My point of sharing this with you is to give a clearer understanding of what my family believes and in doing so I think I will continue this series of Food for Thought and hope all my readers enjoy the contemplation that may come from hearing a different perspective. On that note here we go!
So today Thad told Steven and I about a conversation he had at his Church group on Wednesday where they told him God put animals on the plant for humans to eat. He had some very good counters but missed an important distinction. Now seeing as we are vegetarians I quite disagree with the belief that we have to eat meat and here is why. I must say Thad has a better understanding of this complex discussion after we shared our perspective with him.
So Steven posed this question back to Thad as if Thad were a meat eater. "What is the symptom of the soul?" So we explained what symptom meant and in case you don't know the definition here it is; Symptom:
-noun
| 1. | any phenomenon or circumstance accompanying something and serving as evidence of it. |
| 2. | a sign or indication of something. |
The answer is the symptom of the soul is consciousness. Let's define consciousness.
–noun | 1. | the state of being conscious; awareness of one's own existence, sensations, thoughts, surroundings, etc. |
| 2. | the thoughts and feelings, collectively, of an individual or of an aggregate of people: the moral consciousness of a nation. |
| 3. | full activity of the mind and senses, as in waking life: to regain consciousness after fainting. |
| 4. | awareness of something for what it is; internal knowledge: consciousness of wrongdoing. |
| 5. | concern, interest, or acute awareness: class consciousness. |
| 6. | the mental activity of which a being is aware as contrasted with unconscious mental processes. |
I think everyone can agree that animals are conscious. If not see the definition above. Animals do not behave the same as rocks, water or air. So logic would dictate that they have a soul and the Bible along with every other major religion believes that "thou shall not kill". If we are a soul and your dog or the cow in that pasture has a soul then the only difference is the outer covering, which is the body. Why then should we eat that covering and commit murder?
Now you may say that God wants us to eat meat, but I beg to differ. In the garden of Eden there was no meat eating. Adam and Eve were happy to live as vegetarians. So what is so wrong with following the original plan that was set out by God in the first place? There are other Christians that feel the same way, check out
this interview.
Just some food for thought.
We had a wonderful Christmas Eve with our extended family. We hope all of you did as well. My sweet nephew was the center of attention this year as he is too cute not to want to smoother with kisses and hugs!
The kids had a blast playing with cousins and eating tons of sweets.
Hope you all had as great a Christmas as we did.
