Spirit and Truth Ministries

The Holy Spirit, the third member of the Godhead, has been indwelling God's people ever since the day of Pentecost. That makes us individually his temple, and calls us to healthful living. That's why Paul also warned the Corinthians:

Without slipping into legalism, I believe we can say that eating and drinking is an important matter. When someone remarked, "You are what you eat," they were absolutely right. The only building blocks the body has to restore itself each day come by way of our food and drink intake. A proper diet can fill us with vitality and add years to our life. A poor diet will leave us dragged out and take us to an early grave.

I've been a vegetarian since I was 23, so I can hardly remember when it wasn't part of my lifestyle. You' ve no doubt noticed that vegetarianism is getting more popular each year; most restaurants now have something on the menu for such diners. So being a vegetarian is no longer considered weird, especially by young people. And becoming one isn't any great hardship.

Let me state that when I say vegetarian I mean just that. Sometimes in a restaurant a helpful waiter will suggest, since I am a vegetarian, that I try the fish or the chicken. I usually reply that I'm willing to go for it provided they can show me what kind of plant the fish or chicken was plucked from. A cow, a chicken and a fish all have lungs, eyeballs, and intestines; they are by no reach of the imagination vegetables!

Why vegetarianism? I'm going to list five good reasons and then enlarge on each one.

First of all, let's look at the Scripture record. We'll go clear back to the Garden of Eden where God is talking to Adam and Eve about their diet.

So the original diet, the perfect diet before sin entered the world, was composed of grains, nuts, and fruit. After the fall of man, God added to man's diet. We find him telling Adam what changes will take place because of his rebellion.

So, it was at this point that vegetables were added to human fare. It wasn't until after the Flood a thousand years later that God made one last addition to man's diet. As Noah and his family came off the ark, God said:

So there you have the biblical record; God originally designed man to be a vegetarian. Obviously there's nothing strange about such a lifestyle.

Even though the vegetarian diet was God's own plan, many think he was a bit confused. They believe it's necessary to eat meat for strength and health. Of course that's what the meat industry would like for you to believe, but it just isn't so. Let's consider some basic facts.

Scientific studies have noted that the carnivores, the strictly flesh eating animals like the tiger, have a short, smooth gut. The reason for this is that meat, being small in bulk and rich in nutrients, is quickly digested by the animal. Thus the short, smooth colon for the rapid evacuation of any indigestible remnants, lest they putrefy in the warm interior.

Man, on the other hand, has a much longer colon, and instead of being smooth it is puckered into folds or pouches. And the reason for this is that vegetarian foods are bulkier and demand more time for the digestive process. So even man's anatomy shows he was designed for a vegetarian diet.

I can just hear someone saying, "But surely you can't expect a laboring man to turn out a hard day's work on nothing but bread, beans, and apples!" Why not? In the animal kingdom the real beasts of burden are those that eat only plants. The big killer cat is great on short bursts of energy, but it is the ox, the horse, and the camel that have staying power. If the elephant not only survives but performs astounding feats of strength while eating nothing but foliage, it stands to reason that a man might be able to do well on fruits and vegetables. Dr. Frederick J. Stare, professor of nutrition at Harvard University and world authority on diet, said, "Lumberjacks may demand plenty of red meat, but that demand rests on habit and not on nutrition or medical basis."

The real test of strength is endurance: how long can one's muscles do their task before giving up in exhaustion? The first experiment of this kind was carried on in the early part of this century. Vegetarian and non-vegetarian students were tested to see how many times they could squeeze a grip meter with their right hand. The vegetarians won handily with an average of 69 over the non-vegetarians' average of only 38. In a similar experiment even the maximum record of the non-vegetarians was barely more than half that of the vegetarians.

More recently a Swedish scientist tested nine trained athletes on a stationary bicycle apparatus. Their assignment was to pump the pedals until their leg muscles were no longer able to respond. After three days on a diet high in fat and protein (meat, eggs, fish, and cheese) the men ran out of steam after 57 minutes.

Next these very same athletes were tested following three days on a mixed diet such as eaten by the average person. This time they nearly doubled their previous record for an average of 114 minutes.

Finally these same men went on a strictly vegetarian diet (higher in carbohydrates), and this time they were able to hold out for 167 minutes, nearly three times as long as the largely meat diet! No wonder some of the world's greatest athletes have been vegetarians. Why should you settle for second best?

One of the first questions asked in regards to a vegetarian diet is, "But what about protein?" Since protein is so vital to our well being, this question deserves a clear-cut answer.

Back in the 1800's a Professor Karl von Voit of the University of Munich studied the food intake of 1,000 German laborers and determined their average protein consumption was 118 grams per day. He then hypothesized, incorrectly, that if working men were taking in this much protein daily, that must represent their actual need. I think you can see the fallacy of his thinking, but for many years his finding was accepted as the standard for protein intake. Now we know better. Today the recommended protein allowance is no more than 56 grams for men and 46 for women. Even that small amount is known to be twice or more the minimum requirement. Dr. Hegsted of Harvard adds, "It is most unlikely that protein deficiency will develop in healthy adults on a diet in which cereals and vegetables supply adequate calories."

Suffice it to say that not only is a vegetarian diet adequate, but it has been scientifically proven to be the best.

The second reason we gave for going vegetarian was to avoid disease. Before we get down to basics, I might mention one unpleasant thought. At any given time animals have in their flesh waste products on the way to the kidneys. Anyone eating this flesh is merely adding the animal's waste products to his own, thus putting an extra work load on his own kidneys.

