O Lord, protect us from militant vegans.

From time to time I am forced to write about this.

Lots of folks are vegetarians; some of them are vegans.

Lots of folks, from their perception of living a healthy lifestyle, or from pressures of their own conscience, are vegans. I am all for them and support their choice and their lifestyle. There is no crime in choosing to live a life free from eating any animal products or byproducts. It is not, however, a life that most of us choose. Vegans understand that.

Militant vegans, however, are a different lot. And militant CHRISTIAN vegans seem to be the worst of the lot. Some militant vegans would seem to prefer you be lined up and executed by firing squad for having so much as an empty hot dog wrapper in your possession. And militant Christian vegans have all the reasons why I cannot be a Christian and eat meat, why the saving grace of Jesus Christ does not apply to me, nor is the saving blood of Jesus strong enough to overcome the perceived sins of my diet.

Does this not sound somewhat similar to the Pharisees, who had everything except their hearts in the right place? Jesus called them a wicked generation of vipers, though their were satisfied that they did everything just right. Perhaps it was their smug self-satisfaction that earned them The Lord’s ire. I hope I don’t find myself there, since there’s a lot of things I don’t know, and even fewer that I’m sure about. The saving grace of The Blood of Jesus is not one of them.

The militant Christian vegans list all the valid reasons they can come up with to prove that Jesus was a vegan, none of which are rooted in scripture. This is typical of anyone whose feelings override what they can find in scripture, which usually gets down to questioning scripture while simultaneously claiming to be the only ones who have a complete and correct understanding of it. More than a bit of Gnosticism is involved here, and Gnosticism gets one nowhere; it is an unworthy foundation on which to build.

Militant Christian vegans, being of that tribe of those who claim to have the only correct understanding of scripture, typically get down to the point of knowing how and when to use the only real and proper name of Jesus. I know the proper name of Jesus. I know that the word Jesus is the Hellenized version of the name Yeshua (i.e. Latinized is Joshua…for which I am substituting Roman alphabetic representations of the original Aramaic, or perhaps Hebrew. Yes, Jesus spoke Aramaic as His native tongue, but he also was not unfamiliar with Hebrew having attended synagogue…as was His custom). I wonder if the militant Christian vegans know what the word Hellenized means? Jesus has a thousand names. Among my favorites are “The Word”, “King of Kings”, and “The Alpha and Omega”. Which ones do you like? If you are a vegan, perhaps you like the “The Lamb that was slain from the Foundation of the World”, or better “The Lion of the tribe of Judah”. I wonder if lions keep Kosher? I wonder if lions are vegans?

The same God who became man told the story of the prodigal son. In it, He did not say that the happy father of the son-returned-home told his servants to set free the fatted calf. He hung around fishermen and called them to be His disciples. He told them where to cast their nets to a haul in a boat-load of fish. He blessed the fishes and loaves to feed the multitude. While there are no specific examples of scripture where it is written of Him putting meat into his mouth, he did say that it is not what goes into a man’s mouth that defiles him, because that ultimately winds up on the dung heap, but what comes out of a man’s mouth that defiles him, since what is in the heart proceeds out of the mouth.

I am certain that whatever Jesus ate, it was Kosher. Having said that, Peter’s vision in the book of Acts does away with the idea that eating only the proper foods can make one acceptable to God. One who says that Peter’s vision is only to be interpreted allegorically and not literally fails to understand the liberty from the law that Jesus brought to us all. They and their legalistic pitfalls are best avoided. When militant Christian vegans express their overwhelming sacrificial love and stewardship for animals and spew hatred, division, and intolerance towards humans who do not share their views, they are displaying an ignorance in their understanding of scripture.

Jesus did not shed his blood to save any chickens from becoming chicken and dumplings.

To my vegan friends, much love and respect to you. If, however, you decide to turn militant in your veganism, be forewarned that extreme caution is required should you choose to reach to remove that piece of fried chicken from my plate, as you may decide you don’t love me anymore.

If you turn Christian militant vegan, I’d appreciate it if you’d spend more time reading your own bible and less time indulging in an activism that same bible does not support.

I will bow my head and thank the Lord for the meat on my plate, thankful for the catfish He allows me to eat freely and in good conscience. It is soooooo good.

©2017 Mississippi Chris Sharp

PS: One has to work hard to be a vegan in Mississippi. I salute and respect everyone who makes this choice. I ask for the same respect. Eating meat is not a perversion, nor is it new.