When Your Suffering Seems to Go On Forever

 

PLEASE PIN - What to do when suffering seems to last forever.

Sometimes, your suffering seems to go on forever.

Like ocean waves that never cease their pounding against the shore, a constant and steady motion, sometimes pain feels as though it’s determined to be your eternal companion.

In the post where I discuss Christian trials and suffering, I explain how I’ve been going through my own time of suffering. It’s now been over a month since I sustained multiple strains in my buttocks and lower back, but it still feels in the early stages of recovery (even though it’s not). It feels like it will be months before I can sit in a chair for any length of time, that I am destined to spend most of the rest of my life reclined on my bed (even though I know that’s not true).

It feels like this irritation will never end.

Emotional pain, I know from experience, is even worse, tearing at the fibers of your heart, crushing the last vestiges of hope and snuffing out all joy. Life looks bleak, and you can’t see a way out of the dark, miry pit you’ve fallen into.

Even for mature believers, the emotional pain of loss, betrayal, and wounds to the ego can turn chronic, sometimes feeling as acute and sharp as it did the day the incident that hurt us first happened.

It can feel like the pain will never end.

I wish I could give you a five- or ten-step program guaranteeing complete healing – whether in body or soul – within the next week. But I don’t want to join the crowds of so many mammon-loving preachers or self-help writers who offer false hope in exchange for monetary gain or small fame.

Usually both.

What I will do instead is offer you a few tools that can shore up your hope, determination, and courage as you walk through this tough time. Some might sound cliché, but the most oft-repeated words of wisdom are widespread because they work.

And maybe you need to hear them one more time to really and truly absorb them.

This, too, shall pass.

Well, since I mentioned clichés, why not start with the most relevant one?

Pain, both physical and emotional, is a temporary state. Even sufferers of chronic pain don’t generally experience unbearable levels constantly. And most physical pain only lasts as long as it takes the body to heal from trauma. In the case of surgery and serious injuries, that might be a lot longer than you like, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s only a small fraction of your life.

As for emotions, they are as fleeting as the bite of an irritable fly, as changeable as March weather. They are also one of the few things in life you can take full control over and manipulate to your liking.

Which is a great segue into the next tool for when suffering seems to last forever.

Learn to live in the moment.

I explain how to do just that in this article about awareness. Here, I want to touch on how it can not only alleviate pain, but also facilitate healing.

Before I do that, I want to speak to my fellow believers in Christ: no, this is NOT “New Age.” Though the idea of conscious awareness may have precipitated in the lands we Westerners call “the East,” and though the Easterners incorporated the concept in their respective religions, that does not make it a dangerous practice for Christians. Nor does it make it “demonic.”

I explain why in the article linked above.

To focus on the present moment, the here and now, is to keep your mind on the senses and reality that is right in front of you. It is to feast your eyes on the wonderful variety of colors and textures of the objects around you, to concentrate on the sounds happening right now, to be fully aware of the physical sensations in and around your body.

It is to be in complete control of your conscious mind, choosing to allow only a single, positive thought to dwell there. It might be “thank you,” or “I am resilient and valued,” or “praise be to God.”

If you are dealing with a long-lasting emotional wound, living in the moment pushes the past back where it belongs, thus pushing away the pain of the past. Even better, this acute awareness allows you to “hear” your inner voice, whether it be of your body or of God’s Spirit, gently nudging you to let go, or repent, or believe in your innate strength, or talk to a friend or therapist.

In other words, wisdom comes in the quiet moments when we are not steeped in the regrets of the past, or fretting over the future.

If you are dealing with physical pain, the immediate effect of immersing yourself in the present is that you see that you can handle the pain for just one moment. See, the frustration and agony brought on by physical ailments comes from worry. Will I always feel like this, will this ever go away, will I never be able to do X activity again.

And so, instead of experiencing blips of pain, one per moment, we experience weeks, months, even years of it within the span of a few moments of overactive imagination.

Imagination is a good thing, unless you’re imagining a forever full of pain and the limitations it brings.

Trust in God’s goodness.

If you’ve never accepted the sacrifice of the Son of God on behalf of your sins, there’s no better time than now.

If you have, most of the reason you feel that your suffering will last forever is that you are not fully trusting in God’s goodness. You can only see that the evil of the fallen world has turned your own world upside down, threatening to destroy it.

