Last month, I discussed how Christianity cannot impose veganism on its adherents because doing so would violate the freedom we have in Christ as well as our lordship over creation. In other words, humans are superior to animals and thus eating animals is within the bounds of the created order. But I also noted that animal rights is not the only reason employed by anti-meat eaters to support their cause. One of the more emotionally compelling arguments is what can be called the argument from compassion.
The argument from compassion has been around at least since Darwin, but it was popularized by Matthew Scully’s overrated book, Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy published in 2003. In his book that wisely took great advantage of white-middle-class guilt over its success, Scully asked readers if we could begin to walk the path of not hurting animals. As emotionally powerful this subtle argument is, many questions remain unanswered, such as “What is cruelty?” “What does Christ require regarding animal treatment?” “Is there a difference between animals under human control (i.e. cow in a barn) and those that aren’t (i.e. deer in the woods)?” etc.
I suggest that there are plenty of biblical passages that raise serious questions about the claims of Scully and even Matthew C. Halteman, of Calvin College (whose thoughts on the topic you can read here, and a critique of Halteman can be found here).
Of course the Old Testament is full of passages regarding hunting (cf. Prov 6:5), eating of animals (Gen 18:7), and the sacrificial system (Lev 1-7). But I suspect readers, like the heretic Marcion, would say that the Old Testament doesn’t apply to New Testament Christians. Okay, let’s look at the behavior of Jesus Christ in regards to animals and their welfare. The question I want you to consider is whether Jesus’ behavior corresponds with the claims that the animal compassion people want us to hold. If Christ’s behavior does not match that standard then we are confronted with a trilemma: either Jesus was correct in his behavior or He was mistaken (as in an accident of his culture), or simply Christ sinned.
Let’s consider Luke 5:6. Here Peter has had trouble catching fish. Christ tells him to throw the net out again on the other side of the boat and voila, the net is so full that it begins to break. How about Matthew 17:27 where Christ tells Peter to go fishing with a hook and line to catch a fish with a coin in its mouth to pay a tax. Now the question is, why did Jesus cause the fish to undergo such trauma, (i.e. getting hooked) to pay a fee when he could have simply created the coin out of thin air?
Perhaps you are thinking that the pain and suffering of fish doesn’t count or at least isn’t as morally significant as land creatures. Okay, then consider Christ’s treatment of the pigs in Luke 8:32ff. Here Christ exorcised the demons from a demoniac and allowed the demons to enter pigs. The story says that the pigs got so excited that they ran down a hill, fell into the Sea of Galilee and drowned. Note that there is no record that Jesus or his disciples bothered to try to rescue them. The bigger question is why would the compassionate Christ allow innocent pigs to be demon possessed? How humane is that?
I suggest that Christ’s behavior requires Christians to either reevaluate their understanding of “compassion” in regards to animals or reevaluate their understanding of Christ’s sinlessness. Because if the vegan understanding of compassion is correct, then Jesus was cruel. To say that Christ was mistaken due to culture just doesn’t seem to fit the evidence. It’s hard to think that demonizing pigs would be “moral” in any culture if such an act was actually cruel.
Carie says
Although vegans profess caring and compassion for animals; many don’t think abortion is wrong. I recently had that argument on a vegan facebook site. The next time someone asks you if you eat animals-ask them if they’re pro-life for humans.
Jerome says
A very good point. I live in India where many people are militant vegetarians because of Hindu and Jain religious persuasions. But most of them do not even give any thought to the issue of abortion. Woe indeed to this generation which murders human fetuses in the millions, but protests vehemently against the death of an animal.
Marty miknus says
When sin came into the world through the Adam and Eve, everything changed including what we ate. The human race began eating meat. What I find objectionable is the industrialization of our food base;cattle standing around in filthy feed lots being fed estrogens and antibiotics. The same for chickens,pigs kept in artificial unhealthy environments. You are what you eat. Consumers and especially Christians should buy products that are grass sourced,raised in the open.Money is an issue, but as more people turn to a better quality of food the price should come down. Weston Price foundation has excellent infor on this subject.
Jaison Kurian says
Marty, I agree with you ‘As in the days of Noah, so will it be as the coming of the Son of man’. I see many Christians today living in gluttony not thinking twice about what they put in their body. If our bodies are the temple of God, we are to be stewards of it for it is not our own. Gods gives us understanding and wisdom to have discernment and self control. Today, the original intent (seed) is corrupt with GMO and likes of Monsanto.
