Memoirs of an omnivore: a crossroads in my journey (part 2)
This is part two of a two part series. Please go here to read Part 1.
First of all, I began to realize that in the Bible - Old Testament and New Testament - God is portrayed as caring very much about all creation, animals included. For example, when God explains his deep compassion for the wicked, immoral city of Ninevah, he addresses this love not only to the number of people living there, but includes the "many cattle" as well. This is just one example; granted, we American Christians haven't focused on these aspects of Bible stories and commands but they are there in plenty.
First of all, I began to realize that in the Bible - Old Testament and New Testament - God is portrayed as caring very much about all creation, animals included. For example, when God explains his deep compassion for the wicked, immoral city of Ninevah, he addresses this love not only to the number of people living there, but includes the "many cattle" as well. This is just one example; granted, we American Christians haven't focused on these aspects of Bible stories and commands but they are there in plenty.
Then too, there are the specifics on treating animals in the Bible's Old Testament, leading to the laws of Kosher. But Christians don't have to follow this, right? The early Jewish/Christian leaders had a discussion when the faith began to spread outside the Jewish world - how much of Jewish law and tradition did Gentiles need to adopt in order to be followers of Christ - who was himself a Jew? Instead of passing on the centuries of tradition and minute laws that formed the Jewish world, only a handful of rather universal principals were passed down; three or four. These are things we take for granted in our morality for the most part, but one is a surprise - it deals with the way an animal is killed before becoming food.
So this is a part of the Christian faith, after all. Or, it should be. Out of thousands of possible laws and traditions that could be passed down, only four are chosen. One of these is about eating meat that has been killed in a certain way. That's Big.
Once I became convinced that God cared very much for all creatures, and once I realized that he commanded not just the Jews but also Christians to take great care in the slaughter of animals that become meat, its not a big jump to consider that if God takes interest in how humanely animals are killed, he probably takes interest in how they live their lives. And from what I know about the meat we eat in the Western world, we're not even close.
Like I said, all this has suddenly become very very real to me. But what should I do about it?
I'm not entirely certain. Like I said, I'm not actually opposed to eating meat, but I do not want to contribute to the treatment of animals that is in clear defiance of God's very reasonable command - a command very easily reproduced in our own sense of right and wrong. Here are some things I'm currently considering.
- I have a family to consider. I don't want to dictate what they can or cannot eat, especially if they aren't on board with this. But if I really feel this strongly about it, how could I buy/prepare it and fell ok about that decision?
- I have difficulty with eating - I tend to be on the underweight side of things and have little appetite as it is. I hate beans more than anything else. How will I solve this in such a way that I don't just create a secondary problem?
- Organic, free-range, etc. options. On the one hand, they come closer. But more research shows they don't come that close. I'm researching Whole Foods and other grocers to find how the precise details of where their meat comes from. Since I can't afford it more than once a month or so, we'd still end up mostly as vegetarians.
- I've joined a local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program for the summer, which will provide us with lots of yummy, organic, locally grown fruit and veggies. I hope to plan our meals around this as much as possible - which is a start.
- In my diverse neighborhood I've located a few shops that cater exclusively to Kosher and Halal shoppers, and I am looking into the prices and availability there.
- I'm also looking for some sort of meat-CSA solution that would allow me to support a local mom-and-pop farm (again, at a higher cost, but at least a start)
Look at this - my journey of faith changing my actual day to day life.
Now its your turn. Please chime in! Thoughts? Advice? Questions?
16 comments:
Hummus. Chickpeas. Fish or eggs if you decide to keep eating those. WHole grains. Nuts. Nut butters.
And Jeanne Lemlin, the greatest vegetarian cookbook writer ever.
I find your concern very refreshing. It bothers me too, but I don't feel up to doing anything about it. I like it that you sound like you're not going to become too rigid or doctrinaire in whatever position you end up taking. Even a modest change or three is positive.
we try hard to only eat humanely raised/slaughtered meat. we bought a whole pig last year from someone we know; we're talking about buying a cow with some other people this year. but yes, it's hard. the meat needs to be sourced, and it's more expensive.
over time, the US average expenditure on food has decreased as a percentage of spending. i'd rather buy good expensive food than new shoes. so i don't go looking for the cheapest eggs, but the best ones. but that's me.
read michael pollan. and barbara kingsolver.
Hi Catherine,
I don't know if you ever saw this post on silence from my blog, but I included a poem by Galway Kinnell that I think speaks very deeply to what you are talking about. I don't have a clear answer for you, but perhaps mystery will do:
To Christ Our Lord
The legs of the elk punctured the snow’s crust and wolves floated lightfooted on the land hunting Christmas elk living and frozen; inside snow melted in a basin, and a woman basted a bird spread over coals by its wings and head.
