The Vegenesis Story – vegan food for thought (via latter day satyagraha)
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1 In the vegan-ning, God created the heaven and the earth, and so on.
2 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
3 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
4 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
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5 ¶ And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.
6 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
7 ¶ And God said, Let us make humans in our image, after our likeness: and let them be friends with the fish of the sea, and the fowl of the air, and the cattle, and become one with all the earth, and with every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
8 So God created humans in his own image, in the image of God created he them; nonviolent created he them.
9 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and bless it: and be friends with the fish of the sea, and the fowl of the air, and with every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
10 ¶ And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
11 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
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12 ¶ And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man and the woman whom he had formed.
13 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food, and so on.
14 And the Lord God took the humans, and put them into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
15 And the Lord God commanded both Adam and Eve, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
16 But thou shall not kill, neither for food nor for sport and thou shalt not eat of the flesh of a dead animal: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die – and the purpose of my creation will be frustrated.
17 ¶ And the Lord God said, With this admonition, I know that it is not good that humans should be alone; I will make loyal and trusting friends for them.
18 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto the humans he had created in his own image to see what they would call them: and whatsoever humans called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
19 Each creature they called friend, and the Lord God was pleased.
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1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And fruit and vegetables was not good enough for him. The serpent was greedy and wanted more. The serpent said unto Adam, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not kill the animals in the garden, for they are not for meat?
2 And Adam said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, to us it shall be for meat:
3 But we are not meant to kill any of the animals that God has created. God hath said, Ye shall not kill, neither shall ye desire to kill, lest ye shall die and the purpose of my creation be frustrated.
4 And the serpent said unto Adam, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know fully well that one cannot call the fruit of the trees of the garden meat. In the day ye kill animals, your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, both wise and strong, knowing good from evil. On that day, ye will taste the difference between what God has given you for meat and the true meat, which is the flesh of animals.
6 And Adam said to the serpent, In no way could I harm you or any of the other creatures that God has placed in the garden! Would you want me to kill you and eat you for meat?
7 The serpent replied, there is little, if no meat on me – it would serve no purpose to kill me, but see the pig, the cow, and the chicken, on them there is enough meat to feed both you, your wife and me.
8 Adam saw that those creatures were good for food, and that they were pleasant to the eyes like the serpent had said, and that killing them for meat would make both him and his wife strong and wise, so he took the pig, and the cow and the chicken and slaughtered them, and he did eat, and gave also unto his wife with him.
9 Now Eve was not pleased. She said, Adam, did God not tell us thou shall not kill, for if ye do, ye shall surely die?
10 Adam replied, but Eve, the serpent is right, the flesh of animals is also for food. I did not die and neither will you if you eat of this meat that I now have given you. It will make you both wise and strong, and it is pleasing both for the eyes and the taste of it is good. With the multitude of creatures that God has created and put into the garden for our good, one more or less will do no harm.
11 After some talking into, Eve gave in and did eat of the flesh of animals that Adam had presented her.
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12 And the eyes of them both were opened, for the flesh of animals arose in them fleshly lust, which the fruits and the vegetables had yet not done, so they knew that they had been naked.
13 And they took the skins of the animals that Adam had killed and of them they made themselves aprons.
14 And they heard the voice of the Lord God, as they were walking in the garden, in the cool of the day; and Adam and his wife went to hide themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
15 And the Lord God called unto Eve, and said unto her: Where goest thou?
16 And she said: I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I beheld that I was naked, and I hid myself.
17 And the Lord God said unto Eve, seeing the skins she was wearing about her loins: Who told thee thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the flesh of animals whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat, if so thou shouldst surely die?
18 And the woman said: The man thou gavest me, and commandest that he should care for me, he gave me of the flesh of animals and I did eat.
19 And the Lord God said unto the man: What is this thing which thou hast done? Didst thou kill? And the man said: The serpent beguiled me, I took of the flesh of the animals that thou hast given me, and I did eat.
20 And the Lord God said unto the serpent: Because thou hast done this thou shalt be cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and venom shall I put in your mouth to remind all the children of men that you once beguiled Adam and Eve;
21 And I will put enmity between thee and the humans, between thy seed and their seed; and they shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise their heel.
22 Unto the woman, the Lord God said: I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception. In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children, to be reminded that life is precious and that to live it fully is not a given, and until you both seek back to the Garden of Eden, to a state of harmony with nature and with the creatures that I have given to you as friends, the man that I commanded to care for thee will continue to think that he should rule over thee, in the same way he thinks he is meant to rule over animals.
23 And unto Adam, the Lord God said: Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of the serpent, and hast eaten of the flesh of animals of which I commanded thee, saying—Thou shalt not kill, neither for food nor for sport, I will cast thee and the woman out of the Garden of Eden to protect my creation, and I shall put enmity between thee and the animals.
