Guest opinion: What does God think about eating meat?
by Matthew A. King, president of the Christian Animal Rights Association
We are publishing an opinion piece by Matthew A. King, the president of the Christian Animal Rights Association. As with previous guest opinion pieces, the usual disclaimers apply: Christ and Counterfactuals publishes texts from multiple authors with different views that may sometimes contradict each other or not align with the stances of EA for Christians or Christians for Impact.
How we think ultimately derives from a philosophy. A Christian attitude toward animals you will often hear is one of ‘animals were made for human benefit.’ However, this line of thinking is based more on the philosophy of Aristotle1 than the Christian’s foundational source of morality and code of conduct: The Bible. When we read through the pages of the Bible, we get a completely different sense of how God feels about animals – one that is radically different from Aristotle! Most importantly, Colossians 1:16 states that God created everything for himself. Additionally, animals were created to enjoy their lives. This seems like a reasonable inference, especially since many verses talk about animals being joyful or playing. For instance, Job 39:13 implies that ostriches are joyful when they flap their wings. Job 40:20 describes wild animals playing in the mountains. Psalm 104:25–26 also states that Leviathan was created to play in the sea.
Humans are not the sole recipients of God’s concern. For instance, along with humans, God shows protection (Ps 36:6), mercy, goodness (145:9), and compassion (Jonah 4:10–11) to animals, too. Accordingly, humans and animals are afforded the Sabbath laws of rest (Exod 20:8–11) and saving from danger (Matt 12:11–12; Luke 14:5). God’s concern for animals is shown in the words of his Son, Jesus, who warmly implied that God never forgets about animals, even when humans value them so little (Luke 12:6, Matt 10:29). Jesus also said that our heavenly Father feeds the birds just like he does humans, even though humans are considered more valuable than them (Matt 6:25–26, 10:31; Luke 12:7). Why are humans more valuable? Because we are created in the image of God. This entails responsibility. God gave humanity dominion over animals (Gen 1:20–31). This dominion was not a rule consisting of tyranny or oppression. Humanity must remember that animals are ultimately the possession of God (Ps 24:1; 50:10–11). Therefore, humanity has limits on how we treat them.
This dominion that God gave humanity over animals (Gen 1:26–28) is often treated as a divinely appointed license to treat animals with violence and oppression. But God introduces animals to Adam in Genesis 2 in a very different context. God says, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” He then brings all the animals to Adam, who then names them. None of the animals could fill the need that required the creation of a human companion for Adam, but they were nevertheless introduced to Adam for companionship, and the act of naming can be taken to show respect and recognition. Therefore, God designed animals to be our friends, not our food. In Genesis 1:29–31, God orders humans (and all animals) to only eat vegetation and calls this vegan creation ‘very good.’ Not leaving any doubt, the stipulation to eat only plants was repeated in Gen 2:9, 2:16, and 3:2. This vegan world is made very clear by Paul when he explained in Romans 8:18–25 that God created animals (and humans) to be immortal when they were first created, with no death or suffering to either. When it comes to our food choices, it is essential to remember that God ultimately views animal (and human) death as bad, even going so far as to call it ‘an enemy’ (1 Cor 15:26). What God believes is optimal is what will exist when sin is banished from the earth (Rev 22:3). Indeed, when Christ returns, he will restore what was lost in the Garden of Eden. Man will have dominion over the animals fully returned to him (Ps 8:4–8; Heb 2:5–8), and veganism for humans and animals will be restored for all eternity, and there will be no harm or death for either (Isa 11:6–9, 65:25; Rom 8:18–25; Rev 21:1–4).
You may ask, if God is so against death, then why did he command animal sacrifice? One explanation offered by influential medieval Rabbi Maimonides (AD 1138–1204) and early church writers Justin Martyr (c. AD 100 – c. AD 165)2 and Tertullian (c. 155 – c. 220 AD)3 is that the sacrifices were instituted to keep the people of Israel from idolatry. Maimonides claimed that pagans developed a habitual practice of sacrificing animals as a form of worship (Lev 17:1–9) and that God allowed this practice to continue but transformed it from idolatrous associations because the people were so used to it. In this explanation, sacrifices were a temporary accommodation to human weakness. The New Testament explains that the sacrifices were only temporary (Heb. 10:3–4, 10:11) and God did away with sin and guilt offerings forever as promised when Jesus became the final perfect sacrifice (Heb. 10:10–18).
