I was raised in a carnivorous family. When I was a senior in high school we moved to a farm that had cows, chickens, pigs, horses, and rabbits. I stopped eating chicken when the family slaughtered 100 “old” egg laying hens in one day. It was really disgusting.
Lacking knowledge and support, eventually I did return to eating chicken.
I read John Robbins, May All Be Fed in 1993. I became a vegetarian for several years then went vegan in 1995. I moved to a new city in 1996 and began attending a church. I did not know any other vegans in the church. I was ridiculed about not eating what the Lord had provided. Eventually, I did return to eating animals again.
In May of 2007, I began another attempt at losing weight. This one was a bible study at my church. It was based around the food pyramid and food group exchanges. It wasn’t working (the yo-yo effect 5 pounds on – 5 pounds off). So in July I discovered food combinations – eat protein with starch and vegetables with starch – but don’t mix proteins and vegetables. Also, don’t mix fruit with any foods. The author recommended eating only fish (no milk, cheese, eggs, chicken, beef, pork, ect.) So that is how I lost 30 pounds. In January, my church began 3 day water fast followed with 18 day Daniel fast (vegetables only). That is when my sister recommended I watch “Earthlings”. Normally I can not watch cruel things. But I prayed for strength to be able to bear up. I wanted to be able to influence my husband to become a vegan. He is so tender hearted and loves animals. I can not get him to kill things like spiders and roaches. If I find one in the house, he catches it and releases it outside. I was able to watch the movie twice, once alone and once with him. What a tragedy in epic proportions! I know God did not intend the world to be so cruel. As a Christian, we have the Lord’s Prayer, Matthew 10:6
” Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Every time an image from the movie comes into my head I cry out to God with that prayer. The great news is that my husband agreed to become a vegan! Although I was a little upset with him when he took both our leather coats and donated them to the clothes closet for the needy without consulting with me. Ouch! Oh well.
I’ve listened to the pod casts; they are so inspiring and empowering. Thank you! I now believe I have the knowledge to enable me to stick to my convictions.
I thought about my journey and the revelation that God has given me in regards to being a Christian Vegan. I did want to share this information to equip fellow Christians with biblical support for vegans.
Some Christians will refer to God’s covenant with Noah after the flood in order to justify eating animals. According to Genesis 9:3 God said,
“Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.”
We only have to recall that this was after the fall. The world was not in God’s perfect will. You have to go back to the beginning of Genesis to find God’s perfect will (when God had his way). God created a garden in Eden for Adam and Eve. In Genesis 1:29, God said,
“I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it – I give every green plant for food.”
In God’s perfect will, all mankind were to be vegan. Not only that, but in the next verse, Genesis 1:30 , God makes it clear that all animals were vegan.
“And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground-everything that has the breath of life in it-I give every green plant for food”.
Some people will argue that killing animals is godly because of the animal sacrifices in the Old Testament. But, Jesus made it clear in Hebrews 10: 7-8
Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, O God. First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” (although the law required them to be made).
In Matthew 10, Jesus told us to pray that God’s kingdom will come. We know what God’s kingdom will be like. We know there will be no more death. In Revelation 21:4
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
In Romans 8:19-22, it is clear that creation is crying out for a future glory.
“The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope hat the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”
I hope the above biblical references will empower fellow Christians to stand strong in their convictions to stop the suffering in this world and possibly influence other Christians to become Vegan!
~ Deb
thank you for this post, I’m going to spend a lot more time looking around your blog, as well as linking to it..
I stopped eating veal probably 30 years ago after watching a show about the treatment of the calves, and gave up meat altogether a year and a half ago..
I do still eat fish and eggs, so have a way to go to be vegan, but there is no way I would ever be able to eat meat again.
This was a beautiful story. I cannot understand how many “christians” think god and Jesus was about pain, suffering and murder. Yes I call it murder for gods said ‘thou shalt no kill” but seem they like to use “you shalt not murder” to justify that its meant for humans and not animals. Those were changed by man not by god . Jesus came back to fulfill the law and ettempted to bring our earth back to the kingdom of heaven but it failed.