If you are trusting God fully, however, you can say along with the apostle Paul that you find contentment in whatever state of life you are walking through. You can know that whatever happens, God will eventually bring you into blessing.

Knowing that, your joy will be restored, your stress will fall away. Both of those things are two of the top medicines for receiving healing of any kind.

I might mention that it’s a lot easier to trust fully in God when you’re living in the moment. Because when you are, you’re not worrying over the future.

Worry is the antithesis and fatal enemy of trust.

Related closely to that…

Pray.

Our Lord understands suffering. He knows the sting of betrayal. He knows the horrors of abuse.

Before the Roman soldiers crucified Him, He experienced the agony of His body being physically ripped apart.

So, talk to Him about your pain. He’s always listening. Ask for help. Ask for guidance. Ask for comfort.

Cuss Him out if you need to. I know that sounds heretical, but it works for me.

How?

When I’m done with my hissy fit, I realize that God didn’t do anything to me.

I did it to myself.

Or, in the case of abuse or death, the imperfectness of people and the world did it.

When it’s all on you, taking responsibility for the choices that led to your pain is a huge step toward healing.

And a huge step to not making the same mistake again.

Create and repeat a nurturing mantra.

If ever there is a time a person is vulnerable to the negative darts of the enemy, it’s when they are experiencing any kind of pain.

The solution? Build a fortress around yourself. A fortress consisting of positive words.

Consider your situation, then form a brief, easy-to-remember sentence that will counter the negativity that is bound to bombard you.

If you’re grieving the loss of a loved one, it might be, “I honor [NAME’S] memory by encouraging and helping others.”

If you’re like me and dealing with a physical problem, it might be, “I’m healing a little more with every passing day.”

If you’ve been betrayed or belittled by a friend or close relative, you might try, “I choose love and forgiveness over bitterness and resentment.”

But however inspiring and uplifting your mantra may be, it will have little effect unless you put the next tool to good use.

Ditch all negative media.

That means…

• Stop reading, watching, or listening to the news.
• Don’t consume any doom-and-gloom or anger- or fear-based social media. Not even from your best friend. Not even from your beloved grandmother.
• Your life in general will get a lot better if you walk away from social media, period, and never return.
• Don’t watch scary or upsetting movies, T.V. shows, or videos.
• Same for books.
• Watch clean comedy and faith-based movies instead.
• Read inspirational stories and books.
• Get involved with an online group whose sole purpose is encouragement among the members.
• Distance yourself from negative friends or family members. That especially includes those who enjoy hocking their conspiracy theory of the month.

Your suffering will not last forever.

Most likely, the pain you’re experiencing now will have faded, if not vanished completely, within the next few weeks or months. Possibly sooner.

If it’s a physical pain that precludes healing, your earthly body will one day give up its life, and you will receive a completely new body that will never cause pain.

Not to mention a completely new mind which will be impervious to anything negative.

You can do this.

You are resilient.

You are not alone.

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Biblical Truth Vs. Hollywood Hype: Discerning Fact from Fiction in Depictions of Demonic Activity

PIN THIS, PLEASE - Are demons real?

 

Are demons real? From late-night paranormal shows to blockbuster horror films, demonic activity holds a captivating, often terrifying, grip on our culture. But is there scientific evidence for their existence? Or are they simply a figment of overly-zealous religious imaginations?

And if they are real, how do believers navigate the landscape around evil spirits? How can we discern the whispers of spiritual truth from the amplified screams of fictional narratives that depict spinning heads, gore, and violent physical attacks?

The beginning, for believers, is to look into Scripture to see what it says about the spiritual world. Of course, the Bible doesn’t give every possible manifestation of the work of the devil, just like it doesn’t give you every single scenario you might face where you will have to struggle to choose to act in love. But it gives us enough of a picture to act as a springboard.

In this article, I am going to explore the biblical understanding of demonic activity and contrast it with common Hollywood portrayals in order to help you discern fact from fiction on this issue, as well as develop a more biblically sound perspective on it.

The reality of demons: a biblical foundation.

