When I was four I wanted to be a rabbit doctor. At eight I
boycotted veal, and at ten I stopped eating cows and pigs. I didn’t know
vegetarianism was even an option, but at sixteen I became friends with a vegan
kid who introduced me to the horrors of factory farming—debeaking, tail
docking, de-horning and castrating without anesthetic, egg hens crammed in
filthy battery cages, their useless male chicks suffocated or ground up alive,
cows manipulated to produce so much milk that their udders bleed with infection
while their male calves are sent to cruel “veal crates,” intensive confinement
of pigs, and gruesome slaughter of billions of animals every year. I couldn’t
accept this anymore than I would if these conditions were imposed upon our
family dog. In fact, the daily, standard routines
imposed upon virtually all animals in our food system would be considered
felonies if done to our pet cats and dogs. I also learned about industrial
animal agriculture’s egregious consequences on the environment, the global
poor, and public health.
Needless to say, I went vegan. I intuitively understood that
there was something deeply wrong with exploiting people, animals, and the
environment, and with needlessly killing innocent
creatures, simply because I had acquired a taste for them. Six years after
going vegan, I became a follower of Jesus, even though Christianity was
completely alien to my upbringing and mentality—but that’s another story. Over
the years, as I’ve matured in my faith and biblical worldview, my vegan ethic
and lifestyle have taken on a new and deeper dimension as I’ve come to
understand the mercy and compassion that God has toward His creation…
That humans, the pinnacle of creation, are uniquely created in
the image of God has deep implications, namely that our intended identity is to be like God.
An integral way this is fleshed out is in our dominion over creation.
Christians in the Creation Care movement have rightfully affirmed that this
“dominion” is not one of exploitative subjugation but rather of responsible
stewardship, characterized by compassion, mercy, and a loving concern for its
flourishing, just as God exercises His dominion over us. Let us not forget,
“creation” not only refers to the environment, but also the animal
kingdom—sentient beings fully capable of experiencing pleasure and pain. Yet,
the unfortunate reality is that our use of animal products is the greatest
cause of unspeakable animal suffering and deaths. We grossly pervert God’s
creation by denying these creatures the lives He intended them to live.
Due to the falleness of the age, God has allowed various
concessions, such as slavery, divorce, and eating meat. Yet, concessions are
not endorsements. The thing about the Bible that resonates with me is its
prophetic relevance—its ability to speak to the longings of the human heart,
and address the issues of any age, transforming individuals into the image of
God, and moving all creation toward the Kingdom of God. In spite of
concessions, God has communicated his loftiest ideals that we are to move towards.
Prophesying about the Kingdom of Heaven, Isaiah tells us that animals and
humans will harmoniously coexist; “they will neither harm nor destroy on all my
holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as
the waters cover the sea” (Is. 11:6-9).
Some argue that we should care for animals because they’re just
like us, while others presume we have the right to use animals as we see fit
because they’re not like us. Both perspectives are flawed.
Biologically, we may be like animals, but spiritually we are uniquely created
in the image of God, which compels us to rise above our animal nature and live
according to our spiritual nature. To suggest we can use animals because we’re
above them is self-refuting; it calls us to operate from principles of animal
behavior, denying the ethical and moral imperatives rooted in our spiritual
nature, the very thing that sets us apart from the animal kingdom. That we are
above animals gives all the more reason for us to care for them, to not live as
slaves to the food chain and the amoral cycles of a fallen creation, but to
resemble God, operating from a higher spiritual nature, one defined by love,
one that calls for compassion over killing, for spiritual redemption over
natural selection.
A great barrier in our spiritual development is the disconnect
between our beliefs and our daily living. Compassionate eating is a practical
spiritual discipline, an empowering opportunity to incarnate biblical values
into our daily lives, embracing our role as caretakers of creation and
ministers of reconciliation. A move towards a healthy, plant-based diet is not
asking people to adopt foreign values and concerns; rather, it’s an invitation
to live in accordance with the beliefs and values most people already
hold—biblical values such as peace and compassion, justice and mercy. Doing so
not only bears witness to God and His Kingdom, but we as individuals are
blessed with the inner peace and joy that comes from maintaining consistency
between what we believe and how we live.
The ordinariness of eating is the very reason why it has such
extraordinary effects on the world. Because we do it so often, its ripple
effects reach so far. In his article Compassionate Eating as Care of Creation, Calvin
College philosophy professor, Dr. Matthew Haltmann writes: “The links between
what we choose to eat as individuals, and the flourishing or languishing of
God’s creation as a whole are much more direct than we often believe.” Aside
from its many health benefits, a vegan diet not only saves the lives of
countless animals, but it is the most effective thing we can do to reduce our
environmental impact. According to the U.N., animal agriculture contributes
more greenhouse gases to the atmosphere than all forms of transportation
combined, in addition to being a leading cause of deforestation, pollution, and
natural resource depletion. As it takes exponentially more land, grains, and water to produce animal foods
rather than plant foods, a plant-based diet frees up immense amounts of
resources for the poor and hungry of the world. People, animals, and the
environment are three inter-connected parts of the whole created order. The
flourishing or languishing of one inevitably affects the others. Biblically
even, we know that the fall and redemption of creation is linked to the fall
and redemption of humans. The Bible informs us that the fall of creation
resulted from Adam’s fall from God, and that Jesus, the new Adam, reverses the
curse, reconciling man to God, and in turn all creation. In Jesus, God has
ordained “to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things
in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Col 1:19-20).
We live between two poles—the Garden of Eden and the Kingdom of
God. This is the story we find ourselves in. Christianity is based on the hope
that Jesus’ death and resurrection are
the catalysts for redemption and reconciliation, paradoxically restoring Eden,
by redeeming the fallen creation, to realize the Kingdom. We’re to be
ambassadors for Christ by living as citizens of His Kingdom here and now,
peeling back the veil between this world and the next, pursuing God’s will on
earth as it is in heaven, living testimonies of the World to Come. On an
individual level, this involves sanctification, a process in which believers
are being conformed to the likeness of Christ—the image of God. As the Holy
Spirit continues this process in us and renews our minds, Jesus calls us to be
active participants in this transformation—“For the creation waits in eager
expectation for the children of God to be revealed” (Rom. 8:19).
“The earth is the
Lord’s and the fullness
Thereof. Oh, God,
enlarge within us the
Sense of fellowship
with all living
Things, our
brethren the animals to
Whom Thou gavest
the earth as
Their home in
common with us.
We remember with
shame that
In the past we have
exercised the
High dominion of
man with ruthless
Cruelty so that the
voice of the earth,
Which should have
gone up to Thee in
Song, has been a
groan of travail.
May we realize that
they live not
For us alone but
for themselves and
For Thee, and that
they love the sweetness
Of life even as we,
and serve Thee in their
Place better than
we in ours.”
~prayer by St.
Basil of Caesarea, fourth century church father
