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BIBLICAL QUOTES ON VEGETARIAN OR VEGAN DIET AND OTHER FORMS
OF NONVIOLENCE

(Interpretations divide. The Spirit Unites. May The Holy Spirit Overshadow the writing and reading of this article.)

Acts 15: Do not eat the meat of strangled animals.

Acts 18: 18 The private vow Paul took, many Biblical scholars believe,
is the Nazarite vow which included besides hair cutting.. abstention from
animal flesh. This Nazarite diet is described in Numbers. This is the vow
that Samson with his great strength took.

Corinthians l: 8,12-13 (Paul) If meat makes my brother stumble I shall
never again eat meat.

Daniel l: Daniel was put in prison by Nebuchadnezzar. He ate only
pulses (beans) for 10 days while others ate flesh. Nebuchadnezzar noticed
that he fared better than the others. Maynard Clark (vrc@tiac.net) and Frank
Hoffman (Veg-Christian@all-creatures.org) make the point
that since all food, not just meat, was sacrificed by Babylonians
to idols, idols were not a factor in their abstention from animal flesh.

Deuteronomy 5: Thou Shalt Not Kill (later versions than the King James
translate this as Thou Shalt Not Murder)

Exodus 20: 13 Thou Shalt Not Kill brought down the mountain
literally Lo Tirtzach.. (this is nonkilling, not nonmurder)

The Biblical command "Thou Shalt Not KIll" which J J Price cites as
a reason to change diet.. is not asterisked "to include humans only".

The Biblical command "Thou Shalt Not Steal" which Kathy Kurtz cites
can be related to not purloining the eggs from chickens nor the
milk from mother cows whose calves are then butchered for veal.

Exodus 16: 31 The desert manna was like coriander seed. (Given
by Reginal Cherry, MD who promotes vegan diet on Trinity Broadcast Net

Exodus: The Israelites did not want the manna that God had provided..
instead they wanted the flesh of quails.

Ezekiel 3 and 4: My body has never been defiled by animal flesh.

 
Genesis 1:29: Behold I have given you herbyielding seed. To you it shall
be for meat.

Genesis 1: 12 describes the perfection of a world covered with fruit
and nut trees, grape vines and berry bushes

Genesis 2: 4-6 There were no violent storms in the tree covered earth.
The trees were watered by mist.

Genesis 6: Noah was commanded by God to provide vegetarian food in the
ark for people and animals. (The lions drank the milk of cows.)

Genesis 9: 4-5 Flesh shall yet not eat. And surely your blood I will
require at the hands of beasts. (God forgive us all and help us
all to change.)

Hosea 2:28: I will make for you that day a covenant with the wild
animals. I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land. I
will make you lie down in safety.

Isaiah: Isaiah is the prophet who more than any other forecasts the birth
of Jesus. He is also the prophet with the most references to nonviolence
and universal respect for life. Jesus quotes Isaiah's "I delight not
in your blood sacrifices" as He drives the animal killers out of the
temple. Jesus refers to the vegetarian Isaiah more than to any other.

Isaiah: 1: 11: I delight not in the blood of bullocks or of lambs
or of he goats (whereas Isaiah 66 involves not eating pigs..
and Isaiah 65 involves not eating any living thing)
(In some Bible translations the word 'blood' has been removed.)
(In others it is "I delight not in thy blood sacrifices.")

Isaiah 42: He shall break not the bruised reed.

Isaiah 59: We moan sadly like doves.

Isaiah 65: The wolf shall lie down with the lamb.. they shall not hurt nor
destroy in all my holy mountain for the earth shall be full of the
knowledge of the Lord. Many other passages of Isaiah speak of noneating
of animals.

Isaiah 66: 3 He who slays an ox is as he that slays a man.
(Another translation: He who kills a bull is as he who kills a man.)

Isaiah 66: 17: The slain of the Lord shall be many.. they behind the
tree eating swine's flesh.. shall be consumed together.
(There are dozens of references to vineyards, fruit trees, and fruitarian
diet in Isaiah alone.)

Samson's Nazarite vow included eating nothing dead, letting his hair
grow and other injunctions. He violated this vow not only with Delilah
but in eating honey from a hive within the ribs of a desert lion
carcass. He then lost his strength.

Jesus: Whatsoever you have done to these the least of My brethren you
have done unto Me. (Is the least of His brethren.. the birds, the
insects, and the plants?)

The Aramaic Bible (the language Jesus spoke): Zachariah is told
even before the birth of John the Baptist that John is the Spirit
of Elijah and that he will forsake flesh foods.

Jesus: Come, I shall make you fishers of humankind (and not of
fishes).