I fight against hunting and what annoys me the most is when they say Jesus was a ‘hunter’ lol. or the “christian bow hunting”. It makes me sick how they use gods name for pain, suffering and death when he was an all merciful. there is nothing “merciful” about hunting or flesh eating.
Thank you again
[...] eating chicken when the family slaughtered 100 ‘old’ egg laying hens in one day.” says Deb at the Joyful Vegan, a collection of vegan [...]
Thank you so much for that. Several times I have had fellow Christians, many of them very stubborn, argue with me that I have made the wrong choice to be vegetarian because they believed that God did not will it. . . and this is before I turned vegan! I never knew quite what to say to them . . . now I do.
Peace,
Mary
I am a vegan and a christian. I gave up meat over a year ago.
I feel good about my health and the environment.
Thanks for this post. It is a constant battle for me. I am 35, very seriously considering to get baptism from our local Lutheran parish BUT all the Christians I have met until now (that’s a 35 year time…) are so human-centered in their way of thinking that I am drawn back to Eastern religions. Seriously. Well, more to think… I guess.
Ohmyword. Thank you so very much for your post! I’m a Christian and a lacto-ovo vegetarian trying to be a vegan. I fully believe that we are not supposed to be eating animals! I have taken Gen 1:29 and put it up on my blogs/myspace/facebook for a vegetarian scripture backing up my meat-free lifestyle. I have been feeling a tugging on my heart strings to just leave behind the lacto (I drink only soy milk, eat only cheese and ice cream) and the ovo (I have stopped buying eggs altogether but have not quit eating morningstar vegetarian products), however, I have had the feeling that I should just leave it all behind and become vegan. When I first started my vegetarian lifestyle, I started off vegan-on accident-but felt WONDERFUL, not missing meat at all. I love my tofu and I love learning how to eat new veggies.
I feel that Earthlings was right on target and very correct in everything it said. I wasn’t able to make it all the way through the entire movie, however, I had seen lots of others like it. I already knew about all the animal cruelty. I had to stop watching after they put the living dog into the trash compactor. I *had* to turn it off and deal with my own emotions and hate for the people who did that to that poor helpless dog. I pray on a daily basis for compassion for those who don’t show compassion. I pray that I don’t become hateful, and then I realized I just cannot watch anymore videos of that of that nature.
In reading your post, I have decided to become a Vegan. I will not clean out my fridge, I will eat everything that I have already, esp since I cannot afford to just go out and replace everything in my fridge. Next grocery trip, I’ll only buy vegan stuff, and I know what a commitment this is, since I know that I will have to be cooking everything I will be eating.
Once again, thank you for your post! It was just what I needed in order to become a vegan!
Deb,
Thank you for your website. The truth is I’ve been thinking heavily about becoming Vegan for a while now. The truth is, at first it really wasn’t about any real ethical concern for animals or the environment, but rather b/c I have a very sensitive digestive system. Most animal products I can’t digest well. I pretty much would be vegan if I could give up eating fish (the only animal / animal product in my diet. I don’t even eat honey anymore. There are no dairy products in my diet. I guess I’m a a Pesco-Vegan?) I’m glad you have a site for Christian vegans. All the Vegans where I live are atheist, and all the sites I have found online are either atheist or Buddist, Toaist or something to that effect. I started to think there was no such thing as a Christian Vegan. I like how you brought up the “Daniel Fast”, as I love that scene where Daniel says he and the others will just eat Vegetables, and they wind up just as healthy and better athletic than the other Babylonians. Thank you for your post. It’s just what I need to help me get over my fish addiction!
