The Herbivore Family
Introduction to Christian Veganism
Should all Christians be vegan? Should all vegans be Christian? Do all cannibals go to hell? No, we’re not doing that last one. All right, let’s break this one down. It’s a complicated topic, but it’s important because it often comes up as a point of discussion. I oftentimes hear from people when I’m talking to them that, “Well, this is just how God intended it. Animals are put here for us. We have dominion over the animals. God says that it’s okay to eat meat. You should go read a Bible.” And so that’s what I did. I decided to go do the research because I kept hearing this as a justification. So I wanted to go and look and see if the Bible said anything that might be different or point a Christian in a different direction—that might point them towards living a vegan lifestyle. And then I also did a bunch of research talking to other Christians, even Christian pastors, about this subject. Now this article isn’t meant as me just telling you if you’re a Christian that you should be a vegan, or if you’re a vegan you should be a Christian or anything like that. It’s not meant to be telling you what to do. I’m just going to tell you what I found in my research, and then you can question it all you want on your own.
God’s Ideal Vision for Creation
The first thing that I wanted to point to is God’s ideal vision for the planet, and for that I’m going to turn to Genesis 1:29: “Then God 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.'” That’s God’s ideal vision for the planet: for us to eat plants, no animals. It wasn’t described that we were eating animals yet; in fact, that’s not mentioned until Noah. So it just seems like the perfect vision that God created, his ideal vision for the planet, was for us to be vegan. And it’s not just in Genesis in the beginning; it’s also talked about at the end times as well. Isaiah 65:25 says, “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like an ox, but the serpent, its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on my holy mountain.” So it also says here in end times that we’re going to be vegan; even the lion and the ox are going to eat straw together and no one will hurt each other. There will be no harm. It seems like God has an ideal vision in the beginning when he created the planet and also at end times that we’re going to be living a vegan lifestyle. His ideal vision is no harm.
Living in Alignment with the Divine Ideal
So my question is, even if in other parts of the Bible it says that you could eat animals in a circumstance or whatever it is, and it’s totally okay, I want to ask: how would it be better for you to live out of alignment with God’s perfect vision rather than living in alignment with his perfect vision and living a vegan lifestyle and eating a plant-based diet? Now also, even if there are these situations where it says you could eat meat, do you have to eat meat? I asked all of my friends that are Christians that I was talking to about this article, and I asked the Christian pastors if there was anywhere in the Bible where it says to be a Christian you have to eat meat. No one could point me to that. And there are plenty of examples where people don’t eat animals. Not only in the beginning of times before the fall of man where everyone was a vegan, and really up until Noah I think it was where anybody actually ate animals—so everybody in the Bible before that was vegan or vegetarian—but also there’s the story of Daniel. Daniel 1:8, 11-12, and then 15 say, “But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the Royal rations of food and wine [which were animals]. Then Daniel asked… ‘Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink.’ At the end of 10 days it was observed that they appeared better and fatter than all the young men who had been eating the Royal rations.” So not only does it say that Daniel refused the food and refused the meat—he was vegan eating vegetables for these days—but it also says that they were all healthier. Not just healthy, but healthier. So the Bible might say something about a justification regarding eating animals, but do you have to eat animals in order to be a Christian? How would it not be better for you to live in alignment with God’s perfect vision?
The Commandment to Love Thy Neighbor
So this brings me to section number 2: caring about other human beings, and if veganism would actually make more sense or if it would make less sense. Now there’s this common message in the Bible about loving your neighbor. In fact, when Jesus was asked what the greatest Commandments were, this is what he said in Matthew 22:37-39: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” So Jesus here says that loving your neighbor as yourself is the second greatest commandment, second only to loving God. And that’s not the only place where this message is delivered. John 13:34-35: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” And then in John 15:12-13: “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” So this isn’t even just talking about just being nice to your neighbor and treating them well; it’s saying that you should love them so much, as like the greatest example of love would be to lay down one’s life in sacrifice. So there’s very clearly this message about caring about other human beings.
