Biblical Basis Of Veganism

The Biblical Basis of Veganism

Most Christians remain under the impression that non-human animals were put on Earth - by God - for us to use as we see fit. In their minds, this includes testing household products on them, making a mockery of their pristine beauty in circus’, eating and hunting them for sport or food when other viable options of nutrition exist. Contrary to popular opinion, such notions are diametrically opposed to what God has commanded.

It is not surprising that today's Christians rarely show compassion towards animals. In recent years there has been an influx of theology from TV evangelists, and those seeking status and financial gain; who seem to have sold their souls in exchange for a theology other than the one revealed by Jesus. This notion is what some term "prosperity theology." This theology has proven through practice, that it is more concerned with financial gain and worldly success, than it is with the message of Jesus the Messiah.

This prosperity theology is new, for throughout the history of Christianity вЂ" and human history itself, though there have been other problems - most people have been taught the evils associated with the desire for money rather than a quest for Truth in Christ. For when we make personal comfort the goal of our life, rather than the mind of Christ, then compassion goes out the window, with greed and apathy taking its place.

Jesus himself abrogated this unscrupulous manner of living. Rather he called us to be in the world but not of the world. We are all the People of God and scripture tells us that God will work all things out in the fullness of time. When we analyze the "prosperity theology" we can see why it is so common for Christians not only to forget our Biblical obligations to animals, but also to end up using them in the most abominable ways.

It is a tragedy that secular organizations are today often the ones leading the way in the Animal Liberation movement, when in the 1800’s and millennia prior, it had been those dedicated to serving the Divine Will. Extending the Christian ethic of love and redemption to the rest of creation, is quite simply the next logical step from conversion. If we have really been converted to the love of God, then how can we not reach out to the very living beings that He created; thus seeking only to inflict suffering when it is absolutely necessary?

I am not seeking to write an autobiographical synopsis of my progression into the vegan lifestyle and the understanding of the "New Ethic." However, it must be put in perspective - for the reader who might not be aware of the background this information was derived from - that these references are the result of years of struggle against those who use perverted, distortions of scripture as excuses for apathy and brutality.

Accordingly, I have chosen to base this study specifically upon the precepts of Judeo-Christian ideology: as the verdict in this tradition on animals has not always been favorable. The aim of this article is not only to demonstrate that Veganism is a definite aspect of the Judeo-Christian tradition, but also that Hebrew sects of the early church - such as the Nazirenes, whose teachings later endured a difficult translation into Roman mindset - were actually quite dogmatic in insisting that true followers of "the Way" adhere to a lifestyle abstinent from animal products.

Veganism In the "Old Testament"

According to Genesis, the first book of the Torah, the initial diet of humanity was a vegan diet:

"I give you all plants that bear seed everywhere on Earth, and every tree bearing fruit which yields seed: they shall be yours for food. All green plants I give for food to the wild animals, to all the birds of heaven, and to all reptiles on Earth, every living creature, it shall be theirs for food." (Genesis 1:29-31)

This is the first commandment given in the Torah, regarding dietary restrictions. What might strike one as somewhat odd, is the fact that this was not a commandment that was being handed down to the prophets of a religious denomination, for the purpose of social reform. This was simply how all of the first human beings are recorded as having eaten, according to the Torah.

Furthermore, one might concoct some obscure interpretation of this passage to justify their conventional diet; noting that this passage states that even the non-human animals subsisted upon vegetation. In Truth, to the contemporary mind that sees nothing but a Hellenized, overly-literal understanding of the Torah, reconciling anything with their superstitious views would prove impossible. For surely lions did not abstain from flesh consumption in the state of Eden.

To come at this verse with a Romanized outlook will invariably doom us to failure. Unfortunately for modern Christians who actually seek out the Truth, our religion has virtually bared adherents from accepting any writings other than those approved by the Council of Nicea in 325 a.d. Conversely, it is no secret among Judaism, that there was a written Torah given to Moses in Mount Sinai and their was also the, esoteric tradition that was only to be passed down orally, and not trusted to the inevitable distortions and mistranslations that tend to occur over time.

For many years these teachings went virtually unwritten. Some of the books of the Old Testament, following the Pentatuch, contain additional textual drafts of this oral tradition. However, the Nazirenes were some of the first people to actually commit such teachings to writing in the Gospel of Aramaic Matthew, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and many of the Gnostic "Christian" texts compiled and buried out of the censors’ reach in Nag Hammadi, Egypt. At the same time, many of the most explanatory and accepted books of Kabbalah, (literally: "The Receiving," which were also some of the writings transcribed from oral tradition), were penned by authors in Province, France and Spain. Both of these regions were areas where prominent Nazirene political exiles fled to after the fall of Jerusalem.

In these Kabbalistic texts, (namely, the Zohar), it is expounded that "Eden" is both our point of origin and also our evolutionary destination. This meaning that there is a "Superior Eden," ("Pardes"), and an "Inferior Eden," ("Gan Eden"). Accordingly, the Superior Eden is the endpoint, the destination, the final stage in all evolution, to which all life in the manifest world is evolving towards. Bearing this in mind - in an allegoric manner -the state of superior, enlightened Eden is the destination of all life. Accordingly if the unconscious, or "Inferior