Jesus: Ye are whited sepulchres. This is interpreted to mean
those with concern for externals.. while their thoughts are
not holy, those who actions show hypocrisy as well. However
sarcophagus comes from sarx (flesh) and phagus (eater)..
sarcophagus is not only a coffin but a flesheater.

Job 5: You will be in league with the stones of the field and the
beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.

Job 12: 8 Speak to the earth and she will teach thee
(of patience, humility, forgiveness, universal nurturing)

Joel 1: The land mourns the destruction of her plants.

John the Baptist: The Ebionites taught that John the Baptist was
vegetarian.

John: 3rd Letter of John to Gaius: I pray good health for you.

John: 6: 63 It is the Spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing.

Judges 13: (re Samson) (The breaking of the Nazarite vow {taken by
Jesus, John the Baptist, Paul} was the cause of Samson's downfall)
(Besides abstention from haircutting, the vow of the Nazarites involved
abstention from meat. Paul felt his vow was private. Others were public.)
(Some think that involvement with killing is the toucbing of death
and therefore the touching of a dead thing.)

Leviticus 3: 17 commands to eat no animal fat or animal blood
Many Jewish vegetarians believe it is impossible to drain the blood
out of all the tiny capillaries of the animal, and that therefore
there is no such thing as kosher flesh   http://www.jewishveg.com/schwartz

Leviticus 11: prohibts the eating of the flesh of rabbits, pigs, shellfish
such as lobsters, clams, shrimp, crabs, hawks, seagulls, camels,
chameleons, flying insects with 4 legs in certain cases, heron, bat,
hoopoe, vulture, stork, cormorant, ibis, marsh hen, pelican, owl, mole,
rat, mouse, lizard, gecko, snail, cud chewers, cloven hoofed (the cow
was observed trying to cleave her hoof to make her safe), eagle, metire,
osprey, falcon, ostrich, kite, raven, rock badger, etc. The reasons include
prevention of food poisoning. E.g., pigs and shellfish will eat the waste
of other creatures (coprophagy).

Leviticus 17:10 I will set my face against them that eat blood.

Leviticus commands that no dead animal be touched. How is it possible
to rend the flesh of an animal with human teeth in the consumption
of meat and not touch the animal?

Leviticus: Just as Jesus erases Levitical law and prevents the capital
punishment of the adulterous woman (the man was not brought)
He also erases Levitical animal sacrifice law with the Law of Love

Luke 15: is about the 100th lamb. Dr. Bates gave a sermon on this passage
on Sept 13th. Are not all lambs His? Does He not want all His lambs
protected?

Luke 15: 16 The Prodigal son.. the word for what the son ate when
away from his family was keration.. a word for the carob bean or
the fruit of the locust tree.. this was fed to the poor and to pigs
... this "St John's Bread" was fruit and not meat. Historically the
poor have been more vegetarian than the rich. It was said that
King Henry 8th's gout came to a rich man for the poor could not
eat enough meat to have gout.

Malachi l: You have defiled my altars.

Malachi 4: They shall grow fat like calves in stalls. (While this
is intended as a blessing, it is a reminder of veal calves imprisoned
their entire lives in stalls, unable to turn around.)

Mark: The Gospel of Mark makes it clear that when Jesus spoke
of what defiles a person, he was speaking of critical words.

Matthew 4:19 Come I will make you fishers of men (no longer fishers
of fishes).

Matthew: 5:7 Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy.

Matthew 12: 7 Jesus quotes Isaiah more than anyone else.

Jesus quotes
Isaiah's "I desire mercy not sacrifice" and "break not the bruised reed".

Matthew 12: 11 Which of you having a sheep (ox) in a ditch will
not rescue it on the Sabbath?

Matthew 16: 15 The Moody Bible Institute has the translation in
a mail out plaque: Go ye therefore and preach to all creation.
(Other translations say 'the world'). Anthony, revered as a saint
in the Catholic Church, preached to the fishes when humans would
not listen.

Matthew 19: 6 What God hath joined together let no man put asunder.
This is Jesus' comment about marriage.. but God has also
soldered together animals.. and does not want them sundered.

Matthew 21: Jesus overturns the tables where doves are being sold
for sacrifice.. and says 'my house is a house of prayer.. you have
made it a den of plunderers'. The Greek word used is lestes..
which is more correctly translated plunderer or butcher than thief.
(The author of Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews mentions that
before Passover as many as 40,000 animals were hanging upside down
bleeding to death.. and that the temple floor was awash in blood.)

Matthew 23: 27 Jesus says some are like whited sepulchres (sacrcophagi.
(Sepulchre from the interlinear Greek
Testament sarcophagus) (sarc flesh phagy eat: flesheaters)
Therefore Jesus said 'They are whited flesh eaters' Why whited?
Concern with exterior paint and not the interior cleanliness of
the temple. What happens to the body when one eats animals? It
says George Bernard Shaw, friend of General Booth of the Salvation
Army, becomes a grave of those animals.

