Thursday, December 3, 2009

Why I'm a Vegetarian

So in these past few hours since Katie left her comment (hi Katie!) correcting that the eggs we eat aren't fertilized, I was much relieved but decided to do some more research. While Googling "chicken eggs," I stumbled across this website.

www.eggindustry.com

When you have five minutes, consider watching this video. It is slightly disturbing, but bearable. Most of all, it is informative.

Mass produced chicken in a nutshell:
- stuck in cages, no room to walk. sit on top of each other
- Chicken have never stretched out their wings
- They pee and poop on each other (cages from above)
- Loses its feathers. (splotchy balding)
- Their heads, wings, or feet can easily get stuck in the cage. Left to die of other hens stepping, clawing, and pecking at it. Or it dies of starvation and thirst since it can't move.
- The eggs aren't sanitary. They touch the rotting hen corpses.

They are a means to an end, the egg.

So as you may know, near the end of the summer, I decided to try out being a vegetarian for a year. The reasons I began were slightly naive, but as time progresses, my reasons for staying a vegetarian are solidifying.

After watching this clip, it confirms one reason that I am a vegetarian. Jeremy, you mentioned that animal rights was a paradox, which is true. So just to clarify, I am okay with the actual final killing and eating of an animal. I do believe that God provided animals as resources for us to eat, like how He provided trees for us to build with. However, God wanted us to be good stewards of His resources. These chicken have never seen natural light! They live a rotten life, literally. I believe that while they are alive, they should not suffer when it can be prevented. I honestly don't think this is what it was created to be.

What's the original reason I became a vegetarian? It's somewhere along the same lines.

ISAIAH 11:6-9
6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling [a] together;
and a little child will lead them.

7 The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

8 The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,
and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest.

9 They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.

I was reading this passage that is talking about what the Kingdom of Heaven should look like and what it will look like. Basically, natural prey and predators will be at peace. There will be no fear and destruction, but peace and harmony. If as Christians we are supposed to bring qualities of the Kingdom to earth, then perhaps I shouldn't eat meat.

An Biblical argument against this would be more of a legalistic thing. After all, God and Jesus in the New Testament straight up tell the disciples they won't be considered unclean by what they eat. "Kill and eat... do not call anything impure that God has made clean." (Acts 10:13-15), Jesus declares all food clean (Mark 7:19).

However my argument for that is "Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial." (1 Cor 10:23). So yeah, we CAN do anything, but it doesn't mean what we do is for good.

So in the end, I'm still a vegetarian because its one way of restoring what the world was created to be. I do eat seafood though, because they aren't abused as much and there aren't very many vegetarian options in the world yet.

3 comments:

  1. ic...im doing my technical writing paper on factory farmed animals, so im used to the pictures (google image "factory farmed animals") and i guess i dont really agree with the methods. im taking another approach to the problem using genetic research, because i dont really know how much i can do just by becoming a vegetarian. but you should continue doing it cuz thats the way you feel!

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  2. i don't agree with vegetarians because i feel that the effort spent there could easily be spent helping people instead of animals.

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  3. This author, Jonathan Safran Foer, wrote a book about how/why he decided to become vegetarian.. it's getting lots of hype right now (talk shows and stuff, ew) but it looks interesting! Plus it's supposed to be like a funny and entertaining story. I think the interesting part is that he's been on and off vegetarian throughout his life and had trouble deciding too.. I want to read it! Hopefully it's not just an attempt to brainwash...
    http://www.amazon.com/Eating-Animals-Jonathan-Safran-Foer/dp/0316069906/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259901283&sr=8-1

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