If meat-eating is a negative thing, why would Jesus eat it and serve meat to others, like with the feeding of the 5,000 and the disciples in John 21? Historical context can help us understand. One reliable source states about biblical times, ‘For centuries, agriculture in the Land of Israel was highly dependent on irregular rainfall, making drought and consequent famine of frequent occurrence.’4 This quote harmonizes with the Bible, where famine and/or drought (Gen 12:10, 26:1, 41:53–57, 43:1; Ruth 1:1; 2 Sam 21:1; 1 Kgs 17:1–16, 18:1–5; 2 Kgs 6:24–29, 8:1–3; Jer 14:1–6; Lam 2:11–20, 4:3–10; Ezek 36:30; Joel 1:10–20; Amos 4:6–8) are frequently implied or described. Additionally, the consumption and/or damage of crops by locusts are described in Amos 4:9 and Joel 1:1–10. Crop destruction (and consumption) by droughts or insects lead to a dearth of vegetation, which causes famine (1 Kgs 17:1–12, 18:1–5; Jer 14:1–6; Joel 1:1–20; Amos 4:6–9). In addition, food scarcity was a severe source of anxiety for people living in biblical times and places (Matt 6:25, 6:31; Luke 12:22). In biblical times, there were no refrigeration, supermarkets, or fast food restaurants everywhere like in wealthy industrialized nations today. The world was a much harsher place in biblical times. Today, people in industrialized countries have a plethora of nonviolent food options that humanity in biblical times could only dream of.
Despite this abundance of cruelty-free options, humans eat a lot of meat. For instance, the average American eats 224.6 pounds of meat annually – and that does not count seafood. In contrast, the biblical scholar William Robertson Smith (AD 1846–1894)5 stated, ‘Flesh of domestic animals was eaten only as a luxury or in times of famine.’ This modern eating of meat (Prov 23:20–21) has led to the atrocity of factory farming, which is where about 90% of flesh worldwide (99% in the United States)6 originates from. Factory farming gruesomely shoves animals into cramped conditions. For instance, chickens are put in cages smaller than a sheet of paper where they can’t even spread their wings. Additionally, animals are dehorned, debeaked, and castrated, all of these commonly without anesthetic, and put through all sorts of misery in industrialized animal agriculture. These modern industrial farming techniques differ from biblical times, where animals had proper space or pasture. Proverbs 27:23 states of proper animal farming: ‘Know the state of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for your herds.’ Factory farming is without a doubt condemned by Proverbs 12:10, which states, ‘The godly care for their animals, but the wicked are always cruel.’ With the state of industrial farming, I’m not as interested in the question of whether Jesus ate meat in biblical times as much as I am interested in the question of whether Jesus would eat meat today. Let’s ask the age-old question... What would Jesus do? I think he would weep if he saw the state of farming today.
Dialogue with Trypho 19:6, 22:1,11
“[W]hen the people were prone to idolatry and transgression, God was content to attach them to his own religion by the same sort of observances in which this world's superstition was engaged, hoping to detach them from this by commanding them to do these things for him, as though he were in need of them, and so keep that people from the sin of making images.” (Adversus Marcionem 2.18)
I'm curious about your continued use of the term "vegan" rather than "vegetarian". I don't see anything contradictory between caring for animal friends and drinking their milk or eating their unfertilised eggs.
While I largely agree, I think this analysis is confused. Jesus fed meat to people in miraculous events where saying, e.g. meat was needed to avoid lean times *cannot possibly apply*. It was a miraculous moment of plenty! If Jesus wanted abundant vegan options at the feeding of the 5000, that would have been precisely as a available and miraculous, and yet was not chosen. Indeed, four of His apostles are fishermen and they're never admonished to treat fish better, despite Jesus on multiple occasions giving Peter fishing advice! (Luke 5:4-7 and John 21:4-6)
In parallel, if ritually killing animals was bad, God simply would not have *commanded* it. Moses *allowed* people divorce because of the hardness of their hearts, but no one was ever commanded to divorce.
There's also something I ought to say about how not-only-Catholics believe we are commanded to eat human flesh (notably, His), but as I am not Catholic I will simply note Jesus did command it, whatever that might have meant.