The meat we eat...

As a Christian, meat eater, past ovo-lacto-vegetarian - that means I didn't eat meat but did eat eggs and milk, past hunter, and a person very disturbed by the movie Food, Inc., I decided to order an info book of what supposedly goes on with animal farming from Peta.

I must admit that I am a bit biased against Peta's tactics, but I figured their booklet might be worth a read.

After being brought to tears by the booklet, I had to stop and evaluate how true I thought it to be.
Growing up in a farming community with food processing factories all around, I knew that much of what I read was true. In fact, when I was looking to order chickens I could choose to have their beaks cut before shipping. Yikes! I've had friends that worked at a certain factory. I won't mention the name brand but I can assure you that they've previously mentioned some of these things to me. I can't say that the entire booklet was true. I'm no expert but I found nothing that I knew to be untrue in the booklet.

If you are a Christian you may find these scriptures informative. Just remember to read them in context and not take the scripture for face value. Always find out who it is being aimed at, when it was, etc.

Genesis 9 (King James Version)

¹And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.

²And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.

³Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

⁴But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.

⁵And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.

Romans 14:6-20 (King James Version)

⁶He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.

⁷For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.

⁸For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.

⁹For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.

¹⁰But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

¹¹For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

¹²So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.

¹³Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.

¹⁴I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

¹⁵But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.

¹⁶Let not then your good be evil spoken of:

¹⁷For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

¹⁸For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.

¹⁹Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.

²⁰For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.

These are just a few scriptures on the matter and I pray that I haven't messed up one line or word.

I feel like Christian vegetarians, Christian vegans, and Christian meat eaters sometimes twist these scripture to put the bible on their side. From what I've read, when it comes to eating meat it is a choice that God gives his people - Not a choice we should make for ourselves and then judge others about.

On a personal note, I feel that everyone who eats meat should have to kill the animal they eat, at least once. I don't mean this to be cruel. I've hunted animals and there comes a respect of the value of life when you are the one taking the animals life.

I found Peta's video that contained some, not all, of the material that was in the booklet. I thought it was worth sharing. Even if you eat meat you may take issue with the treatment of the animals in the video. You may not want to watch around young children, etc.

I have to admit that I've planned a week of vegetarian meals. I'm probably more in my comfort zone than most since we eat meat about 2 times a week now and I go through cycles of being disgusted by meat... strange... I know.

Blessing to all...