In the book, Critters: Adventures In Wildest Suburbia by A.B.C. Whipple, published by St. Martin’s Press, 1994, states on page 41, paragraph 3, that ” C. Merriam Hart, a Naturalist, reported that a squirrel hearing a musical instrument or recording often drops whatever it is eating, stands upright, and leans forward, moving it’s head from side to side in rapt absorption as it listens to the melody. ”

This is just one example, but it seems to me that animals have more to them than just instinct and survival mode. They love, they play, they cry, they grieve, they show joy, happiness and affection and they let you know in no uncertain terms when they are angry, perplexed or frustrated. It would, after seeing an animal clearly being moved by music, be impossible for me to kill and eat it without regret.

Animals, as first stated in the book of Genesis, were created before the creation of man. It was the privilege of the first man, Adam, to name each animal. This must have taken a lot of observation on his part to get the name to fit the animal. Adam and the animals were vegetarians. It was only after the flood that Noah and his family were permitted to eat animals. The flood had changed the world! The fact that God now permitted the eating of animals may have been for the nutritional benefit of mankind. I have tried to imagine what that first meal would have been like. I can only compare it to my first experience with eating venison stew. I was a young girl and it was our custom to eat Sunday dinner at my grandparents house where we usually had spaghetti and meatballs. I had no idea my grandmother made them out of beef, pork and lamb. I’ ll get to that in a second. This day, my great uncle had brought her the meat from a deer he had shot. She made it into a stew, but did not tell us until we were engaged in eating. I was appalled! Not Bambi! I felt sick to my stomach! It was then she told me about the meatballs! So, at that moment, I was transformed into a vegetarian. I would never eat meat again!

However, being a vegetarian is more than just not eating meat, and I soon found myself anemic. So the doctor’s advice was to eat beef, which I did, but only beef for health reasons. In time however, I took on chicken, fish and turkey. But I drew the line at other animals for emotional and ethical reasons.

I would also like to point out, however, that humans had no longer lives for being meat eaters. The idea that vegetarians are somehow “better” however than meat – eating humans can not be true because at the time of the flood the Bible states that the people were very wicked. Being organic vegetarians did not create in them a pure, clean mind and heart, for they were destroyed by God for their wickedness. They were unrepentant sinners. Only Noah and his family proved upright and righteous. So, clearly, what they ate at that time, did not alter their ability to be obedient loyal worshippers of God.

What about today? Today, we are living in a contaminated world. And there is information that is out there that links what we consume with our eyes, ears, mouth, skin, lungs and conscience affects our heart and mind in both a literal and figurative way. And so those of us who want to be healthy put our time, energy and resources into living as clean of a life as humanly possible. Does this make us closer to God? It depends. A healthy person surely has more energy and a clearer mind to devote to God, but I have seen very ill individuals die with an unmovable faith in their Heavenly Father. Toxins can make it harder to control your imperfect sinful self, but only God knows the mind and heart of each soul. Nevertheless, it certainly shows respect for the vessel God gave you and for the Life he created by treating it as best as possible. The more we eat whole foods, the less likely we will be influenced by the corrupt system that houses the food industry. But again, remember, the people of Noah’s day? They were organic sinners. What they ate did not determine righteousness. Nor should we today believe that we will be less sinful by what we eat. It is whether or not we are pleasing to God that matters.