been wasteful.

Instead, animals offered at burnt sacrifices were eaten after they were cooked. They were eaten by both the priests of God and the children of God. In fact, the story of Passover indicates that God commanded his people to gorge themselves on meat, in order to be ready for what was to follow Passover. 

Jesus fed thousands on a few loaves of bread and fish…another meat. Jesus didn’t sin, so this act couldn’t have been an abomination of God, though the thousands ate meat. He also had Apostles who were fishermen by trade.

It can’t be argued logically. More animals are killed to produce crops than are killed for the consumption of meat. Again, there is that waste thing that God has never wanted to have happen. For that matter, the human requirement for protein cannot be met by plants. God could have easily decreased our need for protein or could have endowed plants with more protein than most have. Meat is very high in protein. It seems pretty obvious that God intended man to eat meat.

Further, the design of man is exquisitely detailed down to the genes. So why does man have many teeth that are designed solely for tearing and shredding flesh if it was not intended that people eat meat? The abomination aspect and argument carries absolutely no weight. 

I honestly feel sorry for people who try so desperately to justify their dietary choices, when they have nothing to argue. The arguments aren’t bounded in anything except opinion, and no justification is needed. All they have to say is that they don’t want to eat meat. That is perfectly okay. That isn’t their objective, though. They want to force everyone else to accept their idea of right and wrong, regardless of the truth.

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What do you think?

10 Points

Written by Rex Trulove

8 Comments

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  1. I certainly don’t argue with anyone about his/her choices. I choose not to eat red meat about 90% of the time. Why? Because of the type of fat it has. I usually eat chicken breasts. My husband eats too much red meat (especially since he’s had a bypass operation); but I keep my opinions to myself. I mentioned it once…that was enough.

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    • That is the entire point. We can control our own choices but not those of other people. In the particular instance I wrote about, the person didn’t even express it as an opinion. It was stated as a fact, which it definitely wasn’t.

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  2. I think you can eat all lawful item but very few you cant since it is prohibited from God , For example , Pork is prohibited in Christianity and even in Islam as well. If we are believer than God knows best then we know and we should adhere the God commandment.

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    • The silly part comes when people try to interpret passages to mean things that they don’t say. Jesus ate meat. What the Bible is strong on, though, is that we shouldn’t look down at people who chose to eat a different diet.

      Romans 14:2-3 says:

      “One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him.”

  3. I can relate to you Rex. My sister in law has recently become a vegan (at least I am pretty sure that is the word that she used to describe herself now). Although she never quotes the bible, she argues and professes to me that man was not created and/or should not eat meat. So I just let her talk because I sure love beef, chicken, fish because they fill me up first, they contain proteins second and they are just as good for a human as vegetables/and or/plants.

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    • It is wise not to argue with her. It is everyone’s right to choose to eat whatever they want, but when they start using irrational arguments to justify it, they won’t accept the truth or anything based on logic. I didn’t argue with the person who made those silly statements in response to my answer, either, for exactly the same reason.

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    • It is absurd. The only reason I can think of a person trying to use that excuse would be if they are struggling to find any real reason and want other people to think that they have a divine purpose. If they actually believe their argument, it could be suggested that there is probably medication that will help them (taken with or without vegetables).

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