There is a lot of skepticism about demons. Understandable, because they usually remain hidden behind the wall that separates the spiritual realm from the natural. Skeptics provide various explanations for demonic experiences, explanations that aren’t always totally off base (more on that in a future post). And while it’s easy for me to say, “But the Bible has lots of examples about demonic possession and demonic attacks,” those same skeptics don’t believe most of the Bible is based in reality, either.

The fact is, you can't find scientific evidence for the existence of demons.

Not any more than you can find scientific evidence for God becoming man and living among us.

Because, guess what? Science can only study the natural world. Not the spiritual world.

So I’m not talking to those demanding scientific evidence. I’m talking to fellow Christians, those who aren’t sure about demonic influence, as well as those who are, but need to be talked down the extremist ledge of believing that a demon awaits around every corner.

That said, let’s look at some of the biblical accounts of demonic encounters.

• 1 Samuel 16:14-23: An evil spirit tormented King Saul, the demon apparently only brought into submission by David playing on the harp.
• Judges 9:23: After Abimelech killed his seventy brothers so he could become king, God sent an evil spirit to cause division and conflict among the people.
• 1 Kings 22:20-23: The prophet Micaiah tells King Ahab that God had sent a lying spirit to deceive Ahab’s prophets to get the king and his army into trouble.
• Mark 1:23-27: Yeshua delivers a man from a demon when the man cries out to Him.
• Matthew 8:28-34: Yeshua confronts two men possessed by a horde of demons. He casts them out, and at their bidding, commands them to enter into a herd of pigs.
• Matthew 12:22-32: Yeshua casts out a demon that caused a man to be mute and blind.
• Acts 16:16-18: Paul casts a spirit of divination out of a slave girl as the spirit repeatedly harasses him.

Skeptics argue that none of those events involved evil spiritual beings, but that the accounts were either using hyperbole or explained events using the superstition of the time. However, unlike the Creation story in Genesis, all of the above accounts were written as historical narratives. And in relation to the authors of the early Old Testament, the authors of the history of the Israelite kings and of the New Testament had authoritative accounts to draw from.

The New Testament accounts of demonic deliverance in particular were based on witnesses who were there, witnesses who had reason to believe that Yeshua wasn’t simply healing people mentally or physically. His disciples saw, and subsequent to Yeshua’s death and resurrection, recounted the conversation between their Lord and the legion of demons, saw how the pigs went wild after Yeshua told the demons to possess them.

If you don’t believe any of these biblical accounts of demons are true, number one, don’t call yourself a Christian, and number two, the satan has you exactly where it wants you.

Why are there demons in the first place?

Akin to the question of Christian suffering, this is one of the questions of faith whose answer is hard to swallow. The traditional answer is that a worshiping angel turned against God, wanting to become God himself, and so God cast him out of heaven, along with a bunch of other angels who had joined him in the rebellion (Isaiah 14:12-15, Ezekiel 26:12-17). As two prophets known to have predicted almost impossibly accurate future events, it’s more than likely that God had actually given them a true vision of how evil came into being on the Earth.

Though that interpretation is debatable, and those visions may have been figurative, it gives us a starting point.

If the prophets’ respective revelations were literal, the next question is, why did God allow it to happen? The answer would be that He gives angels free will, just as He does to humans. But whatever the origin of these evil beings, there is some proof of their existence, though not exactly scientific. I’ll be delving more into that in the rest of this series on Christians and demons.

The purpose of demonic activity

Yeshua Himself stated that the “thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy,” most scholars interpreting “thief” in that verse as another name for the enemy of our souls.

If that’s not clear enough for you, there’s 1 Peter 5:8. “…the devil goes about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”

For Christians, the devil’s ultimate purpose is to make them feel worthless or to deceive them so that they won’t live out their own divine purpose.

For non-Christians, its purpose is to hinder them from accepting truth.

Where Hollywood gets it wrong (hint: pretty much everywhere).

First of all, we must assume that Hollywood writers and producers are by and large skeptical of anything supernatural, especially when it comes to Christian tradition. Whatever their beliefs, they are paid to create movies that will make as much money as possible, which means that when it comes to supernatural encounters and events, sensationalism and exaggeration rule the day. They likely also take much of what they portray in movies from ancient superstitions or extremist beliefs on the subject.