Jesus states in this passage that the sepulchres are full of dead bones.

Matthew 23: 25 It is interesting that most translations of the Bible
speak of these sarcophagi as being full of dead men's bones whereas
the actual Greek is 'gemousin osteon nekron' which means
' full of dead bones'.

Matthew 25:40 "Whatsoever ye have done to these the least of My
brethren, ye have done unto Me." Are not animals more handicapped
than human beings?

Methusaleh: This longest lived (969 years) of Biblical heroes was
like all pre flooders (antedeluvians) vegetarian. (Jeremiah: The Lord
offends the mind to reveal
the heart) (*Some say that Elijah was the longest lived because he
ascended to heaven without death and, says Jesus, is John The Baptist).

Paul (1 Corin 8: 7-13) Meat commends us not to God.. if meateating
offend my brother.. I will eat no flesh while the earth stands.

Paul in Corinthians 6: Your body is a temple of Holy Spirit

.
Proverbs 12:10: The righteous man is concerned for his beast.

Proverbs 23:20 Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge
themselves on meat.

Proverbs 31: 8 Open thy mouth for the dumb (voiceless)

Psalm 10: In the secret places he murders the innocent.

Psalm 11: The wicked bend their bow. They make ready their arrow
upon the string.
(Biblical vegetarians include Adam 930 years {we are not given Eve's age}
Seth 912 years Enoch 905 years Canaan 910 years Jacob 962 years
Enoch 2 and Methusaleh 969 years)
Psalm 91 Thou shalt transform the lion and adder: the young lion and the
dragon shalt thou transform. 14 Because he hath set his love upon
me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he
hath known my name.

Psalm 50: Eat not the flesh of bulls nor the blood of goats.
Psalms: 104: 16-18: The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly.
Psalm 148: Praise the Lord from the deep, you sea monsters (for all God's
creation, not just human beings, do praise).
Revelation 5: All creatures sing the praises of God.. is the gist
of a Revelation 5 passage. If animals can sing God's praises, do they
have souls and a right to life?
Revelation: 7: 3 Hurt not the earth neither the sea nor the trees.
Revelation 9:4 The 5th angel.. says that no living growing tree being
or grass be harmed.