Always,
Me
I have been a Christian all my life and vegetarian since fall 2004 (I was 11 at the time) and vegan since early 06 (I was almost 13 at the time, I am now 15). A good few verses to add would be Romans 14:19-21. It says that it is better not to eat meat, and that although all food is clean it is wrong to eat what harms others. Something like that. Thank you for being strong and being a good, compassionate Christian! And I was not aware of some of those verses, yet more to add to my Christians should be vegans point! Thanks! BTW feel free to email me at Dylan_Mulenburg@hotmail.com.
-Dylan
Thank you for this post. Whenever questioned about my path to veganism in conjunction with my Christianity I have referred friends and family to Genesis and the Garden of Eden. However, this has really equipped me with more information. I do believe that veganism is the Lord’s will for my family. We are healthy, happy and more vibrant… thus allowing us to serve Him more fully. I will definitely continue to check back on your blog. This information is much appreciated!
Wonderful thoughts shared on this site. I love it. I wanted to share with everyone an important and an amazingly insightful book called “Dominion : The Power of Men, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy” A moral inquiry into the treatment of animals, By Matthew Scully. I love how the book begins each chapter with a qoute from the bible and uses this as the bases for his arguement for each of us to live a life of compassion and a pressance of moral treatment towards all animals who share this small world with us. The book educates one, not knowledgable with the readings of the bible (like me), enabling one to have persuasive converstion with christians and others who resort and hide behind those sort of comments that animals are placed on this world for mans use as he finds pleasing and fit. The book is an excellent tool. Thanks again to everyone sharing their stories.
Shanti
Thank you for this post, I am a vegetarian (trying to be vegan) and a Christian. I believe that God teaches and love and understanding over murder, and pain.
As a steward of God I am empowered in my decisions to work towards health and security for all living things.
Thank you for posting this….I am a Christian and a vegan and I have been frustrated lately by those who tell me that I’m going against God’s will. I had a relative tell me (only a few days ago) that God put animals on earth for us to eat and that “people have been eating animals since Adam and Eve.”
Unfortunately, people that are so closed minded are rarely swayed, even when faced with hard proof from the Bible.
I firmly believe that God does not want us to eat animals- as you have stated above, we cannot pray that “God’s will be done on earth as it is in Heaven,” and then NOT do our best to do what is God’s will!
Thank you for your post, it’s always nice to see other Christians who can look to scripture for guidance instead of simply believing what they are told. I wish you the best in your spiritual journey and God bless!
I am starting a campaign in California called NO MEAT FRIDAYS. 7 people who eat meat and dairy 6 days a week only is as good as one vegan and they are a lot easier to find.
Issue: World hunger Crisis
We use too many resources to produce 1 hamburger 650 gal. of water plus grain.
Let’s make NO MEAT FRIDAYS nationwide.
Love to hear your comments.
There’s already a nationwide campaign for No Meat Mondays which is a part of Meatout(.org).
I am a Christian and want to become vegan. Although every time I make an attempt, my body simply reacts badly to it. I take multivitamins, but I feel that isn’t enough. Also, I don’t have any support from anyone I know. They all tell me you can only get protein from animal products, which I know is not true but I always go against what I want to be. What are the proper nutritional steps to becoming vegan?
Hi
I’m so happy to read a blog of another Christian which decided to make the same decision of being vegan.
Every day I pray so that other Christians can see that God smiles every time we honor his creation by not contributing to cruelty.
I look forward to reading more of your blog
Thank you for your contribution to showing how being vegan and Christian don’t conflict. Everyone must be informed in making his or her decisions, not just going along with popular opinion (Romans 14:10). So, in that light, here are some more scriptures, in addition to the ones already stated. Obviously, from reading these, animals were to be cared for and guarded, not exploited.
Genesis 10:9 – The Bible speaks negatively of a man named Nimrod, who apparently killed animals and perhaps humans for the sheer thrill of it.
Exodus 23:4,5, 12; Deut. 22:10; 25:4 – When giving the Israelites laws, God taught them proper care of domesticated animals.