They portray seemingly benign beings – even characters believed to be human – that transform into grotesque figures in a heartbeat. These beings tend to have superhuman strength, and can levitate and have powers such as telekinesis.

In the cases of possession, evil spirits do freaky things with their hosts’ bodies such as spinning their head around, causing projectile vomiting, and channeling an evil voice through them.

In the book of Acts (chapter 19), there’s a story of how a demon-possessed man was able to beat up seven non-believing men who were trying to cast out the demon. So it’s not far-fetched to believe that demons can do scary things.

However, most demonic activity is much more subtle, and in its subtlety, dangerous.

It consists of whispering negative and/or untrue thoughts into our heads, in such a way that we believe the thoughts come from our own minds. It often consists of whispering temptations. On occasion, giving into sinful temptation on a regular basis or opening yourself up to untruths can invite further demonic attack on your life.

What about playing with Ouija boards? Or playing video games that involve gaining supernatural powers? Reading the Harry Potter books? I’ve known of Christians who were convinced that such activities were guaranteed to cause demonic possession. Though the devil can certainly use ungodly modes of entertainment of all kinds to pull people’s focus away from God, the Bible shows us that generally, repeated sin and lack of spiritual vigilance are what invite demonic influence into one’s life.

Discerning fact from fiction: a biblical lens.

Let's lay most everyone's fear around the topic to rest, shall we?

The primary spiritual battleground.

Scripture as a whole indicates that spiritual warfare is primarily mental. In fact, I’m writing this post because the enemy attacked my mind the day prior, and kept working on me all through the night. 

I’ve had suicidal thoughts before. But none as strong and vivid as the ones I had last night, after I experienced a setback in what is turning out to be a difficult physical recovery. I won’t give details. Suffice to say that by the middle of the night, I had fallen into deep despair and couldn't see any way out of my pain other than to leave this life.

But through the despair came a faint glimmer of light. A memory. I remembered other times when I felt oppressed, or was experiencing a downward spiral of negative thoughts, and I made a command.

“I call those thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ,” I would say, according to 2 Corinthians 10:5; or, “Shut up, devil, in Yeshua’s name.”

Last night, not feeling at all bold or authoritative, weariness bleeding through my voice, I whispered into the dark, “Shut up…in Yeshua’s name…Go away…and don’t come back…in Yeshua’s name.”

The thoughts instantly vanished.

Though my physical situation hadn’t changed, I no longer felt that life wasn’t worth living. I no longer felt like my physical situation would never end.

I was in a good mood within a couple of hours of getting out of bed.

Some would say that the enemy attacked because I’d begun teaching and encouraging my fellow believers in earnest. I am inclined to agree.

Twice in my life, I have heard first-hand accounts from non-flaky, mature Christians about how the devil physically attacked them with the intent of harming or even killing (one of the demons was a former spirit guide of a former New Age follower). But that’s not the typical M.O. of demons.

It is, however, an excellent reason to be in a state of constant prayer, as well as alert to your surroundings.

My experience last night leads me to another critical point regarding the Bible and the belief in demons.

Believers have authority over the devil.

James 4:7 admonishes us that if we resist the devil, he must flee. Why?

Because you have authority over evil by the power of the Holy Spirit living inside of you, as well as through the shed blood of our Savior.

While there are a number of ways a person can “resist” the devil, telling it to get away from you, to stop lying or tempting you, is the simplest, and it works. Keeping the lines of communication open with God, studying the Bible, and learning to be sensitive to the leading of God’s spirit ensure that you maintain the “whole armor of God” [Ephesians 6:8-10] so that the enemy's arrows aimed your way will continue to fall short

The importance of discernment.

In order to separate fiction from fact when it comes to demonic encounters and the Christian view on demons, we need to withdraw from Hollywood sensationalism and fear-mongering – by Hollywood and ignorant Christians alike! Most of the problems we have in our lives have nothing to do with evil forces, and everything to do with our own poor choices. The vast majority of accidents are just that – accidents. And most of the time when someone gets sick, it’s because they’ve made themselves vulnerable to the illness or disease.

A Christian who is grounded in both Scripture and a relationship with the living Word, and who is dedicated to living out a life of faith, will know internally, without words, whether or not a story about someone’s experience with the dark realm is true. Those same qualifications, as I hinted earlier, will also grant you a measure of protection from demonic attacks or temptation. They will definitely ensure that you recognize the working of the enemy, if not immediately, then soon after it begins happening.

