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Submitted by: Rich / NJR

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One thing I try to do is stay within a secular sphere with my opinions - one's religious beliefs are or should be very personal...that said, I will give you the same answer I recently gave a friend who asked the same question: First of all, I don't believe it can be defined as "suddenly" not okay to eat meat. Vegetarianism has been around for a long, long time and has existed in many societies besides western cultures for centuries. From a biblical standpoint I would say that God didn't expressly give man the animals to eat. At least not at first. The animals were created first and later "given" to man as companions, helpers and friends. And man named the animals. Sort of like a pet rather than like tomorrows entree. Then God decided to make a companion for man that was more like man and He made woman (what was He thinking? - just kidding...). Back to my point - I think that the Bible depicts vegetarianism as God's ideal and a diet that conforms to the central biblical principle of good stewardship. Giving man "dominion" over animals was more akin to making him their caregiver and guardian than it was meant to be to show power and dominance in a violent or cruel way. I think that in the Garden of Eden man and animals co-existed peacefully with one another and God told both man and animals to eat only plant foods (see Gen. 1:29-31). Even after "the Fall" I can't necessarily see that man was a meat eater. However, after the flood, because God destroyed the earth and likely the plant-life with it, man was permitted or excused for eating meat...a matter of survival perhaps? Animals would no longer be for man to enjoy as "friends" - Gen. 9:2 says that "...the fear and the dread of you (man) shall rest on every animal..." So, animals would no longer be "friends" to man but would view man with fear and dread. No more lion and lamb lying down together either. Some other things that come to mind - all creatures were meant to share in the Sabbath rest. - Scripture describes animals praising God too (Psalms 148:7-10 and 150:6). - Yes, Jesus ate fish. He was in a Mediterranean, fishing and fish eating part of the world. It would stand to reason that he might eat what the custom dictated. - Nowhere in the Bible does it condone cruelty to animals - in fact it speaks against it. - In most developed countries it is no longer a necessity to eat meat to survive. This probably did nothing to give you the answer you wanted but it is what it is. Thanks for asking!

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