Reflections on eating meat

Introduction

Today's post deals with eating meat. But I end up going on an epic Biblical tear before I finally end this piece.

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Before I was diagnosed with cancer, I was quite the carnivore. Now? Even the thought of eating meat is revolting. Not that I have much of an appetite anyway – chemo will do that to you – but I simply can't have meat in my diet any more. When I pass a Burger King, I feel like I'm in the presence of a crematorium. When I passed a new chicken place in my neighborhood, I looked in the window and saw 20 corpses on a massive grill. Oh, the horror!

I even had a weird dream about shopping in a meat market. I saw the various displays of animal products – butt steak, pigs knuckles, pork bellies, and chicken breasts. Then I saw an alternate version of this shopping spree, only this time the shopper was a man-sized chicken dressed in a business suit. And he went to an aisle where, at first, I saw him looking at a sign. It read, “human breasts.” Then I looked up from the sign and saw in a cellophane-wrapped package – female human breasts. They were double-D cup size, skinned, and ready for cooking.

I woke up in a cold sweat.

When was it okay to start eating meat?

I'm going to address this question from the biblical* point of view, starting with these verses from Genesis, chapter 1:

QUOTE:

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

29 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.

30 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.

:UNQUOTE.

Verse 27 says God created a male and a female.

In verse 28, God blesses them – sure, why not? Although why is this blessing not mentioned in Genesis's chapter 2, verse 7, where it is written:

7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Wait a minute. Man was created twice? The first time in Gen. 1, verse 27; the second, in Gen. 2, verse 7? And this second man was not blessed? And it was the “LORD God” in Gen. 2, who “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” but only God (not the “LORD God”) who created the first man and woman? I'd like to know whatever became of the man and woman created in Genesis 1.

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Time out to mention another curiosity:

Genesis, Chapter 2, tells us:

2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.

3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

God's work was done, according to verses 2 & 3. However, a few verses later (Verse 7), the LORD God (guess that's different from God) created Adam and Eve.

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Maybe this rule from Gen 1 was only meant to apply to the people created in Gen 1:

29 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.

In the very next verse, God tells the animals what their food is and (in effect) not to eat each other:

30 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.

In Genesis 2, God does not tell Adam and Eve (who are, obviously, the second set of created humans) that plants are to “be for (your) meat.” So it appears that Genesis 2 introduces a rule change – it's okay to eat meat. By the way, my practice of Buddhism inclines me toward this rule: “It's never okay to kill an animal to eat its meat.”

But Cain thought it was okay to kill an animal so as to make a burnt offering to God, thinking God was a meat-eater. Cain thought it was okay to bash in its fucking skull with a rock and, with his own bare hands, clean the animal. That included removing its shit-filled intestines so as to properly prepare it for grilling for the pleasure of the Lord.

Now let us skip ahead to Genesis, Chapter 8:

20 And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

21 And the LORD smelled a sweet savour...

So, the LORD loves the smell of burning meat. Maybe He would have loved the smell of cooking meat emanating from the Nazi's crematoria. Why not? Meat is meat, right?

I have no problem heaping scorn upon the God (and LORD God) written of in the Bible. He is the product of a certain schizophrenia in man who wrote the Bible in the first place. Very great evil has been done in the name of the Lord, and it's about time people see this “Lord” as He really is and stop committing very great evils, in His name or otherwise.

And what is He, really? Nothing more than a myth. And One who needed a rest after six days of creating stuff. I hope He wasn't terribly exhausted by His efforts, though I have to wonder: What kind of a God needs to rest? This God sounds more like a man to me.

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Steven Searle, Just another member of the

Virtual Samgha of the Lotus and

former candidate for President of the USA (in 2008 & 2012)

Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com

Footnote:

biblical* - Today's post cites only Chapters 1, 2, & 8 of Genesis, King James Version. This link is to chapter 1, from which you can click to access the other chapters  http://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Genesis-Chapter-1/