Why Vegetarian?

from the christian veg website-

The Hebrew writings forbid inhumane slaughter or cruelty towards beasts of burden (Exod. 23:5; Deut. 22:6–7, 25:4). Yet, in the United States, virtually all food derived from animals is obtained through intensive factory farming methods. Nearly ten billion land animals are slaughtered each year, over a million every hour, and the number of aquatic animals killed for food is far greater. These animals suffer greatly from stressful crowding, barren environments that frustrate their instinctive drives, amputations without anesthesia (including debeaking, dehorning, tail docking, and castration), and other painful procedures (Bernard Rollin, Ph.D., Farm Animal Welfare).
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Typical of the industry’s attitude, John Byrnes wrote, “Forget the pig is an animal. Treat him just like a machine in a factory” (Hog Farm Management). ​

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The Bible depicts vegetarianism as God’s ideal, and the diet conforms to the central biblical principle of stewardship. In Eden, all creatures lived peacefully, and God told both humans and animals to consume only plant foods (Gen. 1:29–31). Several prophecies, such as Isaiah 11:6–9, foresee a return to this vegetarian world, where the wolf, lamb, lion, cow, bear, snake, and little child all coexist peacefully. Christian vegetarians, while acknowledging human sinfulness, believe we should strive toward the harmonious world Isaiah envisioned—to try to live in accordance with the prayer that Jesus taught us, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10).
Adam’s “dominion” over animals (Gen. 1:26, 28), we believe, conveys sacred stewardship, since God immediately afterward prescribed a vegetarian diet (1:29–30) in a world God found “very good” (1:31). Created in God’s image of love (1 John 4:4), we are called to be caretakers of God’s Creation, not tyrants over God’s creatures.

Virtually all plants were destroyed by the Flood. Alternatively, God allowed Noah limited freedom to express human violence, since unrestrained violence responsible for the Flood itself (Gen. 6:11-13). Importantly, this passage does not command meat-eating nor indicate that the practice is God’s ideal. Indeed, eating meat came with a curse – animals would no longer be humanity’s friends: “The fear and the dread of you shall rest on every animal…” (Gen. 9:2) While eating meat is not prohibited, it represents a complete break from God’s ideal of animals and humans living peacefully together, as depicted in Eden and by the prophets.

 

hi, excellent topic soadrocker

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www.helpusall.com/foodsummary

If you have any questions, just ask back, or email me (my email is at the site). I've done a lot of research and can likely find specific credible info on any questions you might want to know more about

Jon