This week I want to talk about a question which has been posed to me many times since I began looking into animal rights in 2017: how can you be Christian yet eat animals?

Back in February, I talked about my faith a little when I went vegan for Lent. I would like to first say that if you do not agree with my religious beliefs, that’s fine — I respect your opinion. If you are not comfortable with reading about Christianity, this week’s column may not be for you. However, if you are a meat eater and have had your faith questioned because you support the slaughter of animals, you’ve come to the right place.

In one of my vegan Facebook groups, there is an unusual amount of posts about religion and eating animals. The admin of this particular groups shares multiple posts a day about religion and how he believes certain religions shouldn’t condone eating meat. This admin has gone so far as comparing meat eaters to members of certain white supremacist groups and saying they believe animal blood shed is the same as human blood shed. There are countless posts such as these and I don’t even feel comfortable sharing them because the images are so gruesome.

This specific group is the same Facebook group which “celebrates” in the comment section every time a big game hunter passes away or another dairy farm is forced to close up shop. So, they are happy when human beings die or their business fails, but they get upset when I eat a chicken nugget? Zero sense, this all makes zero sense — anyway, back to my original argument.

Obviously, I disagree with the statement that Christians cannot morally eat meat. Let’s take a look at what the Bible says about eating animals.

Acts 10 talks of Peter becoming hungry and having a vision where he sees all kinds of four-footed animals, reptiles, and birds. In the vision, a voice tells Peter to “kill and eat.”

Peter responded to the voice and said, “Surely not, Lord! I have never eaten anything impure of unclean.”

The voice then told Peter, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

I found that passage in my Bible, which is a New International Version. One of the things I love about my Bible and many others is that anything God says is printed in Red. In this passage from Acts 10, the “voice’s” words are printed in red, meaning the voice is God. This means that God told Peter to kill and eat four legged animals. And based off Peter’s response, I’m going to assume that prior to this profound conversation with the Lord, Peter did not eat meat — or meat from four-legged animals, anyway.

Basically, God found Peter hungry and provided him with the solution.

In another passage, the Bible reads of this “clean eating” again.

Mark 7:18-19 reads: “Are you so dull?” he [Jesus] asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)

Now, these two verses may be contradicting to other verses found in the Old Testament. But isn’t that the beauty of the New Testament? In the New Testament, we are introduced to Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Messiah and sacrificed his earthly life for our sins, meaning when we sin, we are forgiven after asking for forgiveness. However, one could argue that some statements made after Jesus’ death are not followed today. That is where interpretation comes in to play.

There are certain passages of scripture which I can read five different times and interpret differently every time. With this freedom to interpret scripture, we stumble upon a problem often brought up alongside this topic in my Facebook group: that many Christians pick and choose which scriptures to follow.

For example, I consider myself a very religious person, but the small pearl necklace I have on right now would go against what Paul said in 1 Timothy 2:9, “I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes.”

Here’s what I have to say about “picking and choosing:” nobody is perfect. Just like the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament, times and “rules” change. For example, it’s expressed many times throughout the Bible that women should not be leaders in the Church. However, in Romans 16, Paul tips his hat to “our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church in Cenchreae,” as well as Priscilla and Aquila, his “co-workers in Christ Jesus.”

So, are we as Christians wrong to kill and eat meat? Personally, I don’t think so. I believe that animals were put on this Earth to be ruled by humans and that their purpose is to provide healthy, nutrient-rich food for us to enjoy. However, these are my personal beliefs and I can’t tell you if God thinks the same way. What I can tell you is this: we aren’t the judge of everyone else.

In Romans 14:2-3, Paul writes, “One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them.”

I am a firm believer in a joyful relationship with the Lord, and I’ve found that I am happiest when I am worried about me and mine — not everyone else. I believe that your relationship with God is just that: your relationship.

If you want to eat meat, the Lord will love you regardless.

If you want to eat vegetarian, the Lord will love you regardless.

If you want to eat vegan, the Lord will love you regardless.

If you want to solely eat string cheese for the rest of your life, the Lord will love you regardless.

No matter what you do, you are a child of God and he will always love you regardless. So, eat what you want, spread as much love as you can, and check your own trotline because it’s not your job to judge others… even in regard to their diet.

Does God Want Us to Eat Animals?