Proverbs 12:10 – The person who is brutal with his animals, causing them needless suffering, shows disregard for God’s creation. A wicked person may vocally express love for animals, but what he considers ‘merciful treatment’ is, at best, actually “cruel.” His actions betray the selfish motive he has in mind. The Christian, on the other hand, appreciates, and seeks to know, the needs of his animals and has feelings for their welfare, treating animals with kindness.
Proverbs 23:20 – Ever endured a disgusting “meat fest” BBQ? Next time pull this scripture out. If God allows some eating of animals in small measure, He certainly condemned excessiveness as we see the industry promoting today. Even the national recommended dietary allowances are only a few ounces of animal meat a few times a week. Not exactly the same as what’s actually practiced.
Jonah 4:11 – God said this when changing his mind about destroying a city full of men who practiced wickedness, but who had repented. Obviously, he does not regard animals as just disposable items, to be thrown away at will.
Luke 12:6 – Jesus spoke of God’s concern for animals.
Hebrews 10:1-10 – The animal sacrifices commanded by God had a purpose. They pointed forward to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which was to fulfill the legal requirement for forgiveness of sins. This is the same reason God asked Abraham to sacrifice his own son, Isaac (although he was stopped short of it). He was trying to impress on humans how serious their sin was and what great of a sacrifice God himself would have to make to rectify their situation. By asking humans to give up something they highly valued (son or animal), they could begin to understand how much God would be giving up by allowing His only-begotten Son to be tortured and killed for man’s salvation. So it’s purpose also involved teaching man to be less selfish in making decisions and to think of how their intended actions would have an affect on other beings. That’s why, after Jesus’ death, laws requiring those sacrifices were abolished.
Proverbs 2:22; Psalm 145:16; Isaiah 65:25; & Hosea 2:18 – Thankfully, the inhuman treatment of animals will not go on forever. We have reason to believe that God will stop all unnecessary suffering. He promises to do away with wicked and cruel people. Man and animals will be forever at peace with one another and God will satisfy each living things’ desires.
It should also be noted that if man had not disobeyed God’s will and sinned to begin with, animals would never have been used for sacrifices, food, or clothing. True, God’s original purpose was that men have animals “in subjection.” (Genesis 1:28) Yet, cruelty to animals had, and still has, no place in that purpose. Life is sacred to God. Our dominion over the animals must be exercised in a balanced way that shows respect for life.
(Most of the above was taken from a 1998 article entitled “Cruelty to Animals-Is It Wrong?” The Christian website cited as my source is nonpolitical and does not take a stand for or against being vegan or not. Their main objective is to help individuals to become informed Bible readers.)
Thank you so much for all the Biblical refrences. I had just started to look for them myself.
Thanx for the post. I am a born again christian, and i am starting to go vegan. I have tried many times before to go vegan but it was difficult. I am 19 and still live with my parents, until i finish school. I think most of the food in the house is animal products, and my parents try their best to force me to eat animal products. so that makes it difficult. I need all the support i can get and this helps alot.
Thanx once again.
Colleen,
I had no idea that you were a Christian! I just finished looking on Facebook for Christian vegans in my state. We are SO rare.
Thank you for your work! I love your cookbook.
Trish Sutton
Iowa
Thanks for this clarifying post. I am an Eastern Orthodox Christian who has decided to become vegan. Orthodox Christians are vegan about 40% of the year due to fasting rules. However I think being totally vegan (and ideally, eating only raw, live foods) is the only way to be totally healthy, and to care about animals. I want to influence other Christians to be totally vegan! Thanks for your wonderful post.
Thanks for this post. I agree Adam and Eve and all the animals living with them in the Garden of Eden were vegetarian. However after the flood, God allowed Noah and his family to start eating meat. Lots of people, pastors included, have criticized my choice to stay vegetarian. (I was vegetarian before I was saved, then became vegan recently). I am glad there are other believers out there who are vegan and hope to check back for more support!