In answer to the prompt about eating meat

To some degree, I do understand the concepts behind being a vegetarian. I have heard a few. Dining on nothing but veggies and fruits does seem as if it might help a person remain healthier. I mean, I listen to the doctors and it would seem that meats are full of all sorts of horrible stuff.

However, at 74, I’ve seen vegetarians pass on, same as most of us omnivores. However, I do believe some are more sensitive to meat and meat byproducts than others. I have seen folks badly sick almost instantly recover by giving up meat.

On the other hand, there are some that eating bread can bring on death. If I permitted my wife, she would like to eat nothing but peanut butter. Nowadays, we know peanuts are virtually poison to some. By the way, I do like peanuts. From time to time, I eat them by the handfull. It is a very good alternative source of protein.

Are some people sensitive to meat, apparently. Others not so much. We are different. I suspect it is because we have different ansesestry.

Some folks like to go hunting and fishing. I don’t go in for that sort of thing myself. I don’t like killing things. However, I don’t have anything against others doing it. As they say, I do my hunting and fishing at the supermarket. I hate it, but it does amount to the same thing. I just don’t have to deal with the actual shedding of blood.

I don’t know what I’d do if all of a sudden, I had to do all my own hunting and slaughtering. It just might turn me into a vegetarian.

However, as to if it is wrong, I have it on great authority that there is nothing wrong with it. After the flood, God gave us permission to eat flesh. In Exodus, God told us to eat the passover dinner, which included meat. In the story of the wayword son, Jesus speaks of killing the fatted calf. Finally, the proof positive, Jesus prepared fish for his deciples and Himself.

In the old Testament, God makes it quite clear that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness. Cain’s sacrifice was not acceptable because it contained no animal sacrifice.

I remember the first time reading through the first 5 books and thinking how horrible it was. There was the sacrifice for this and for that. I guess it is a picture of just how horrible sin is that it requires so much sacrifice.

However, how quickly things changed. In the old testament, the sacrice was an animal. In the new testament, suddenly, the sacrifice was a man. Not just any man, but the Son of God.

I have often thought, in order for me to live, He had to die. Up until that time, the sacrifices were temporary and a portrait of what was to come. When Jesus gave Himself, it was the real thing and permanent, past, presnt and future. The need for animal sacrifice went away. The picture was replaced with reality.

Maybe the vegetarian doesnt really see the full significance of the image. I mean, when we eat meat, that animal dies so I can live. Jesus really did die so we can live. More than that, He did it willingly. It is the primary reason He was born into this world.

He prayed that if there was any other way, but there wasn’t. So He laid down His life for us. By the way, that puts the exclamation point to the statement that there is no other way… no other religion will work!

As a side note, it tells us how horrible our sin is. No other sacrifice is sufficient. No other payment will work.

Yes. I eat meat. God said it’s okay. Still I don’t like it that animals must die for my benefit. I have faith in Jesus for my salvation. I believe He died for me. I don’t like it that my sin was the reason for His death. It is something that I will never be able to repay Him for, but maybe I ought to try. For sure I ought to give Him all my thanks and all the credit. He really did earn it, you know.