Snow had sealed the windows; candles lit the Christmas meal. The Christmas grace chilled the cooked bird, being long-winded and the room cold. During the words a boy thought, is it fitting to eat this creature killed on the wing?
He had killed it himself, climbing out alone on snowshoes in the Christmas dawn, the fallen snow swirling and the snowfall gone, heard its throat scream as the gunshot scattered, watched it drop, and fished from the snow the dead.
He had not wanted to shoot. The sound of wings beating into the hushed air had stirred his love, and his fingers froze in his gloves, and he wondered, famishing, could he fire? Then he fired.
Now the grace praised his wicked act. At its end the bird on the plate stared at his stricken appetite. There had been nothing to do but surrender, to kill and to eat; he ate as he had killed, with wonder.
At night on snowshoes on the drifting field he wondered again, for whom had love stirred? The stars glittered on the snow and nothing answered. Then the Swan spread her wings, cross of the cold north, the pattern and mirror of the acts of earth.
If nothing else, eat with wonder. At the very least aknowledge your frail dependence on the death of another that by rights would not have died. Recognize the body and the blood which sustains your life.
I've thought only a little on this issue. Like you I feel conflicted. The first and only thing I've done so far is just consume meat a bit less than I used to. I look at the fish counter for good prices, I think of creative meals with eggs, if I buy the "good" meat, I think of how far I can stretch it. That's all I got, for now, but I may have more ideas later. Thanks for sharing yours - I'm going to look at our local kosher options!
Hi, Catherine You have really raised our awareness level, once again. What a good person you are, and what a gift to this world. I am thinking now that the"road to market" is certainly not an easy one for any product. There are injustices along the way, especially in this global market.
looking into kosher is a great idea
let me know what all you find out
i'm interested to see where this leads for you and how i can learn from you!
Was Acts 15 an animal rights concern, or a human health concern? Or both? I have not done the research, but perhaps a strangled animal is one that still has blood, so does not fulfill kosher requirements.
On the other hand,
you may find it interesting to note that humanity was vegetarian starting with Adam and Eve, and was not permitted to eat animals until the time of Noah (Genesis 9:3).
These are things I've definitely thought about myself. I've tried a few times to go vegetarian only to slip back when I got anemia or caught the flu...so I look forward to reading more comments and ideas about this.
The costs of going organic and free range are a little higher but I'm hoping for long term savings at the doctor's office. All the chemicals they feed and inject animals with can't be good for anyone. And I was horrified when my husband and I drove through Texas and saw some of the factory farms you talked about.
i struggle a bit with these issues, too. keep us posted on this journey!
Wonders - that was amazing. Thanks.
Anonymous - that's a good question, and one that I've thought about a lot and looked into a little. In tracing it back to its OT roots, I think it was both, and I think there is definitely a humane element to the intent. In any case, I think the evidence is still solid, with or without that point. Thanks for bringing it up!
Thanks EVERYONE!
I'm not touching this one, sorry! I love meat! (But I did give up hamburgers after seeing "fast food nation") As far as chaplaincy goes, I'm in an M.Div program (you have to be ordained/have this type of degree and it is complicated and life-sucking), and I also have to take a year of Clinical Pastoral Education (interning at a hospital with real chaplains).
I'm the chaplain's intern at my university, and I can say that being in this job has only validated my calling. I don't want to preach or go on missions, I want to sit with people who are sick or broken and pray. I could go on and on.... :)Hope I can help!
I have thought about this issue some, and my main solution was to try to cut down on my meat consumption some. That has been hard though, since my husband is allergic to just about all beans and nuts. I don't feel like I have the luxury of going to a special meat guy to get humanely raised meat (graduate student=poor), and I'm not sure how big the difference is there anyway. I mean, the animal still gets killed and eaten. It was born with its death as the ultimate goal--there's just no getting around that.
I come from a family of farmers, and when I learned about what came from where I stopped eating animal products for several years. Now that I eat that again we try and buy as much from farms as we can...luckily my parents live rurally enough so that their meat, pork, eggs and such are from the neighbors. From what I have seen all of the animals live very happy lives before meeting their end.
I would be happy to 'order' meat and such for you when my mom comes down, she usually bring stuff for us.
Also we get game and fish from my dad that he hunts and fishes for if you like that kind of stuff.
Thanks so much for raising this issue. After that horrible video footage of downed cattle in the California slaughter house I vowed to find a different place to buy meat. But finances are usually the concern. I'm a sucker for the clearance bin at Dominicks, for instance...
These are all good suggestions. If anyone knows of places (farms) in the Chicago area to buy meat that comes from animals who have been "humanely" slaughtered (I don't think that's an oxymoron), please post them here.
Michelle and Julie, mothers of three
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