WERE ANIMALS MEANT TO BE VEGGYS?

by uncle_onion 25 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  teejay

  heff,

  If animals werent meant to be eaten, then why the hell are they made out of meat?

  funny!

  you boiled the matter down to its very essence, my friend. hard to argue with
  that kind of reasoning. mind if i pass that along?
• 

  aChristian

  Alan,

  I have forwarded your comments to my Hebrew reading friend for his reaction. I will let you know what he has to say.

  Mike
• 

  Jang

  If his translation of these verses is correct, then Genesis 1:30 does not refer to the diet of animals at all, and in fact actually teaches that God created mankind as omnivores."

  Then this would contradict the scripture that says that God allowed Noah to eat the animals after the "flood"?

  Ok ... so now we check the original in Genesis 9. When I read that I see him reiterating what he said originally.

  Notice that he says "I give these (beasts) to you as I give the herbs of the earth" ... at least that is how it reads in all my Hebrew versions.

  JanG
• 

  Faraon

  If Abel did not eat the sheep, why would he offer to J their fatty pieces, which seem to be appreciated so much for eating? Shouldn’t he have offered their fleece, or some part of them that is not edible? if he had no idea that lambs could be eaten, the logical thing to do would be to offer their fleece to J in order to have his favor.

  *** Rbi8 Genesis 4:4 ***
  4 But as for Abel, he too brought some firstlings of his flock, even their fatty pieces.

  JRP
• 

  waiting

  hey faraon,

  Nice to meet you.

  If Abel did not eat the sheep, why would he offer to J their fatty pieces, which seem to be appreciated so much for eating?

  Good point. Why would Abel even know about the fatty pieces? What reason would he or any other person have for killing and cutting an animal up? Or what pieces were better than others?

  As for the fleece, it would make better sense to offer that to Jehovah, because it had definite value to humans. We're not discussing Jehovah's higher thoughts than ours (which is usually the arguement stopper) - we're discussing a human, Abel, like us.

  waiting
• 

  aChristian

  I have not as yet heard back fom my Jewish friend.

  However, after considering the comments which have been made here by Jang, Faraon and Waiting, I don't know what more he might add. It now seems clear to me that he is most likely correct when he says that the teaching that God created both men and beasts to be strict vegetarians and that He did not permit the eating of animal flesh until after the flood is a misundertsanding of scripture based upon mistranslations of the Hebrew text.

  It seems to me that in Genesis 9:1-4 God was simply repeating His long stated position, that He had given mankind all animal life on earth as food, for the purpose of altering His position slightly. That alteration consisted of His prohibiting Noah and his descendants from eating the blood contained in animal flesh.