A reflection on eating meat (with two adorable videos)
An immediate qualification: I eat meat. I will admit that I am not crazy about meat, but I do enjoy it, in all its forms, including raw herring (the one meat choice my wife disapproves of).
There is, however, something tragic about eating meat, about eating another living being, something that is alive in a way that is close to being human and alive in a different way than a plant. It makes sense that we can be uncomfortable about eating meat.
Here are two children describing this tension:
God did earlier said that humans should "rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground" (verse 26, a command repeated in verse 28), so humans, made in God's image, were set apart from animals. Humans were given the responsibility to name all the animals (Genesis 2:19-20).
The first reference we have in Scripture to eating meat is only after the Fall, after Adam and Eve have been banished from the Garden of Eden. Their son Abel is a shepherd, some of whose flock is given as an offering to God. It is, in fact, only after the Flood that God specifies animals as food when He says to Noah: "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything." (Genesis 9:1-3)
Eating meat is clearly a concession that God allowed because of sin, a concession that those who are vegetarian understandably have difficulty accepting. In the prophecy of Isaiah, animals at peace with each other is given as an image of heaven: "The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain." (65:35)
And with even more description: "The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." (11:6-9)
During this season of Lent, it is customary to cut back on meat, with the emphasis on personal sacrifice. Another reason can be in recognition that animals are, like us, creatures created by God and worthy of our respect. If and when we eat meat, we can certainly do so in recognition that life has been taken in order to nourish us.
- a young girl (1:43 - on Facebook, but you don't need to be logged in to see it)
- a young boy (2:30 - watch in full screen to be able to read the subtitles)
For Christians, meat is permissible, but it is not wholeheartedly embraced in Scripture. When God created the world, He said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground - everything that has the breath of life in it - I give every green plant for food." (Genesis 1:29-30) Notice that both humans and animals ('everything that has the breath of life in it') were given plants as food, but God does not suggest that animals should be eaten.
God did earlier said that humans should "rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground" (verse 26, a command repeated in verse 28), so humans, made in God's image, were set apart from animals. Humans were given the responsibility to name all the animals (Genesis 2:19-20).
The first reference we have in Scripture to eating meat is only after the Fall, after Adam and Eve have been banished from the Garden of Eden. Their son Abel is a shepherd, some of whose flock is given as an offering to God. It is, in fact, only after the Flood that God specifies animals as food when He says to Noah: "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, and on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, and on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything." (Genesis 9:1-3)
Eating meat is clearly a concession that God allowed because of sin, a concession that those who are vegetarian understandably have difficulty accepting. In the prophecy of Isaiah, animals at peace with each other is given as an image of heaven: "The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain." (65:35)
And with even more description: "The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." (11:6-9)
During this season of Lent, it is customary to cut back on meat, with the emphasis on personal sacrifice. Another reason can be in recognition that animals are, like us, creatures created by God and worthy of our respect. If and when we eat meat, we can certainly do so in recognition that life has been taken in order to nourish us.
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