As recently occurred to me.

Be not afraid. Be very not afraid.

If you are a Christian, you have authority over demons. No need to get obsessed with things like exorcisms, demonic infestations, or demon rulers over various regions of the world.

Read the Bible. Ask for wisdom and revelation regarding the spirit world. Above all, keep talking to Yeshua, keep remembering that everything will eventually all work out according to our Father’s plan, and keep living life in His power and love.

Because we’re not supposed to worry about evil spirits and the satan any more than we’re supposed to worry about anything else.

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Does Genesis 1:29 Teach Vegetarianism?

 

PLEASE PIN - Christian vegan, Genesis 1:29 and vegetarianism

Does Genesis 1:29 teach vegetarianism? Should Christians be vegan? If so, how does a believer reconcile that with the animal sacrifices which God commanded, and with the apostle Peter’s vision regarding clean and unclean animals in the book of Acts?

There is some debate, and often a lot of confusion, around the topic, and not just between Bible literalists and their counterparts. So I thought it pertinent to examine the subject from a few angles.

Breaking down Genesis 1:29.

“And God said, ‘See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food [Genesis 1:29, NKJV].”

If we were to take that literally, it would seem that, indeed, the ideal human diet as dictated by our Creator is not just a vegetarian diet, but a vegan one.

However, if you read my post about the first chapter of Genesis, you know that the early chapters of the first book of Genesis were written in figurative language. Though parts may be based in actual history, the individual verses were never intended to be interpreted literally. So it’s safe to say that the same goes for the verse in question.

Let’s take its section of the verse and see what biblical scholars have to say about it.

Then God said…

The phrase emphasizes divine authority while reminding us of the creative power of God’s word. Or, as it were, God’s Word [see John 1:1].

In other words, pay attention to what’s coming, because the Big Man is about to say something!

“Behold, I have given you…

“Behold” is meant to draw attention to the significance of the proceeding words, “I have given you.” It emphasizes God’s provision and generosity.

…every seed-bearing plant on the face of all the earth…

“Every seed-bearing plant” represents the abundance and variety of God’s provision. “Seed-bearing” points to the reproduction process, showing that God’s provision of food for us will be continual and lasting.

The phrase, “all the earth” depicts that this provision is meant to be universal, indicating how God cares for all of His creation.

…and every tree whose fruit contains seed.

Again, the word “seed” takes precedent, highlighting God’s abundance, as well as the natural order which He established. The food He is giving to humans is such that it will continually propagate itself, ensuring the humanity will never go hungry.

A deeper meaning is that God will supply whatever we need, when we need it, as the apostle Paul stated in Phillipians 4:19.

They will be yours for food.”

And here is where the debate comes in. Did God declare that human’s ideal food should come from the plant world only? Or is this statement merely an emphasis of the earlier symbolism?

But if the rest of the verse is merely symbolic, it’s odd that it would end with such a pragmatic statement. It’s worded almost like a command, such as, “Honor your father and your mother,” or, “You shall not steal.”

Let’s look at both sides of the Christian vegetarian argument and see if we can’t come to some kind of consensus.

The first side: Genesis 1:29 commands veganism.

If you take the verse literally, God is not only commanding people not to eat animal flesh. He is also commanding people not to eat any food of any kind that comes from an animal.

Some Christians believe that, despite any symbolism, the verse is meant as a dietary guideline. Humans are supposed to eat only seed-bearing plants and seed-bearing fruits.

But the pro-vegan argument goes deeper than that, adding nuance that begs examination from anyone who claims to care about God’s creation.

An article on the all-creatures website begins with a discussion of the dominion which God bestowed upon humanity in Genesis 2. Our dominion, the author insists, was never intended by God to be tyrannical. Instead, God entrusted people with stewardship.

“We should remember in our dealings with animals that they are a sacred trust to us from our heavenly Father,” the author adds, quoting another writer. From the beginning, people were meant to care for animals, while animals in turn provided service for us – service that does not include food.

This is an interesting take, as the strictest vegan believe that human beings should not be using animals for any purpose – not for pets, not for clothing, not for transportation. Then again, strict vegans tend not to have any belief in the Bible, as the author of the all-creatures article does.