24 For they shall fear thee. Through their nostrils, when they smell thee, they will smell the death of the animals thou hast killed and eaten.
25 By the sweat of thy face shalt thou work to gain the trust of the animals that thou hast killed, every day of thy life, until thou shalt return unto the ground—for thou shalt surely die—for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou wast, and unto dust shalt thou return.
26 And Adam was angry at Eve for having admitted to God that he had indeed killed the animals the Lord God had given them as friends.
27 On the other hand, the Lord God was pleased with Eve, who although she did listen to her husband and did eat of the flesh of animals, she did remind him of the commandment the Lord God had given them not to kill. Eve was her name, because she was the mother and also the friend of all living; for thus hast the Lord God called the first of all women, which are many.
28 And Adam knew fully well that he would be blamed by his children and the children of his children for having been thrown out of the Garden of Eden, thus he started telling his version of the Genesis story to any who would listen, and who would believe that it was the woman who had listened to the serpent, who had eaten of some forbidden fruit on a fictitious tree of knowledge between good and evil, and the more he told his story to any who would listen, the more he believed the story himself.
29 He even said that the Lord God made coats of animal skins to clothe them. The truth is that the Lord God taught Eve to make clothes out of cotton, while Adam insisted, in his cold and dreary world, that he would continue to wear the skins of the animals he had killed – as a sign of things to come..
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30 But would the Lord God, who is vegan, kill animals to clothe Adam and Eve? Only Adam, with the help of the guile he learned from the serpent would come up with such a story, for the Lord God is pleased with life in abundance on earth, and He desireth for all men and women that they become friends with the animals and that they become one with the Creation that He made for them.
31 But until that blessed and glorious day, Adam will continue to kill animals unabatedly, and Eve, complicit to the murders that Adam commits, will forget that life is precious and that to live it fully is not a given.
32 So with the birth of every human child, the Lord God will remind all Adams and Eves on earth that life is indeed precious, and that the Lord God’s Creation is fragile.
33 In the meridian of times, the Lord God will send His own Son to teach the children of men, that through his Son’s death on a cross set up by men (a murder to end all murders), the killing of all living creatures must end, for the Lord God is a nonviolent God, and that is the nature of God, and He is pleased with life in abundance on the earth.
34 And in the last days, the Lord God will free the pig, the cow and the chicken who remaineth subjugated to humans, because the Lord God knoweth that humans have yet not ceased to call the flesh of animals for meat according to the guile of the serpent.
35 And the serpent, well, the serpent, will be hiding, lurking in a tree or under a stone, employing the venom in his mouth to put asleep animals that he seeketh for food, the same way he first beguiled Adam. Adam himself will awake from his deep slumber in the last days, and with Eve they will bring about the day when the wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and then dust shall be the serpent’s meat.
36 For on that day, they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.
June 28, 2010 at 2:28 pm
serious? this got posted? I may even eat a second hamburger this evening in honor of this post. Early man in her/his natural state was non-violent (I need to watch Space Odyssey 2001 again)? We are the only meat-eaters around? We shouldn’t step on the earth as there may be a micro-organism under our feet that could be killed?
Reminds me of the guy that postulated that the earth could only support a population of one billion humans. My response to him: You first.
(No alien cultures were harmed, destroyed, or led astray in this cyber posting)
June 28, 2010 at 7:16 pm
Prepare for the onslaught of comments! I’m still not sure if this is satire (very good) or serious (very bad). Actual Scriptures can be found with a contrary perspective, if needed.
But I’m most disheartened when some who advocate this philosophy backpedal on the subject of killing for “reproductive choice”
June 29, 2010 at 5:20 pm
Sorry, the Lord God is not a nonviolent God. I submit for exhibit A, the account of Joshua’s armies wiping out the entire population (including babies) of the Levant prior to the establishment of the state of Israel. Exhibit B: Christ cleansed the temple of money changers using a whip. Exhibit C: the whole flood thing.
Also, if it’s so offensive to eat furry animals, why is it ok to eat tree ovaries (fruit?) Either way, you’re messing with the population of future generations of other species. If it’s all about nonviolence and being friends with all life, then the argument falls apart. Tomatoes are our slaves. I eat their babies for my lunch.
I’m pretty sure God put cows on the earth so I could eat them. That said, I think it’s also important to respect the lives of the animals we eat, and that precludes the factory farming methods we use in America.
August 1, 2010 at 4:26 am
“Tomatoes are our slaves. I eat their babies for my lunch.”
Now that’s a statement you don’t hear too often.
June 30, 2010 at 4:44 am
Read The Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Kieth. Peace
June 30, 2010 at 6:01 am
Whoa, these comments are a little harsh.
I think it’s an interesting perspective.
Our eating habits are an important aspect to our lives, and how we interact with the world. We often overlook the stewardship issues that affect our diets, whether they be the ethics of how food is produced, or the stewardship of our bodies.
