Food
Christians Eating Animals
May 10th
If you’re not a believer in the Bible, feel free to stop reading now. Sure, it may give you some insight about the way Christians (and probably Jews, as well) think and make decisions about behavior, but none of the following debate will be written for anyone who isn’t interested in following scripture….you’ve been warned :)
Ok, so….if you’re still reading, you’re someone who is attempting, more and more every day, to live the way God wants us to live, right? You make a conscious effort to learn more about who God is and what he wants us to be as each day passes, correct? You’re someone who believes God is difficult to fully comprehend, therefore believe that each day we can learn (or relearn) things that we didn’t know about Him…is that right?
If so, why have so many Christians buried their heads in the sand when it comes to eating animals?
Pretending To Sleep
I read a great quote in a book called Eating Animals recently which wasn’t written about Christians, specifically, but made me think of us directly. Paraphrasing, it said something like this:
“You can wake up a sleeping man with the slightest sound but no amount of noise, no matter how loud, can wake someone pretending to sleep.”
Think about what this means for a minute. It roughly means that if someone truly is ignorant of an issue, the slightest peek into it can wake a desire to learn more, to grow, and to understand what else lies beneath. However, someone who is reamining willfully ignorant (ie. they know there’s more to learn but refuse to) won’t be driven to action by any amount of fact, any argument, or any otherwise convincing truth.
The Movie
I can’t tell you how tired I am of hearing about Food Inc. when it comes to our food supply. I know, I know. I should be happy that it’s waking people up to some very basic ideas about where our food comes from. But there’s two reactions that drive me insane when we talk about those ‘pretending to sleep’:
- I don’t want to see that movie because… This reaction is extremely common and when I hear it coming out of the mouth of a Christian, I seriously doubt the authenticitiy of their faith.“Are you insane? You’re saying because I don’t want to watch Food Inc. I’m not really a Christian???” Indirectly that’s exactly what I’m saying, but not for the reason you think. By making a statement like this, you’re saying you don’t want to improve your life, your family, your responsibility, or who you are as a person simply because “you want to eat what you want to eat” and don’t want to change.. This unwillingness to better yourself, especially in a situation where you already know what the outcome will be, is a blatant spit in the face of God. You know what’s right and you refuse to look it in the face. To me this is the sign of an inactive faith.
- The second thing that drives me crazy about the movie is that people see it, encounter the facts, but make no real change or, even worse, commit to change for a month or two, then fall back into their lives. I applaud this group for being willing to change, but am sad that they lack the willpower to sustain it. I guess I don’t judge the faith of these folks…only their priorities.
Back To Animals
Ok, that was a big tangent. Back to Christians eating animals.
I’ve mentioned many times the question my tattoo artist asked me that began this change in me. He asked why more Christians aren’t vegetarians (he truly didn’t understand). He said “In Genesis God created Adam and Eve to eat plants, not animals…why don’t you try and live how He created you?”. To me, this was the slight noise that woke me as I slept. I couldn’t ever shake it.
Over the years that followed I thought more and more about this and asked lots of questions. I never heard a satisfying answer. In God’s perfect creation, animals were not for consumption. Shouldn’t we strive to be as close to what He intended as possible?
The Food Inc. rant wasn’t totally unrelated, I suppose. As I read all of the books that lead up to the creation of that film, my eyes opened further. We weren’t only failing to eat as God originally intended, we were systematically harming His creation in the process.
The Earth Is The Lords And Everything In It…
This verse from Psalms sums it up. The Earth is God’s as are all the plants and animals in it. They are not ours. They are His. I think of this each time I think about eating animals. Personally, I’m not going to argue that, at this point in time, God condemns us for eating animals. I believe that when He told Noah that it was permissible, He meant it (even if it wasn’t ideal). So, in theory, I don’t think we’re violating God’s creation or his will by eating meat. The problem is that before our meat is meat…it’s a living, breathing animal created and loved by God.
Preparing Animals
In our society we forget that animals are alive. To share a phrase I heard recently which I loved for it’s simplicity: “You know that the chicken you’re eating is a CHICKEN…right?” Sometimes we forget something so simple. We treat them like wheat, or sugarcane, or corn: A raw food product that needs to be processed so we can stuff it down our gullet. The problem is these animals are not food, they’re animals. They feel pain. They panic. They can be tortured. And this, to put it mildly, is exactly how we treat God’s animals before we eat it.
