Devotion that set me to thinking

ursen

ursen

Officer SOE/LoE/Where's "here"?
Ran across this in my devotional time today:
http://www.todayintheword.org/titw_devotion.aspx

I thought it was interesting that a church ministry would strive for unity to this extent. How far are we personally willing to go for unity in Christ? I don't mean compromise the basic gospel message, but to reach out to our brothers and sisters in Christ to celebrate not only salvation in Christ, but the wonderful tapestry of individuality that makes up the warp and weave of the Church Eternal. You might want to google Square Inch ministries, I have not seen anything quit like that in a long, long time. Especially note where the term Square Inch comes from. Much to think about.
 
I wonder how many Christians are actually vegans or vegetarians due to religious reasons? In our small group we actually have 2 families that are vegetarian. Both live that lifestyle, not for religious reasons, but for health ideas.

Granted, there might be Christians who have issues with eating meat for religious reasons, but I expect they are the exception rather than the rule.
 
Very interesting way to live out Scripture. I don't think that would be an easy sell with our congregation. I do know one woman who is vegetarian and I believe for Scriptural reasons. I would have to investigate that further. We've talked theology (she's in school to become ordained in her tradition) but we haven't explored that particular angle.

Now maybe this should be somewhere else, or in a different thread but this is the second time it's come up so I am going to ask. To me, vegan and vegetarian are different things. I've known a few vegetarians who have chosen to eat non-animal product for health or ethical reasons. (On a side note, I've know people who practice vegetarianism to different extents, some who eat dairy products, and even one who ate chicken but that's a whole other story.) They stuck to their personal choice, but they didn't look down upon, or attempt to "convert" others who choose to eat animal products. Vegans on the other hand were the radical vegetarians, the kind who ran into the college cafeteria and threw balloons filled with red paint at people eating hamburgers yelling "meat is murder." Has our society made the two terms interchangeable now?
 
I thought vegans were no animal products/byproducts whatsoever, while vegetarians allowed some animal products (i.e. milk).
 
Patriot said:
I thought vegans were no animal products/byproducts whatsoever, while vegetarians allowed some animal products (i.e. milk).
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That's why I'm asking, I figure I have the wrong conception but would like to get clarification.
 
Looking at history through a wider lens, Americans eat way, way, way too much meat. In centuries past, meat was less than the majority of the meal for the masses. Now it seems like it makes up the bulk of most Americans' meals.

</soapbox>

EDIT: I'm not a vegan or a vegetarian, but I rarely eat red meat and believe that there are significant health benefits in drastically reducing our meat intake and substituting other foods for essential nutrients such as protein. On the flip side, I <3 a good steak on rare occasions. :)
 
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Tek7 said:
Looking at history through a wider lens, Americans eat way, way, way too much meat. In centuries past, meat was less than the majority of the meal for the masses. Now it seems like it makes up the bulk of most Americans' meals.
Click to expand...
But one must realize that meat was far more difficult and expensive to come by in centuries past. Not to mention, they had a significantly shorter lifespan. And how does one go about properly classifying the "proper" amount of meat to eat?

I'm not saying that large quantities of it are good for us, but using the past as the guideline seems a bit dodgy.
 
lol - interesting thread.

My wife and I went gluten-free, sugar-free, vegan about eighteen months ago. Purely health reasons.

The difference between vegan and vegetarian is not how fanatical/militant you are or are not, but what you have chosen to not eat, Kahiel.

Patriot is correct...vegans abstain from not only meat but cheese, eggs, and dairy of any kind. In restaurants waiters are surprised when I say no cheese or sour cream on their vegetarian offerings.

I do know some people who want to spiritualize being vegan or vegetarian by going back to Genesis and saying it is God's diet, or going back to the Daniel diet from Daniel 1. Fine, if they want to, but there is no denying that God had Noah take extra meat on the hoof in the ark, or that Jesus probably ate lamb and even cooked fish for the disciples. Get as spiritual as you want, but if Jesus did it you cannot argue that it is ungodly to eat meat.

For us - it is health, better health.
 
Abba San said:
I do know some people who want to spiritualize being vegan or vegetarian by going back to Genesis and saying it is God's diet, or going back to the Daniel diet from Daniel 1. Fine, if they want to, but there is no denying that God had Noah take extra meat on the hoof in the ark, or that Jesus probably ate lamb and even cooked fish for the disciples. Get as spiritual as you want, but if Jesus did it you cannot argue that it is ungodly to eat meat.
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Ah! This, this is part of the conversation on vegetarianism/veganism I'd love to have. See, I would never say that it's "ungodly to eat meat" for the reasons you've mentioned. That said, I've been thinking about vegetarianism in terms of biblically-rooted idealism. If meat eating wasn't part of the program pre-fall, and if is not part of the way things will be in heaven (which memory is silent on the matter of whether or not meat eating or lack thereof can be reasonably inferred from Scripture), then perhaps meatlessness is a worthwhile ideal to consider. Most certainly not a mandatory act. Still, it's something I've been pondering for a few weeks now.


All that said, back to the original post, I do think that the vegan event is a really cool and laudable way to go. And this is also coming from a carnivore-leaning omnivore.
 
Tek7 said:
Looking at history through a wider lens, Americans eat way, way, way too much meat. In centuries past, meat was less than the majority of the meal for the masses. Now it seems like it makes up the bulk of most Americans' meals.

</soapbox>

EDIT: I'm not a vegan or a vegetarian, but I rarely eat red meat and believe that there are significant health benefits in drastically reducing our meat intake and substituting other foods for essential nutrients such as protein. On the flip side, I <3 a good steak on rare occasions. :)
Click to expand...

You also have to remember that when the high fat, high calorie, high carb diet people work working very very hard. They easily burned off all the fat and calories working. People don't realize that most of the time and we've maintained that kind of diet despite the relative ease of our lives.

Thanks for the clarification Abba. I talked with my friend who is a vegetarian (accurate use of the term) and she stopped more for "ethical" reasons and her husband for heath reasons.

I do know some people who want to spiritualize being vegan or vegetarian by going back to Genesis and saying it is God's diet, or going back to the Daniel diet from Daniel 1. Fine, if they want to, but there is no denying that God had Noah take extra meat on the hoof in the ark, or that Jesus probably ate lamb and even cooked fish for the disciples. Get as spiritual as you want, but if Jesus did it you cannot argue that it is ungodly to eat meat.
Click to expand...
My wife's grandparents were turned on to some allegedly Biblical diet where they only ate vegetables but they weren't allowed to drink (even water) while they ate, they couldn't mix certain foods and they drank colloidal silver and some wheat grass drink which the family called pond scum (it stained the wood work when it spilled). Yet on Thanksgiving or Christmas, they would stuff themselves on all the food rather than eating vegetarian.
 
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