Revelation 11: 2 Olive trees are before the throne of God.
(The rest of the passage is on their not being harmed.)
Rev: 11: 18 (Angels) shall harm those who destroy the earth.
Rev: 12: The earth swallows a river the dragon has sent
against the woman.
Revelation 16: The 2nd bowl poured by the angel turns the seas to
blood. (The red tide is the name given to pfiesteria which kills
fish with the pollution pouring out from Eastern seaboard factory
farms.)
Revelation 22: as quoted by Dr. Reginald Cherry, MD of TBN:
The leaves of the trees are for the healing of nations
(both as herbs and as environmental protectors)
Revelation 22: The tree of life grows by the river of life.
(In the context it is seen that it is a fruit tree.)
Revelation's sign of the beast might be the sign of the slain beast,
the sign advertising places where slain beasts are sold.
Revelation's prophecy of a blood red moon might be related to the red tides
which are causing environmental destruction.Rodney Barker has written
a book called And The Waters Turned To Blood (Simon and Schuster) which
traces the politics in North Carolina and Virginia factory pig and factory
poultry farms' effluent to the massive killing of Atlantic fishes with
pfiesteria. (Some also interpret the blood red moon to mean women angry
about abuse.)
Romans 8: If your meateating offends your brother abstain from it.
Alex Chartrand and Albert (LosOrc@aol.com) have both commented on the
Greek word for pickled fish which is opsarian.
If Jesus served pickled fish to His disciples, then the fish was
materialized, not caught.
James Marcus: A re-reading of Genesis indicates that God not only promised
humanity but also all animals and Earth herself that the earth would
never again be flooded.
As Scripture forbids the eating of the flesh of strangled animals, some
interpret this to include fishes, since many die of denial of breath,
through suffocation in nets, throats ripped out by hooks etc.
The Essenes of Galilee were upset by Pharisee animal consumption.
Others say that Jesus materialized the fishes for His apostles in
the post Resurrection meal. There are many interpretations.
In Genesis, the dominion humankind was given over animals.. is not
a justification to eat them... for we are also given dominion over our
biological children. The Greek word from which dominion was translated
is "kratos" as in the Greek word democracy, the rule of the people.
To rule does not mean to kill.
(An increasing number of women are involved in Biblical Equality study
groups .. "thy sons and thy daughters shall prophecy" "I shall pour out
My Spirit upon all flesh" etc.)
Dino De Laurentis' film "The Bible" has Noah on the ark feeding cows' milk
to the tigers and lions aboard.
Jesus by many Biblical scholars is considered to be an Essene, a group
which followed the Nazarite vow of celibacy, and vegetarian
diet. Samson's hair strength was related to his Nazarite vow and Paul
is one of his letters refers to a private vow many consider to have
been Nazarite. The Christian Science Monitor on Feb 25, 98 referred
to Essene vegetarianism in an article on Dead Sea Scroll origins.
There are some who believe that Isaiah 11 means we are not to eat
meat in heaven but may eat it now. Yet some of these who interpret Isaiah
11 to mean heaven, with its descriptions of animals in perfect peace, still
say that animals do not have souls and will not go to heaven.
Jesus: Which of you having an ox in a ditch would not rescue it on
the Sabbath?
Jesus' first communion replaced the Passover lamb's consumption
with the bread and wine (some say grape juice) of communion of the Spirit.
John the Baptist: Some Christians believe that John the Baptist ate
locusts. Others believe that he ate locust beans.. the seed pods of the
locust tree. The historian Josephus says on 2 occasions that John the
Baptist ate no animal flesh. (mshaw@gtn.net) The Greek word for insect
locust is akris and for cakes (bean paste) is enkrius.
The word meat used to be a synonym for food, but is no longer.
The Greek words translated as meat actually mean food as the word
phagy in Luke 8: 55, the word trophe in John 4:8, and the word
bromo in Corinthians 8:8.
If animal flesh is meant in the Bible the Greek word sarx is
used, such as the word sarcophagus.. flesh eater.
Christian Science Monitor: Feb 25, 98: The Dead Sea Scrolls were written
by the Essenes, a vegetarian group.
Some interpret the Isaiah "the wolf shall lie down with the lamb" as
heaven rather than now on earth, but there is nothing in the original
language to indicate that. National Institutes of Health in rather
cruel research has found that cats raised without seeing killing
do not know how to kill.. in other words, even for "carnivores" killing
is learned behavior. Even now, we are reaching closer and closer to
Isaiah daily.
Peter's Vision: Many Christians cite the vision of Peter.. that all
food is clean. Other Christians believe that this vision meant that
Christians should abandon the Jewish dietary laws. Peter himself in Acts
10:28 interprets this vision to mean that he should call no human being common
or unclean. It is true that everything in the universe in some way is
sacred because its source is God.. but there are definite differences
between slaughterhouse food and that from a fragrant orchard. In addition
some Christians believe that Isaiah 65 (the nonviolent paradise)
describes a future time. Yet there are many more who believe that
nonviolent paradise begins with each
of us. Each forkfull we take can be from a butchered animal.. or if we
choose.. from a sunfilled fruit tree.
Paula Fredricksen, author of Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews,
discussed her book on C-Span. She stated that on the day before Passover,
some 40,000 quadrupeds (goats, sheep etc) were hanging upside down
bleeding to death. The floor of Solomon's temple was awash in blood.
(It is for this reason that many Biblical scholars believe that Jesus
overturned the temple tables in divine temper as He quoted Isaiah:
I delight not in your blood sacrifice.)
http://bible.crosswalk.com/ has an interlinear section which lists
14 Hebrew words for kill: harag, zabach, chalal, tabach, muwth, nakah,
naqaph, qatal, ratsach, shachat, sh@chiytah, sakal. They all have
slightly different meanings. Zabach is more often used about the murder
of sacrificial animals. Some Bibles have turned "Thou Shalt Not Kill"
into "Thou Shalt Not Murder". The Greek as well has many synonyms for
kill which have different meanings.
James Marcus has passed on the research of Willard S. Smith who
in Animals, Birds, and Plants In The Bible wrote that the doe was
never eaten and that the Bible contains no reference to cats, perhaps
as a reaction to the Egyptian worship of cats and death penalty for
harming cats.
In the movie "The Greatest Story Ever Told" in which Max Von Sydow plays
the role of Jesus Christ, the scene of Jesus' anger in the temple is related
to the sacrifice of animals there, and as he overturns tables, he quotes
some of the many passages of Isaiah in regards to not harming animals.
Epiphianus states that Nazarites ate no animal flesh. (mshaw@gtn.net)
Become fishers of men and women. (Leave the fishing boats to others.)
Cleveland Amory before his death advanced the idea that animals have souls.
Once in a debate with a religious official who did not agree, he said
"If they don't, all the more reason to give them a fair shake while they
are here."
The writings of the Ebionites, says Pastor Mike Shaw, indicate
that John the Baptist was a vegetarian.
And others say that Elijay, fed manna by God, was also.
Other Biblical quotes are at http://www.ivu.org/people/quotes/Christ

Oswald Chambers: To saints nature is sacramental.

The following link is a website I created  http://veganchristianity.wordpress.com