Essentially, the very nature (dna) has been changed and tampered with; what I believe Noah was warning about. My wife and I have been doing well on a plant based ‘nutritarian’ diet which focuses on including the most amount of nutrient rich foods, especially found in dark green leafy vegetables aka Adam & Eve diet or as Daniel did in the kings court. We don’t have to always eat what feels good or be influenced by those around us, we can train ourselves to abstain from fatty, salt ridden, greasy food. Recently, the World Health Org. came out with findings that state the research concludes that meat causes inflammation and promotes an environment more prone to cancer.
-Nutrition Disciple in Training
Y says
Those studies on meat are from factory mega farms. Grass fed meat is on average 2/3 more nutrient than grocery meat. Our bodies need animal fat, gelatin and bone marrow which is essential for healthy bone and cartilage structure. And meat is the best source. I believe all healthy sourced real foods are necessary for the human body.
Charles Higley says
“a plant based ‘nutritarian’ diet ”
This is usually the road to long-term malnutrition, as it is quite difficult to include the essential amino acids that are readily available in animal protein and so rare in plant proteins.
Furthermore, as a huge proportion of our animal protein derives from animals grazing on un-arable land or plant refuse we cannot eat, cellulosic wastes, getting rid of animal protein would not only significantly decrease the quality of our food supply but would also reduce the food supply by 35–40%. This would be catastrophic.
Vegans love to talk about how many people can be supported by an acre of grain, but this is a flawed point of view and focuses only on arable lands.
Michelle Beth says
The Bible includes plenty of instructions about how to take care of animals, such as Proverbs 12:10. “A righteous man has regard for the life of his animal, but even the compassion of the wicked is cruel.” People who torture animals and enjoy their suffering tend to become depraved and may turn to doing the same to humans. Animals have at least some value and not just for what they provide to humans (food, work, companionship, etc.). God told Noah to save them from the flood. I agree with Marty and Jaison. The conditions many, many animals endure are cruel, and our choices are important. We can be more like God who feeds and clothes the birds and knows when one falls from the sky.
N/A says
Stephen, I have read a number of your posts and I am getting a strong “anti-animals” vibe from you.
First of all, God is God and Jesus is God. He made all of creation and it belongs to Him (Psalm 50:10-12). If God wants to be “cruel” to His animals who are we to argue? It’s His world and He’s even “cruel” to us sometimes. However, when Jesus cast the demons into the pigs, He was saving another man’s life. Even some of the most dedicated pet owners would sacrifice the life of a beloved pet to save a child. Jesus never NEEDLESSLY killed an animal in the Bible. Everything Jesus did had a purpose.
Secondly, maybe Humans are the crowned creation and maybe God can be cruel, but that does not permit US to ABUSE animals. Do you think God smiles at us while we force pigs to live in tiny whelping pens, pumped so full of hormones that they can’t even move, popping out as many babies as possible to feed a nation riddled with obesity, while the pigs wallow in their own filth because the farmers don’t even have the decency to clean out the pens? God speaks so highly of His creation (Prov. 12:10, Job 12:7-10, Num. 35:33-34, Luke 12:6, 24-28 just to name a few) and it is OBVIOUS that God wants us to RESPECT it. Why so many Christians seem to have this almost arrogant attitude towards animals I will never know.
Montefiore, Huge. “Why aren’t more church people interested in the environment?” Transformation 16.3 (1999): 76. Web. 30 Jun. 2016.
(Sorry for the long comment. Stephen’s post are just seriously rubbing me the wrong way).
Stephen vantassel says
N/A
I never advocated cruelty to animals. The problem is the way animal rights activists have redefined cruelty. I find it unfortunate that you didn’t really consider what Jesus did to the demonized pigs. Did they suffer? For what purpose did they die? I don’t believe Jesus did anything wrong. My point is that his behavior is instructive and acts as a corrective to the wrong way we have elevated animals and dethroned humans.
James says
Does your organization not know at least 2/3 of current vegetarians/vegans are not Christian at all?
And that sample probably includes many who do not believe in animal rights. Your organization focuses on a small group of Christian animal rights activists, yet if you take any time to research, you will notice that most animal rights activists are not Christian.
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:pvzbHEGu7awJ:https://faunalytics.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Faunalytics_Current-Former-Vegetarians_Full-Report.pdf+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Most likely believe that if your interpretation of Jesus’ behavior is correct, it disproves Christianity.