Food for thought

Genesis 2:9 Restoration Study Bible

And out of the ground made Yahweh Elohim to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and veil.

2:16

And Yahweh Elohim commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

Genesis 2:17 KJVS
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

When God created all living things, he saw that it was good. A question some ask themselves is, is it good to eat meat? (Acts 10) Is our freedom to kill and eat as Peter was told to do, good? Should we continue to end the lives of animals for the support of our own lives? I bring this up as the drummer and guitarist from one of my favorite bands, Tourniquet, are both vegan and have been as a band much outspoken against animal cruelty. Which is a real honest issue in my opinion.

The question that I ask, does it cause sadness to the father in heaven that we eat meat? It certainly does show in creation that we were not meant to eat meat and in punishment we are given hard labor to gain food from the land. However in the Torah God himself does Institute laws for the sacrifice of clean animals for eating. In my mind these things are given to us in fact to show us the very sacrifice that our father in heaven made for man in that he gave us his one and only begotten son to be brutally beaten, deprived of his glory, taken into mockery and mutilation eventually sacrificed so that we may live. So you ask why we no longer sacrifice animals? Because Yeshua the messiah was sacrifice enough for all of our sins. Why was Peter told to kill and eat unclean animals? why did Peter not want to obey? Because something unclean could not be sacrifice for something unclean to become clean and because now we have the real sacrifice for sin. Not merely a picture of coming perfection, but the real sacrifice made we have freedom through relationship to enjoy his salvation for both the Jew first set apart and now the gentile, once believed to be as unclean as swine. The truth being that unfaithful sacrifice for the Jew is as unclean as swine sacrifice and true fellowship from a gentile born again is as much a sweet aroma to our father in heaven.

In close, whether you eat meat, or animal byproducts, or abstain. Whether you eat pork, or abstain. Remember this brothers are to uplift each other removing the plank from within our own eye to better teach each other with whatever faith we have been given. It is not good to tear each other down but to lift each other up for the renewal of our spirit. In the end meat for food will pass away, everything will be given back into purity and that is what we are training for. The end of sin, the day death no longer supports life. All of our tears are wiped away. No longer do we abuse Yahweh’s creation. I work in arboriculture industry and can tell you that plants are as much living as animals and feel as much pain and stress and death for sustaining our sinful desires as much as the animal kingdom. While I do not believe in our condition that it is sinful to eat meat, but I would point out sin alone is responsible for the consumption of animals for food and sin alone is why men are cruel in the keeping of God’s creation which was first given to Adam. This is why I judge neither those for or against eating meat or byproducts but applaud them that have compassion for creation.

Shalom Shabbat.