Why be Vegan?
Why am I starting this Blog? Why do I feel the need to speak passionately about my Faith and my Lifestyle Choice? Why do I even want to defend my position?
Aside from the health benefits, I believe professing Christians could, and should, do more for the animals and their welfare. All too often I have heard Christians speaking and acting as if animals don’t matter; as if animals were simply put on this Earth for our amusement and our dinner.
Others have said it is more important to be kind to and look after people’s needs rather than worrying about the animals; but I wasn’t aware that we had to choose. Do we have to pick one group to be kind to? Is kindness and, dare I say even love, restricted to one part of God’s glorious creation?
I even heard one Preacher in a local church boldly declare from the pulpit that, although he loved his dog, his pet did not have a soul! I wondered if that Preacher had ever looked into his dog’s eyes and seen the beautiful loving soul that lay just behind them? Did he seriously believe such a thing? And I thought, that day, if that is really what he truly believed, why he hadn’t just got a pet rock instead. It certainly would have been a lot less expensive and would have been a lot easier to look after.
To think that animals do not have a soul means that, at best, people have little regard for them, while that attitude taken to its worst conclusion can lead to the utmost cruelty.
Unfortunately this kind of thinking is all too common within Christian circles and I have no idea why.
I would like to try and make some small difference in setting the record straight, though many of the Faith will not agree with me; even though my stand-point may hit a nerve. The Bible teaches very clearly about God’s great love for us. A love that led the Creator Himself to Calvary. I would surmise that all Christians agree with me on that point.
However, I believe His Word also shows God’s abounding love for His entire creation, and that includes every living creature. His love encompasses all, and the story of redemption is for the animals too.
Many will point out that I am not a Biblical scholar. If that means I don’t have letters after my name, then that is true. But if we all had to be scholars in order to understand how God not only loves us but the entire world and everything in it, then we are in trouble indeed. The Gospel that saves is simple, and we can debate the rest.
Don’t misunderstand me. I am not a universalist. It is man who has the choice where to spend eternity. I will get to that in later posts.
However, in this Blog, I will put forward what I believe to be true about the animals’ place in God’s plan. One can take it or leave it. But before you leave it. I would ask you one question.
If God created a world which He Himself declared as ‘very good,’ then why do we think it acceptable to treat any part of His creation with anything other than the utmost love and respect?
‘In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.’
Job 12:10