The Human Cost of Animal Consumption
So the question is: are you not caring about other human beings if you’re not being a vegan or living a vegan lifestyle? Well, due to animal agriculture, unfortunately, there are a lot of negative impacts in human suffering. You can take a look at slaughterhouse workers who have higher rates of PTSD, suicide, and domestic violence. You can take a look at world hunger and how part of the solution could certainly be us transitioning to a plant-based diet. You could also talk about pandemics. Right now I’m writing this and quarantined in my house or shelter-in-place in my house because of coronavirus, which at this point in time of writing this article has over a million cases of people having it and then also there’s been over 70,000 cases of death. So it’s certainly causing harm to human beings, and where does it come from? Animal agriculture. And it’s not just coronavirus; it’s MERS, it’s SARS, it’s H1N1, it’s bird flu, it’s mad cow disease, swine flu. All these things that are causing so much harm and suffering to human beings—not only to their health but to their jobs and having to file for unemployment. There’s so much harm that is caused from animal consumption. Then you can take a look at your personal health, which, like heart disease, is our number one killer of all humans on the entire planet. And the only diet ever proven to reverse heart disease, our number one killer, is a whole food plant-based vegan diet. So in all of these ways, animal agriculture is negatively affecting human beings: their wealth, their jobs with these pandemics, their health with these pandemics, their health with heart disease, the slaughterhouse workers, the people that live next to animal agriculture and have higher rates of certain types of cancers. It’s an unfortunate reality, but animal agriculture harms human beings. If we’re called to love other human beings as ourselves, would it be more in alignment to live a vegan lifestyle?
Avoiding Stumbling Blocks
So now there’s another way though that this also might be harming other human beings. “I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died.” So it’s saying: do not cause your brother or sister to be distressed because of what you eat. Now vegans sometimes can be different. Sometimes vegans, for whatever reason, could be okay with eating around you if you’re eating animal products. But I know for myself and plenty of other vegans, that does cause us to be stressed out because we don’t like being around dead animals and it causes us to be uncomfortable. So if it’s calling for you to not cause your brother or sister to be distressed because of what you eat, it might be better in these circumstances—depending on who you’re with and what type of vegan it is—to maybe share a vegan meal with them instead, instead of causing them to be distressed by what you’re eating. Now there’s another part of this that I think is really important too: Romans 14:19-21, where it says, “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.” So this is saying do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. To me, I mean that’s pretty clear. But it also says in Romans it’s better not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything else that causes your brother or sister to fall. While eating animals and contributing to animal agriculture individually and as a species is causing a ton of harm to our brothers and sisters, it is causing them to literally fall dead, but also it’s causing them to fall in the way of stumbling with their walk with God. Like if it’s causing them to literally die, they can’t be as strong in their faith. It is causing these struggles for human beings; it is causing them to fall, it is causing them to stumble, it is causing harm to them. So if the Bible is saying that we should care about other human beings, which according to Jesus is the second greatest commandment of all, then it seems to me that it would be pretty clear that living a vegan lifestyle would have a lot of advantages and be more in alignment with your views as a Christian.
Stewardship of the Environment
Section number 3: the environment. Now here I’m going to go pretty quick. I’m just actually going to go back to the verse in Romans where it says, “Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food.” Now God created this planet and we are destroying it through a variety of different ways. It’s not just through animal agriculture, but animal agriculture is one of the leading causes of environmental destruction. It’s the leading cause of habitat destruction, species extinction, oceanic dead zones. It causes up to 91 percent of our rainforest deforestation and destruction, takes 45 percent of our ice-free land, 33 percent of our clean water. I mean, it takes 660 gallons of water just to make one quarter-pound burger from cow meat. So it takes all these resources; it causes a ton of destruction and pollution. And in fact, if we switch to a plant-based diet, a lot of that would be eliminated or greatly reduced. According to an Oxford study, which is the most comprehensive study ever done on the relationship between farming and the environment, we could reduce our land use from farming by 75% if we switched to a plant-based diet as a species. We could free up 75% of the land. How much less destruction would we cause? A ton, by switching to a plant-based diet. So a lot less destruction of God’s work. And on top of that, it also said as far as greenhouse gases that we could reduce greenhouse gases from food by up to 73 percent. So we could have a good impact there too. So again, as far as the environment goes, it seems like living a vegan lifestyle, plant-based diet lifestyle, would be more in alignment with your views of not destroying God’s plan.