How many of our priesthood and members are overweight to obeise? How many of us eat things with little to no consideration of how it is produced? How much are those two questions related?
I am by no means a vegetarian and I don’t eat as well as I should, but I think the ethics of meat eating is a worthwhile subject for us to consider.
I believe that if we are to become a more Zionic people, being more mindful of our actions, and having them reflect God’s love and care for the world, these issues are worth some reflection.
Will meat be eaten in Zion? If so, how much?
How can meat production be more Zionic?
June 30, 2010 at 6:07 am
And Beth, I don’t buy Joshua being evidence of a violent God. Humans do plenty of violent stuff saying “God made me do it.” or “God’s on our side.”
I suspect this is pretty much just that.
July 4, 2010 at 7:12 pm
Deuteronomy 20:16, words which were given by the Lord to Moses:
But of the cities of these people, which the Lord thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth.
Whether or not you believe that these words were actually given to Moses or were added later to justify war crimes, this account is still recorded as part of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Back in the day, this kind of thing was actually not that far out of the norm (I took a class on the Ancient Middle East back at Uni) so it’s not like they needed divine justification to help them sleep at night, anyway.
Exhibit D of evidence of a God who condones violence in certain situations:
1 Samuel 15; The Lord instructs Saul via Samuel to slaughter the Amalekites and leave not one living thing. Saul spares the king, and some sheep. This act of mercy costs Saul the kingship and the spirit of the Lord departs from him. Oh, and then Samuel kills Agag himself. In pieces. (v. 35)
Also Exhibit E:
Nephi was commanded to kill Laban.
I’m not citing these examples in order to show that violence in general is ok, but rather to show that we cannot discount them as aberrations. Unless you believe that every prophet that ever lived has “tweaked” the words of the Lord to condone this kind of thing, you have to accept that sometimes God does condone violent action.
Furthermore, I think if God was truly a non-violent God, he would command us via modern-day prophets to never fight in any war.
July 8, 2010 at 12:16 pm
I thought He did command us not to kill.
July 10, 2010 at 3:12 pm
You’re describing old testament events (and I’m including pre-Jesus BoM in that). We have a new covenants in Jesus Christ, who taught us to turn the other cheek, and that to live by the sword is to die by the sword (the Nephites are a good example of that). In Him we have our most perfect revelation of truth, and it is based upon that truth that we should judge the rest of the scriptures.
Nephi’s decapitation of Laban has been the justification for Blood Atonement theology, and has helped some seriously disturbed people feel justified to commit horrific crimes. So I think the Book of Mormon reference needs to be seen in the context of the entire book.
The Nephites become a people of the sword, reproducing the sword used in slaughtering Laban. They become a people of nonviolence when Jesus comes to them and teaches. As a result, they all die by the sword.
June 30, 2010 at 6:09 am
Some food for thought from the Word of Wisdom:
D&C Section 86:2
And again, verily I say unto you, All wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man, every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof. All these to be used with prudence and thanksgiving. Yea, flesh also, of beasts and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, hath ordained for the use of man, with thanksgiving. Nevertheless, they are to be used sparingly; and it is pleasing unto me that they should not be used only in times of winter, or of cold, or famine.
June 30, 2010 at 1:15 pm
I, for one, do not presume to know if God is non-violent or not. The Word of Wisdom is about moderation, not abstinence. And the meat goes on…
June 30, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Doug,
Can you please define moderation in this case? I have been vegan (abstinent) for 5 years for health related reasons. My immune system overreacts to animal related food products. I have over the years contracted psoriatic arthritis, also understood as an auto-immune disorder, partly related in my case to meat eating.
Taking care of the body for me was the nr. 1 reason for becoming vegan, since much of the pain and the skin problems literally vanished – almost over night -after I started eating only greens 5 years ago. I had been through 7 years of pain before that, where I was forced to use a cane to walk already at the age of 23. Then I stopped my meat-feast and the world became such a friendlier place for me.
I normally don’t think of myself as ideologically or even christologically committed to veganism, or at least have not done so in the past. Gender roles and patterns, man’s relationship to the Creation, to other animals besides himself, as well as his relationship to himself (including his own diet recommendations) are all often derived from the Genesis story (and from other scriptural sources, as quoted by some of you).
I think the deductive exercise of identifying where the animal skins came from that God used to make clothes to Adam and Eve when he cast them out of the Garden of Eden (all this very figuratively in my mind, but still an interesting detail in the story) is not out of place. Who killed the animals? God? or was it, as I suggest, that they were already killed by Adam?
In addition, the fruit of the tree of knowledge between good and evil was obviously not a fruit (it is clearly figuratively speaking of something else, and so it must be, for me to believe in it), so what action/sin/experience did ‘early man’ have that made him feel separated and/or even at odds with the Creation in which God (or evolution) had placed him?
