A biblical perspective on meat

image from www.wikipedia.com

What is the biblical perspective on eating meat? This article is devoted to some thoughts on our Creator and how mankind treats His creation.

Recently a friend sent me a podcast of a sermon by Greg Boyd on February 15, 2009 of the Woodland Hills Church in St Paul Minnesota. Boyd discusses issues of faith and man’s stewardship of the earth including the animals that are part of our food chain. Pastor Boyd links the verses in Genesis, where God gives man dominion over the earth to the passage in Revelations 11:18 stating a time will come when those "who destroyed the earth" will be destroyed. He sees dominion not as a right to use and abuse for our own profit, but as a sacred calling to live in God’s image and be co-owners in the Lord’s real estate. Boyd asks, “who takes better care of their property, owners or renters?” Whereas some Christians, according to Boyd, may believe in rapture theology, we abandon the earth and it literally becomes hell in a hand basket. He sees caring for the environment, ensuring social justice and humane treatment of animals as a way to bring heaven down to earth. He states God made covenants with animals as well and cites Hosea 2:18 “the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that move along the ground.”

Boyd also references a documentary, Eating Mercifully that takes a hard look at Christian principles and our industrial food system. According to the film, 90% of animals we eat come from factory farms. Animals are no longer considered living beings they are just a production unit, a commodity. The film shows graphic images of this industrial model. Pigs live in metal cages with about a foot to move forward or backward. Over 1 million pigs alone die in transport to be slaughtered. Chickens are bred for their prized breast meat and break their legs and dislocate hips due to their oversized chests. Laying hens live in less space than a letter sized piece of paper. Over 260 million male chicks are casually discarded to die in dumpsters. Cows, which are ruminants, and not designed to be fed a diet of grain suffer from diseased livers and bacterial diseases requiring antibiotics. Eating Mercifully states that, had we seen the conditions of the animal our packaged meat came from, we would not eat it.

That doesn’t mean we need to eschew meat altogether. The film asks that we take steps towards having a compassionate meal at least once a week. That might entail using more vegetarian fare, buying grass fed beef and non caged eggs, supporting local farmers and food producers, and in general being aware of where your food comes from and how it was raised. Boyd states in the film, while he is a man who prefers his steak rare, he cannot condone animal violence for convenience sake. He asks are we being good stewards of the earth? Are we humane in our treatment of the animals that make up our food chain? Being environmental is not a matter of being liberal or conservative in our politics; it’s a matter of being biblical.