Cows being skinned alive and dismembered while still conscious are not anomolies in our food system. They keep statistics on this stuff and it happens consistently. Chickens who are injected with drugs and cross bread so they are so huge (and so sick) that they can’t stand up and their organs can’t function isn’t an exception: It’s the method they use to raise the chicken you buy in the grocery store. Cutting off pig tails, forcing sows to have piglets in a box so small they can’t move isn’t an exception: it’s standard practice in the industry…it’s the way our food is created every day.
I could spend volumes on all the horrendous practices that are used to raise our food which are standard practices used every day in every factory but it could fill many thousand page books (and has), so go read those if you’re truly sleeping (ie. not willfully ignorant). It is 100% guaranteed that if you buy meat from a supermarket, you’re buying meat that comes from animals that have been mistreated and abused. It’s that simple.
Do You Care?
If you do a little bit of reading instead of remaining willfully ignorant, you’ll see that what I’m talking about here is not some hippie extremest liberal philosophy. It’s the truth: God’s living breathing creation is being abused because we can’t get enough bacon. As a Christian only one last question remains. Do you care?
Personal Issue or Call To Action?
In the previously mentioned book, Eating Animals, the author makes another point that resonated strongly with my experience. He says that sometimes it’s very difficult to distringuish between a personal choice, something I’ve decided to do for myself and my family, and something so important that you should ask others to stand with you. Is the issue of Christians eating factory meat something I should be silent about or say “it’s just my opinion” or should I ask others to learn about and commit to standing together with me to fight?
Up until now, it’s been the former. Sure, I’ll tell someone about why I don’t eat meat whenever they ask but I’ve never…EVER…asked someone else to make the choices I have (except my family). I’ve never condemned someone else for eating meat. I’ve never expected they should come to the same conclusions I have. However, the more I learn about the issue, the more I see Christians “pretending to sleep” when it comes to treatment of God’s creation, I have a harder time staying quiet. I have a harder time not asking people to stand with me.
Are You Sleeping? (or pretending to sleep?)
If you’re a Christian, look at yourself and ask if you’re truly sleeping (in which case, reading this is a little sound to wake you) or if you’re pretending to sleep. If the former, then I ask you to learn more. Read more about the issue (I’ve got a library of books I can loan or recommend). Think about how we’re treating God’s creation, His beloved animals. Think about what God thinks about how we treat them…does it make Him sad and angry? The more you learn, I think the more you’ll be convinced that it does.
If you’re pretending to sleep and are remaining willfully ignorant of this issue (or any other about which so much is known), I view that as a sign that you’re not serious about following God. You value your selfish wants more than His precious creation. I look at that and see not just a sinful person (which we all are), I see a willfully sinful person, which means a whole different thing.
Hear that little noise in the background? It’s your wakeup call. Will you wake or continue pretending to sleep?
The Price We Pay
May 7th
No, this isn’t written about you specifically. I hear the same thing from everyone at least once a week. Sure, you may be one of the people who have said it to me, but you’re not alone…I hear it all the time.
I can’t afford to eat healthy food. It’s too expensive.
Whether you’ve said it out loud or not, alot of people use this as their reason for not eating good, real, healthy food. Sometimes I think they’ve even convinced themselves that it’s true. Today I want to look at this idea and share why I think it’s a complete cop out.
Tell The Truth
When people say this, I think primarily they’re lying. Not to me (necessarily) but to themselves. They don’t really want to go through the hassle of finding out what it would cost if they actually ate real foods as opposed to processed junk. They like processed junk and, honestly, just want the conversation to be over. Afterall, money is a private issue so by saying “I can’t afford it” you basically shut down the conversation. What am I supposed to do to convince you otherwise, ask for pay stubs?
I wish people would be more honest and just say what’s true: “I don’t really care enough to change.” If they said this during a conversation, sure I’d probably think they were lazy, but at least they were honest.
Priorities
When people lie about their desire to eat healthier, they’re not really lying per se. Maybe they really do want to eat healthier, but in reality they want something else more: to stay the same. Human nature wants to be better, to improve…but part of who we are also fears that change. Therefore we can want to change, but at the same time we can want to stay the same more. It’s all about priorities.
When someone talks about changing what they eat, it’s really about priorities. What do you want more than changing how you eat? Do you want to keep eating in resturaunts? Do you want to keep buying new clothes or living in a big house? Do you want to (fill in any way you spend your money that’s not food and shelter here) ? When someone says “I can’t afford to eat healthy” what they’re really saying is “I value eating healthy less than other things that take my money.”