Health and the Body as a Temple
Section for your health: does the Bible say anywhere that we should take care of our own bodies and our own health? First Corinthians 6:19-20: “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.” So it says that we should take care of our bodies and that they’re, you know, houses for the Holy Spirit. So in this circumstance, we should take care of our bodies. Now, can you be unhealthy as a vegan? Absolutely. Like the classic example of french fries and beer or Oreos and beer—something can be vegan but also still be not healthy for you. So it doesn’t all of a sudden mean that you are healthy. But again, when we take a look at like heart disease, our number one killer, the only thing that’s reversed it is a whole food plant-based vegan diet. And when we take a look at the longest-living population on the entire planet, it’s the Seventh-day Adventists, which have a large vegan group. So not only can you be healthy as an example for Daniel and take care of your body where he was healthier, but the same for the Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda who are vegan for religious reasons. It certainly makes sense in this circumstance that if you care about your health, living a whole food plant-based and a vegan lifestyle in that way would also still be more in alignment with your views as a Christian.
Veganism: Religion or Moral Principle?
So the last bit here I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about, which is just that the conversations that I’ve had with people have been amazing, super fruitful. They’ve helped me; they pointed me to some of these verses, and Christian pastors and Christians have really helped me put this article together. So thanks to you guys who helped with this. But also in this, a couple of interesting things. One, I always thought it was interesting because they almost always left the conversation taking something away and planned on making changes. But also on top of that, one question almost always got returned which is: “Well, if Christians should be vegan, then shouldn’t vegans be Christian?” Simply put: no. No. Now they can be. Vegans can be Christians, but vegans can also be any other religion. And I think this comes from people thinking that veganism is a religion, but it’s not. It’s just a moral principle about avoiding harm to animals. It’s similar to like being against murder. Now if you’re Christian, you’re against murder because it’s one of the commandments. But if you’re against murder, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re a Christian or that you believe in Jesus or God. Veganism is the same way. You don’t have to forsake your religion to believe in veganism because it’s not a belief: there’s no god, there’s no talk about what happens in the afterlife, there’s no Messiah. So just like the Seventh-day Adventists in Loma Linda, you can be a Christian and also live a vegan lifestyle. They go together, but it’s not necessarily the other way around. I know vegans of all different types of religions and backgrounds; you don’t have to be Christian if you’re a vegan.
A Call to Alignment
So to close up, I want to close up with a couple of final thoughts. One, again, I thought this was really fruitful research and I found really a lot of really great stuff out of it and really appreciate the conversations that I’ve had about this. But I do want to question you: if you’re a Christian, is living a vegan lifestyle more in alignment with your own views as a Christian, or is it less in alignment? You can let me know what you think. But again, it’s in alignment with what God had as a perfect vision in Genesis and in end times; it causes less harm to other human beings; it could be better for your body if you’re eating a whole food plant-based diet; it’s better for the environment and not destroying God’s work. So for me, the case is overwhelming that if you’re a Christian, you should consider living a vegan lifestyle because it’s more in alignment with what your morals are and where they come from out of the Bible. I just think maybe it’s worth thinking about. And again, if you have questions, you can share your thoughts.
The Hypothetical Choice of Jesus
But a final couple of questions or hypotheticals that I’ll leave you with is just one really important one, which is: if Jesus was here today in this world—not Jesus two thousand years ago, but Jesus here today—and he had the choice between eating something like a salad or an apple or something else, or eating an animal, and he knew which he would choose (because he would know everything that eating the animal is going to cause: all of this harm to other human beings, and it’s going to contribute to planet destruction and God’s work being destroyed, and it might stress out other human beings and cause just all the suffering), which one do you think he would choose? And I think about it also: if like Jesus and the devil were in the room together, one of them was going to eat an apple, one of them was going to stab an animal and bleed it out and eat it, who’s doing what? Like, I think about the devil as like an antithesis of God. They’re trying to get you—the devil trying to get you to sin and do the bad things. So devil bad, God good. If God thinks that killing animals in, you know, stabbing them, that’s the good thing, and the devil is trying to get you to sin to do the bad thing, what’s the bad thing then? If stabbing animals is good and eating them is good and killing them—the death—is good, then the devil wants you to pet them? So you let me know if you’re Christian, not a Christian, either way. Let me know what your thoughts are. Let me know what your questions are. If you enjoyed the article, please share it. And I just want to leave you with one last verse, which is the golden rule from Matthew 7:12: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.” Thanks for reading.