In Mormon myth, (I stand corrected if I am wrong on this one), the earth started off in a paradisiacal state like the Garden of Eden and, as a people, Latter day Saints seek for it again to become paradisiacal according to JS’ 13 articles of faith, hopefully before if not after the millenium.
Rick,
Thank you for your kind support.
“I think the ethics of meat eating is a worthwhile subject for us to consider. I believe that if we are to become a more Zionic people, being more mindful of our actions, and having them reflect God’s love and care for the world, these issues are worth some reflection.”
For additional resources supporting the call to becoming a more Zionic people, please check the Christian Vegetarian Association’s website and booklet “Would Jesus eat meat today?”:
http://www.all-creatures.org/cva/honoring.htm
as well as Wikipedia’s article on Christian Vegetarianism (where the LDS movement and the WoW is mentioned). I seem to be in very good company.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_vegetarianism
mormongandhi
June 30, 2010 at 2:37 pm
and perhaps I should have named the post: The Vegenesis Story – Vegan thought for food ?
July 2, 2010 at 12:26 pm
For some people, deciding not to eat meat or animal-based foods is a key to their health, and I would never argue with that. I am 54 and in very good health, and eat meat about 6 meals per week. The reason for your decision and then asking me to make the same decision on a different basis seems to me to be inconsistent.
Personally, I don’t place a lot of faith in the Genesis story, which was woven for iron age people, although I marvel at how closely it mirrors actual events (providing room for the idea that a day unto God is as of a thousand years). Left out of your comments is that God said that man should use all of the things on the earth, as they were placed there for our good. Be good stewards, but they are under our hand.
Finally, the decision to work through the deductive process on the animal skins Adam and Eve wore (a minute detail of little celestial consequence, it would seem) stands in stark contrast to the complete re-write of Genesis you propose. This seems to be living in two worlds at the same time.
Is there a greater question behind how we get our food in relationship to receiving the gift of the Kingdom? Perhaps, but my own thoughts are that this might be well down the list of things I personally (and perhaps most of us) need to address to prepare myself for celestial living (a mote vs beam thing).
July 2, 2010 at 1:21 pm
Hey again Doug,
Thanks for your reply.
I do not ask CofC members to make the same decision as I did to become vegetarian/vegan, and if I did, I would not do so on the grounds of health only. What I suggest is that a vegetarian/vegan lifestyle, or even eating meat in moderation (and I do not believe that 6 fleshy meals a week is moderation), would, in addition to its obvious health benefits, contribute to a more sustainable future for us, the planet and not the least for animals. A future where we may be more in tune with the Spirit and in greater harmony with nature, and where the animals may be treated more humanely than the current “factory farming methods” that Beth refers to.
Good stewardship does not imply that we should rid the seas of its fish stocks, either through industrial fishing or polluting fragile eco-systems with oil (BP Gulf of Mexico), or that we should industrially farm pigs and cows for economic gain to fuel an appetite and an economy gone awry. On the contrary, good stewardship would necessarily imply the combination of collective fasting, mutual caring and considerable preserving. Something we definitely could all do more of.
Vegetarianism encourages exactly this kind of respect for nature and for its non-renewable gifts. The lifestyle might even be a tool for greater spirituality. Vegetarianism often come hand-in-hand with fasting. So even though the way we get our food may seem like a less pressing issue than other pre-requisites for receiving the gift of the Kingdom, it is nonetheless an important aspect that we should over time gradually start caring about in order to prepare ourselves for celestial living. And what sustains our living more than food?
Let me conclude with the following words of Paul to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 8:-13): For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol’s temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols; And through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? But when ye sin so against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, ye sin against Christ. Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.
I would agree (from reading the New Testament) that meat eating was not a primordial issue for Jesus and his companions in the times they lived in, but being aware of how our thoughts, actions and words impact our brothers and sisters has always been a Christian virtue. And honestly, had it not been for Rick, I would have seriously started wondering here. Some of the comments above were offensive, while I was just trying to respectfully put forward alternative “food for thought”.
July 2, 2010 at 3:29 pm
Apologies if you took offense. When I read “re-written scripture”, it implies to me that this is a perspective that should be taken as seriously as what has come to us through the ages. In that light, I could not take your version of Genesis seriously.
Additionally, much of the vegan writing and comments that I get in person and on Facebook offer me a healthy dose of guilt at what I am doing. If eating flesh was okay with Jesus, it is okay with me – I don’t buy into others guilt trips, as I have shared previously on this site. I don’t think Jesus called Peter and the sons of thunder away from their fishing just so they wouldn’t fish anymore.
Following up on what Mark Gibson offered, I would much rather focus my attention on institutional slaughter of 29 million babies just in the US because of convenience or financial concerns than what you offer. And I’m sure you won’t attempt to equate the two.