If you live in America and have at least a minimum wage income, not being able to afford real food (like rice, beans, flour, fruits, and veggies) really means that you spent that money on something else…you had other priorities. The poorest people in the world live on ‘real’ food (granted, much less of it)…and you’re telling me you can’t? That you can only afford junk? It’s simply not true.
Change What You Eat
When people say “I can’t afford healthy food” they also mean “I can’t afford healthy food AND all the processed crap I still buy, AND all the meat I want to eat.” Affording to eat real food means eating differently. It means you stop buying anything in a box or bag and put that money into something better. That’s step one: stop wasitng money on fake food.
Meat costs alot of money (not to mention the unspeakable system that provides the meat you buy..that will be saved for another post). If you want to eat better, it means cutting out a lot of your meat consumption and spending that money on vegetables, fruits, and grains.
“But…but….but….I don’t want to eat less meat!”
Do you love meat more than eating ‘real food’? Again, it’s priority. The rest of the world eats a TINY fraction of the meat people in America eat and are healthier than we are. Most diets over the course of history have contained very little meat. Every study anywhere shows that people who eat no meat are healthier than those who do. Americans have this “we need meat to live” mentality and it’s completely false. God didn’t build us to eat meat (read Genesis if you’re a Bible person) and we certainly don’t need it. I’m not asking you to be vegan…I’m just asking you to understand that this ‘necessary meat’ claim is totally bogus. Oh, and not eating meat is cheaper than eating it. More money for fruits and veggies (or at least tofu, which is REALLY cheap).
When you start eating like this, you’ll eat less because you’re getting the nutrients you need and not filling your body with processed flour and sugar. Eating less means saving money (and losing weight, if you care about that kind of thing). Affording to eat ‘better’ means changing how you eat. Is it a priority?
Pay Now or Pay Later
“I can’t afford healthy food” means, more than anything, that you will be sicker and die sooner than people who do eat healthy food. If you’re a parent, think about what that means for your children. Seriously, stop and realize you’re giving your kids a shorter, sicker life than if you (and they) ate healthy. You’re telling me you can’t afford to have healthy kids? Talk about priorities!
So, you can either pay a little more for your food now, or a LOT more for medical care later. Personally, I prefer to eat better, healthier food now (and enjoy myself) and not pay to feel crappy and be hospitalized later.
Other People
The price we pay doesn’t always come as a dollar amount. Eating better means relationship struggles as well. “My wife won’t eat it” or “my kids won’t eat it” is another often heard excuse. Your relationships are your business but I’d just suggest two things:
First, you and your partner need to work on being a team. If they can honestly say they think it’s better (for you and your kids) to eat processed food than real food and want that as a role model to the kids, then there’s bigger issues here than food.
Second, if your kids won’t eat it? Too bad. Until they can get a job and pay for their own junk food, you’re in control, not them. Don’t want to fight these battles…again, that’s a priority.
Friends and dining companions are also a minor price you pay. Eating healthier food means saying ‘no, thank you’ when someone wants to meet you at McDonalds or “I’ll pass” when they give you a bowl full of Doritos. Sure, you may look like a snob, but it’s a price that has to be paid. If people don’t understand that you want to make healthier choices and they give you a hard time, this is another problem bigger than food.
Don’t Buy Organic
Buying real healthy food doesn’t mean buying organic. Can’t afford organic? Fine. Don’t buy it. But the choice isn’t between organic food and Twinkies. It’s between Twinkees and a simple bag of rice or dried beans. Don’t use organics (and their yuppie image) as an excuse not to eat healthy because it’s a false choice and another excuse. Organics are more expensive but you know why? I’ll let you answer that one….
What to Do
There’s really two choices here:
1. Stop lying (to yourself) and do your research. You can absolutely afford to eat good, healthy, real foods. You can afford to stop eating processed crap. You can afford to stop eating tortured animals. You can afford to not kill your kids at a younger age. You can afford to change. Do a little research and see what it would mean to change how you eat. It won’t cost nearly as much as you think, especially if you make it a priority.
Or…
2. You can just tell the truth. Rather than saying “I can’t afford it”, just be honest that it’s not a priority. If you’re honest with everyone, then when you’re paying those large medial bills later in life for you and your kids, at least you will know exactly what got you there. Just don’t say no one ever pointed you in a different and healthier direction.
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