Moving on, the author goes onto make a plea for a new understanding of the word “dominion.” It doesn’t refer to taking control over animals without regard for their intrinsic value and their feelings (mammals, and perhaps even reptiles and birds, have them). In addition, she prescribes a literal interpretation of the verse, stating that Genesis 1:29 establishes a vegan diet for humans, and that in the next verse, establishes the same for all animals.

She’s rather vague about why the worldwide flood and/or human’s depravity made God reluctantly concede to some apparent new need or desire for people to eat animal flesh. She does, however, make a salient point about how most livestock raised for food are treated today, discussing the cruelty and unsustainability of factory farms.

If you’re a Christian and the love of God dwells within you, choosing to consume meat from animals who are basically tortured either before or while in the process of providing food for you is sin. It is not how God intended for us to “take dominion” over animals.

And in my opinion, whatever else you think about the author’s literal interpretation of the verse, her conclusion isn’t far off base:

“While eating meat is not prohibited, it represents a complete break from God’s ideals of animals and humans living peacefully together, as depicted in the Garden of Eden.”

More pro-vegetarian Bible verses.

Genesis 1:29 is far from the only Scripture that intimates that God’s ideal world is one in which no living beings kill another.

**In Genesis 1:31, “God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.” The implication is that the peacefulness of all nature living in harmony was His original design.

**Isaiah 11:6-9 contains the famous lines predicting a day when predator and prey will live in peace and harmony:  “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.

“The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

“The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest.

“They will neither harm nor destroy on My holy mountain.”

The verse is repeated in a succinct form in chapter 65, verse 25.

When God repeats something, He’s calling special attention to it.

**Psalm 104 illustrates God’s care for the animals that He created. As beings created in His image, we are to care for them as well.

**In Matthew 6:26, Yeshua reiterates this concept in His famous sermon on the mount, where He points out how our heavenly Father cares for even the smallest birds.

The Christian vegan explanation of God’s post-Flood meat-eating permission.

Beyond the Creation story, the biblical account of a worldwide flood is another part where literalists and non-literalists sharply disagree. But that many other cultures have, for thousands of years, passed on their own stories of an epic flood indicates that it might be rooted in fact.

Let’s say it did all happen just as God inspired the author(s) of Genesis to record. In that case, after the disaster, when the waters had subsided, God did, indeed, give humans permission to eat the flesh of dead animals.

Or… did He?

In another article on the all-creatures.org website, the writer explains that Genesis 9:2 has been translated from the Hebrew incorrectly. “Everything that lives and moves will be food for you,” the NIV translation states, making it sound as if God is giving humans permission to eat animals as well as plants.

But the author of the article points out that the Hebrew word translated into “Everything that lives and moves” is, in the English alphabet, remes. That word does not refer to animals generically.

It refers specifically – only – to reptiles.

I know. Disgusting, right?

Except… God wasn’t telling Noah to eat turtles, snakes and lizards. He told him that He was giving them to humans for food. What potential food do reptiles produce a lot of?

Eggs.

The author explains that God certainly couldn’t have been commanding Noah and his family to kill animals for food, because there were either only two or seven of each species at that time! But also, at this point very few plants exist on Earth, so if God doesn’t allow Noah and his family to eat something other than a diet of plants, they will all starve.

I have greatly simplified the article for brevity’s sake, so I encourage you to read it in its entirety here to get the full understanding. It contains further word study, as well as a compelling commentary on the entirety of Genesis 9.

The Christian vegan perspective on animal sacrifice.

Some theologians – not necessarily vegan ones – dispute the common belief that in the book of Leviticus, God is commanding the Israelites to sacrifice. In the culture of the day, religions of all kinds practiced animal sacrifice. If God made any commands at all, some say, they were commands that limited the number of sacrifices compared to the wanton killing of the pagan rituals.

Why not just command them not to sacrifice? Why not tell them it wasn’t necessary to please Him, that following His commands was enough?

I’ve thought about that question a lot lately as I’ve been studying the beginning of the Bible like I never have before. The uncharitable answer I have is that people back then were uncivilized, their cultures primitive. Besides being entrenched in that ancient Middle Eastern culture, they had not yet developed their consciences to the point where they could see that animals deserved to live as much as they did. Nor could they understand that a god would allow them to sin and not require a sacrifice.

