We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.
Contemplating Food Choices
As many of you know, Shelley and I have been vegetarians for the last eight years or so. This is a personal conviction, not a doctrine, but there are compelling reasons for adopting this lifestyle. The main conviction that led me to quit eating meat was that I felt I should never kill anything out of convenience or for pleasure. A close second was that the way animals are treated on industrial farms is absolutely hideous. As a person who’s first mandate from God is to reflect reflect his loving character by caring for the earth and the animal kingdom (Gen 1:26-28), I feel strongly that I should not participate in, let alone benefit from, this barbaric and even torturous treatment in any way. (I encourage all meat-eating followers of Christ to find out how your food choices impact animals and to buy your meat only from free-range ranch farms.) Since Shelley and I have made this decision, we have notice many other unintended benefits as well. For example, we’ve both observed significant health benefits. It’s been good for our food budget. And I almost immediately noticed a greater appreciation for, and delight in, the inherent worth of all living things.
All that being said, here is a really interesting article that should give all people — but especially followers of Christ — another reason to adopt a vegetarian diet. In fact, it seems to me that, even if there were no other benefits to becoming a vegetarian, the future that this article paints could be (I almost wrote, “should be”) reason enough. I hope you read it with an open mind and heart.
May we all become the stewards God calls us to be!
From the article:
Adopting a vegetarian diet is one option to increase the amount of water available to grow more food in an increasingly climate-erratic world, the scientists said. Animal protein-rich food consumes five to 10 times more water than a vegetarian diet. One third of the world’s arable land is used to grow crops to feed animals. Other options to feed people include eliminating waste and increasing trade between countries in food surplus and those in deficit.
Image by Mark Rosenberg. Used in accordance with Creative Commons. Sourced via Flickr.
Category: General
Tags: Kingdom Living, Vegetarianism
Topics: Creation Care
Related Reading
Greg’s Response to Driscoll’s “Is God a Pacifist?” Part II
Waiting For The Word via Compfight To prove that “Jesus is not a pansy or a pacifist,” Driscoll by-passes the Gospels (understandably, given what Jesus has to say about the use of violence) and instead cites a passage from Revelation. This is a strategy Driscoll has used before. In an interview in Relevant Magazine several years…
Did Jesus Instruct Us to Arm Ourselves?
Over the past few posts, I’ve been dealing with the passages that are frequently used to argue how Jesus condoned violence. One of these takes place just after the last supper and just before Jesus and his disciples were going to travel to the Mount of Olives to pray. To prepare his disciples, Jesus tells them;…
Taking the Lord’s Name in Vain
These things need to stop as it relates to our faith and our politics. Image by Katie Tegtmeyer. Sourced via Flickr.
Sermon: The Pygmy Way
Last weekend Greg preached about the history of Woodland Hills Church as a part of the church’s 20th anniversary. It’s a pretty fun walk down memory lane as well as a challenge to follow the “pygmy way” even when it looks silly. If you’d like to download the sermon you can find it here.
What Kind of Sinners Feel Welcomed by Your Church?
Perhaps the greatest indictment on evangelical churches today is that they are not generally known as refuge houses for sinners—places where hurting, wounded, sinful people can run and find love that does not question, an understanding that does not judge, and an acceptance that knows no conditions. To be sure, evangelical churches are usually refuge…
Let’s Remember
In light of the events in the last few days involving attacks on American diplomats in foreign countries (and the ensuing political conflict), let’s remember one thing: Our fight is not with flesh and blood. As Christians, our real enemy is not Libyans or Egyptians or Muslims or President Obama or Governor Romney. Our enemy…