Thursday, October 20, 2011

Eat Meat

There’s a TV show from the BBC called ‘Kill It, Cook It, Eat It’. It feature members of the general public who have various levels of disdain for meat. They are shown where animals are bred, slaughtered and butchered. Then they are encouraged, but not forced, to eat the meat for dinner.

Some dig in their heals and refuse to eat the meat regardless of the affirmation from others at the table. One such member from the episode I witnessed was named James. His issue with meat was purely political. “There must be a better way,” he would say repeatedly. Meaning that there must be a better way than killing animals for meat to eat. He appreciated that animal welfare was a priority for farmers although his preconceived idea seemed to be that all meat producers are savages.

So if we didn’t kill animals for meat then what would be the “better way”? Well if not slaughtered in a sustainable fashion then the animals would presumably breed to plague proportions and run roughshod over the land eating all the vegetation in sight. Thus creating far greater ecological damage than James could ever imagine. So much for “better way”.

If done away with completely then we rid an important link in the food chain. Allowing other species to breed unchecked and lead to massive ecological damage. Again, so much for “better way”.

Can you think of a genuine “better way”?

So I encourage James to think through their ideology before making such sweeping outlandish statements. That way you might realise that the so call “better way” will often defeat the purpose for which it was originally intended.


1 comment:

LB said...

If the entire world stopped eating meat, all stock animals would be immediately destroyed and the carcasses burned. They have become worthless. Of course, if the law says they must be released into the wild, they would become an enormous feral population immediately, though it would not breed as quickly as it did in captivity. I suppose the government would legislate to sterilise all stock animals then impound them in government subsidised farms until they die of old age.

Madness.

No Christian can claim that it is wrong to eat meat. In God's covenant with all of mankind after the flood, he specifically gave animals to us for food (Genesis 9:3). Now, it is true that his law subsequently made certain animals unclean (for Jews only), but the same law prescribed mass slaughter of animals for the holiest of purposes. And finally, Jesus specifically declared all foods clean (Mark 7:19), backed up by the apostle Paul (Romans 14).

However, as Romans 14 also points out, this is a matter of individual conscience. Though God is cool with the eating of meat, he wants us to do so with clear consciences. In addition, Daniel is much vaunted for his vegetarian diet in the Babylonain court. If a man choses not to eat meat, let him do so as an act of worship toward God, but let him not do so as an act of self-righteous pseudo-piety.

LB