Think about it: now when you mess up, all you have to do is accept the forgiveness that Yeshua’s sacrifice gained for you on the cross. In fact, Jewish animal sacrifice ceased the day that Yeshua was raised from the dead! So if it can be that way now, why not back then?

My non-verified, repetitive answer: the people were not capable of being reasoned with in that way.

Yes, the slaughter of the Passover lamb was a picture of how Yeshua would one day give Himself up so that death would pass us by. But why were all the other animal sacrifices necessary?

Many Jewish and Christian vegans believe simply that they weren’t.

I’m not saying I have the last word on that, but I believe it’s worth contemplating.

The flip side: The case for Christian meat-eating.

I’m going to make this part brief, because most believers have been taught for centuries to take a literal interpretation of most of the Old Testament books following Genesis. Most have been – apparently erroneously – taught that after the Flood, God gave humans permission to eat meat.

What does the New Testament say about eating meat?

As I already mentioned, Acts 10:9-16 recounts a vision that the apostle Peter had. Our Lord, trying to get him to realize that He wanted Gentiles to receive salvation as well, instructed him not to consider any kind of meat as unclean. In the Old Testament, God had listed several types of animals that were considered “unclean,” animals that we now know can be unhygienic for various reasons.

This story along with the passages in First Corinthians 8, where the apostle Paul reassures his flock that it’s okay to eat meat offered to idols as long as their conscience doesn’t smite them for doing so, are used as “proof” be meat-eating Christians that God doesn’t care if we kill animals for food.

And though there is evidence that some early Christians believed that killing animals for food was not God’s ideal, it was probably a small faction. Some Christian vegans claim that Yeshua Himself from eating meat. Though I have to say that the idea of the Lamb of God consuming the lamb at the annual Passover dinner strikes me as strange, He is depicted three times in the Gospels as sharing fish with others.

A real vegan wouldn’t do that.

Nor would they tell a story in which a father cooks veal for his long-lost son come home (Luke 15:11-32).

What do Bible commentaries say about Genesis 1:29?

In Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers, the author suggests that the food God gave to humans was superior to that which God gave to animals, signifying that “man is thus from the first pointed out as of a higher organization that the animal.”

The commentator points out the usual that animals were given over to man for food after the Flood, emphasizing the fact that God having covered Adam and Eve with animals skins after the fall, God obviously wasn’t against killing animals.

The Pulpit Commentary provides a more ambiguous interpretation of the issue, showing that the ethics of people killing animals for food isn’t necessarily inherent in the text.

The author quotes a scholar named Murphy: “Of two things proceeding from the same creative hand, neither has any original or inherent right to interfere in any way with the other. The absolute right to each lies in the Creator alone….”

The author of Pulpit Commentary also notes that God conveying only plant food to humans might have been a tool to keep the first people “mindful of his dependent condition.”

He also points out that though there has been some belief that early humans likely ate animal flesh, as God did not expressly forbid it, Genesis 9 elucidates that before the Flood, regular consumption of meat must have been rare.

That, of course, depends on a literal interpretation of Genesis.

The author adds, “Almost all nations have traditions of a golden age of innocence, when men abstained from killing animals.”

As with the Great Flood, then, the idea seems to be based in history more than in mythology.

Take-aways regarding Genesis 1:29 and diet

• Even if the whole of the beginning of Genesis was written figuratively, there is likely historical basis in the symbolism and beliefs.
• Yeshua didn’t come to teach nutrition. He was also a product of His own culture, which thrived on a mix of fish and plant food.
• Archeology provides hearty evidence that the earliest humans ate a 100% plant diet.
• Science overwhelmingly shows the health benefits of eating mostly plants over eating mostly meat. No one ever got healed of heart disease on a high-meat diet.
• We are not to judge other people based on what they eat, because we are all on a different journey.
• We are, however, as children of God to be conscientious about how we treat the rest of His creation.
• None of us can say for sure whether God originally bestowed a vegan diet upon people for their sustenance. Not while we’re here.

So eat according to your conscience and common sense, and stop dissing those who disagree with you.

You might be the one who’s wrong.😜

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