A more serious consideration is that the animal kingdom has become one vast reservoir of disease, many of which can be passed along to man. James Steele has pointed out, "Of more than 200 communicable diseases of animals, one half are considered infectious to man, and more than 80 are transmitted naturally between vertebrate animals and man."

I grew up in the Midwest where much of our poultry and livestock are raised, and I know from personal experience that it is the sick bird or critter that goes to market first. When a hen has a badly drooping wing, or a cow has an advanced case of "cancer eye," it is time to move fast. Buyers won't purchase dead animals, but they will take them if they're still breathing.

A rancher once showed me some white spots in the eye of a cow, stating it was the beginning of cancer eye. He indicated this particular animal would be sent off with his very next shipment. Later I asked a veterinarian what he did for a critter with an advanced state of cancer eye. He nonchalantly explained, "First I take a ladle and scoop out the entire eye and orbit. Then I pack the cavity full of sulfa (this was some years ago), sew the eyelid shut, and advise the rancher to get the animal to market fast."

But isn't meat inspected so we can know it is safe? Fair question. If you've followed some of the investigations shown on TV, then you know that the inspection system leaves much to be desired. And unless something has changed recently, when cancer is found in a carcass it is merely removed and the rest of the animal passed for food. Those who know something about the spread of cancer realize that the removal of a tumor doesn't necessarily remove all cancerous cells. The blood or lymphatic system already may have spread such cells to other parts of the body.

The Seattle Times for August 24, 1997, reported:

Recent studies indicate that a great share of illness labeled "flu" is really food poisoning. Poultry is most often contaminated by Salmonella. One out of five broiler chickens in the U.S. are infected with these bacteria, which can cause diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and sometimes even death. Ninety percent of raw chickens are also contaminated with Campylobacter, an equally stomach-sickening and potentially deadly bacterium.

TIME magazine for October 17, 1994, stated:

A recent national expose of the poultry industry stated that it is impossible to find, anywhere in the country, a single commercially produced chicken that is not contaminated with fecal matter.

There is also the problem of keeping meat once it is processed. About half the beef sold in the United States is in the form of hamburger. The Consumers Union tested 250 hamburger samples from various retailers for bacteria coliform whose presence usually indicates fecal contamination. And such contamination may mean the meat contains disease-causing organisms. Consumers Union judged that 73 percent of the samples had a coliform count high enough to be the possible cause of mild illness. They also determined that 20 percent of the 126 ready-ground samples had a total bacteria count high enough to qualify them as already beginning to spoil.

Are you willing to gamble on eating diseased flesh? I'm not. The vegetarian is happy to sit down to his meal and not have to wonder what it died from.

A fourth reason to consider a vegetarian regimen is to stop the bloody slaughter of so many creatures. Every day thousands of terrified animals have a hole punched in their head or their throat cut to provide meat for the table. I have visited many packinghouses and it is a bloody mess indeed. At one point in a slaughter house tour visitors are given the opportunity to observe the kill, or else wait until the group reforms. Many refuse to watch, but I always felt that was unfair. If one is willing to feast on the body of the animal, then it seems only right to watch the kill that makes the feast possible. No one is allowed to watch the sheep slaughter, as they go so pitifully and quietly to their death.

Frankly, I find it hard to believe that God is pleased with the shedding of the blood of so many of his creatures.

The fifth reason commending a vegetarian diet has to do with our concern for our fellow man. According to Scripture we are our brother's keeper, and every day millions of our brethren go to bed hungry. If we were all vegetarians, that wouldn't be the case. Those of us living in the land of plenty are just now beginning to realize that Spaceship Earth has its limitations. Unless we all begin to face up to the hard facts of supply and demand, unprecedented famines will be a reality in the near future.

One practical approach to the problem is to lower the demand for food, to cease bringing into the world more lives than our earth can properly support. Another solution is to increase the supply of available food. No doubt attention should be given both possibilities.

Much has already been done to increase plant yield, but this, too, has its limitations. There is yet another factor to consider. Most of the world's millions already are, of necessity, virtual vegetarians. Meat is a luxury they can afford only occasionally.

Here's the problem. Land used to produce food crops for human consumption feeds about fourteen times as many people as when it is used to grow food for animals, which are in turn to be used for food. Plants will yield 800,000 calories per acre of land, but only 200,000 when these same plant foods are first fed to animals.

As a food machine the cow (along with other food animals) is hopelessly inefficient. For every 100 calories of plant food the cow consumes, it returns only one twentyfifih, four lonely calories in edible beef!

Let's illustrate this inefficient use of plant life in yet another way. Here is a 12-year-old boy weighing 105 pounds. If he were to derive all of his energy from flesh food for a twelve-month period, it would require an equivalent of the meat from four calves. But do you know how much plant food it would take to fatten those four calves to a total weight of 2,250 pounds? Twenty million alfalfa plants, weighing 17, 850 pounds! All this just for one small boy.

In the populous Orient, people obtain their energy supply basically from vegetables. That means they are ten times more efficient in utilizing the earth's food supply than the people of the United States, who depend so much on animal products. This kind of selfishness and lack of concern for the very lives of other humans is not really Christian. We can do better. Now, as we prepare for the soon return of the King, is a good time to rethink this matter of diet.

And don't panic ladies; preparing a vegetarian meal is not as imposing a challenge as it may seem. Plenty of help is available today.

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