by easyreader1970 35 Replies latest watchtower bible
From my understanding--at least from my instruction from the WBTS--humans were not permitted to eat meat by Yahweh until after the flood.
If that is true, then why would Abel offer tasty, delicious "fatty pieces" to Yahweh? How would Abel even know how to cut up an animal for food and know which parts were the best for eating?
Did Yahweh eat meat but not humans? If so, do you think that he preferred steak sauce or Worcestershire sauce?
er
For that matter, why was Abel a shepherd? Why was Jabal a livestock raising nomad? They were all vegetarians before the flood. They could have gotten animal skins for clothing from any dead animal.
There is no mention of drinking milk. Was Abel really a sheepsmilkman? Or a cheesemaker? Or a weaver and a tailor? Nope. The Bible says he raised sheep. Why? To slaughter for Jehovah, evidently. So what did he eat? He probably stole from Cain's fields.
Or, perhaps sheep were actually considered a vegetable before the flood. Or maybe sheep crap was a pre-flood type of chocolate cake...?
B the X
Where does it say in the Bible that they were all vegetarians until after the flood?
SusanHere
Get real. Yahweh is a salsa kind of deity. He would get his beans from Cain. As fate would have it, Cain discovered the properties of THC laden cannabis and did not grow any chiles to go with the beans so his offering was not acceptable to Yahweh. Who would have salsa without chiles? After that, when Cain's offering was reproached, he was upset so loaded up the bong and went on a Reefer Madness style rampage. He was seen disputing with Abel, but fell asleep and did not kill him. Abel took a few bong rips and got the munchies, and choked on a chunk of animal fat. There was hell to pay for this mishap, so Cain got the rap. His exile to the "land of Nod" is an obvious drug reference.
Where does it say in the Bible that they were all vegetarians until after the flood?
It doesn't. The WBTS assumes that humans (at least godly humans) and animals were vegetarians until after the flood.
The concept is based on Genesis 1:29,30 (NWT)
29 And God went on to say: “Here I have given to YOU all vegetation bearing seed which is on the surface of the whole earth and every tree on which there is the fruit of a tree bearing seed. To YOU let it serve as food. 30 And to every wild beast of the earth and to every flying creature of the heavens and to everything moving upon the earth in which there is life as a soul I have given all green vegetation for food.” And it came to be so.
Presumably, since there isn't another scripture after this that discusses humans or animals eating meat, they didn't until they were told to after the flood. It doesn't make sense, I know. Many, many years went by between the creation story and Noah. So biblically we go from Adam and Eve to Cain and Abel to Noah. Since the Bible doesn't jump in there and put in something about humans suddenly having a desire for some country bacon and link sausage, the WBTS assumes that meat wasn't consumed until after the deluge.
Thanks easyreader1970. This was one JW doctrine I wasn't familiar with.
SusanHere
For that matter, why was Abel a shepherd?
Maybe sheep were kept for ''recreational purposes''
1) What about all those ancient, even prehistoric, images in caves of people killing/hunting mammoths, deer and other free roaming animals?
Some of these date way beyond the flood, since mammoths existed prior to the global flood of the Bible. It wasn't just for skin/fur and bones for tools. Meat was eaten.
2) Why then did Jehovah command Noah and his family to not eat blood with the flesh?
Genesis 9:3-4, And every thing that moveth and liveth shall be meat for you: even as the green herbs have I delivered them all to you: 4Saving that flesh with blood you shall not eat. (DRC)
Perhaps, they were already eating both blood and flesh. No one can show that they didn't already eat blood before the deluge or during the one year in the Arch; likewise, no one can show that they did. Except! There is no law without a reason! Those who disagree should try to answer the following: why did God make the Israelites divide animals into clean and unclean?For the sake of eating naturally. The division of clean and unclean animals that Noah obviously was aware of — had nothing to do with some animals being cleaner or dirtier than other animals – it was not because some animals took more baths than others.
The only explanation for the distinction Noah was aware of — is the motivation for eating them! Jehovah didn’t have to teach him which were clean or unclean when he spoke about that subject; Noah already knew this perhaps from prior personal or ancestor-given revelations. Why would he have need for such knowledge if he didn't eat meat?
3) But after Adam & Eve sinned, Bible readers know that God cursed the ground of the earth. In Gen 3:17-19, we see,
. . . cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; 18Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. (KJV)
The garden of Eden diet included bread, "seed-bearing herb sowing seed", and "every tree which has in itself the fruit of seed." Once the ground had been cursed, it had an immediate effect on their diet. Human nature being what it is, the following question is natural: Is it then in accord with human nature to fight with a ground that doesn't produce food and for a person to go hungry when a fat chicken is within reach, perhaps walking right by? There is really no point to the question. It's simply against human nature not to go for such a chicken in best KFC style. The old Charlie Chaplin movie proved that point, when Charlie even started believing his friend was a chicken!
Alligator Wisdom (aka Brother NOT Exerting Vigorously by WTS standards)
Another reason why I believe the bible is an allagory - too much stuff just doesn't add up if it isn't.
Easyreader, You are quite right to point out the discrepancy. The Abel story clearly implies a meat-eating culture before the flood whereas God's permission to eat meat in Gen 9 implies that this is when meat-eating began. The simplest answer is that these parts of Genesis have their origins in different traditions. Rather than being written by a single author, Genesis is a compilation from different documentary sources which do not always agree. There are lots of differences of details and style throughout the Pentateuch by which it is possible to roughly identify the various sources. Rivington.
