“When all ate of the meats of the Gentiles, he kept his soul and never was defiled with their meats.” (Tobit 1:12   Douay-Rheims Bible) 1. Background of the Book and the Man The Book of Tobit is one of the apocryphal books of the Bible. It dates to the 3rd or early 2nd century BC. It is a Jewish wisdom narrative set during the Assyrian exile, when Israelites were forcibly relocated to pagan cities after Assyria conquered northern Israel (8th c. BCE). Written for Jews living u

Intro.: Saint Seraphim of Sarov  (19 July 1754 – 14 Jan. 1833), born in Kursk, was a most revered Russian vegan monk. Between 1794 and 1819, he lived as a secluded hermit in the woods outside Sarov Monastery, during which he subsisted on vegetables he cultivated himself and formed gentle, trusting relationships with wild animals such as bears, rabbits, wolves, and foxes. A nun once saw the holy monk sitting beside a bear, stroking him and feeding him with bread. From 1825 onw

“Love your enemies,” says Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:44).“Forgive them; for they know not what they do,” Jesus prays from the cross (Luke 23:34). Now, no one whose heart is full of peace, love, light, and wisdom will conceive of dirty tricks to harm others. Only those whose hearts are filled with pain, fear, confusion, and ignorance are constantly contriving ways to hurt others. For within love there is no fear (1 John 4:18). We are called by Jesus to forgive those who try to hu

The story of Bathsheba’s first child (2 Samuel 12) will be examined from the perspective of Jesus, as reflected in his healing of the man born blind in John 9. It will be argued that Jesus explicitly rejects punitive theology and blood sacrifice. 1. The Shared Assumption (That Jesus Smashes) Both stories rest on the same ancient assumption that suffering exists because someone sinned, and God is exacting payment. Concerning 2 Samuel 12, it is assumed that David sins and the c

Saint Methodius of Olympus (?- 311 AD) praises veganism for its purity and condemns anti-vegans for animal abuse, for grounding their pleasure in animals’ suffering, and for opposing Christ, virtue, and true spirituality. (As Methodius condemns animal abuse, what he calls “vegetarian” translates to “vegan” in modern terms.) In his lost work De Cibis , preserved by Epiphanius ( Panarion 64.3), he boldly states:- “If the vegetarian life is pure and free from wrongdoing, and no

Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me?” “Master, you know that I love you,” Peter replies. Jesus says, “Then take care of my sheep” (John 21:15–17). To recognise “the Kingdom of God within us” (Luke 17:21) and to honour Christ-consciousness, we are called to love God’s creatures, to protect them, and to nourish them — not to harm or exploit them. Jesus, the Good Shepherd, lays down his life for the sheep (John 10:11). Not many of us are capable of such radical self-giving. But at

Introduction:  God did not “kill” Bathsheba’s innocent first child (2 Samuel 12) in order to punish King David and Bathsheba. Rather, the text reflects an ancient theological framework that wrongly attributes consequences of royal violence to God’s direct action. From a vegan theology perspective, this story exposes how human violence generates ripple effects that later theology falsely sacralises as divine punishment. God is not the killer here. David is; the royal system is

Jesus’s first deed after being baptized by John was not ministry amongst human beings, but triumphing over the partition between human and wild animals.  "At once the Spirit sent him out into the wilderness, and he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. HE WAS WITH THE WILD ANIMALS, and angels attended him" (Mark 1:12-13). According to theologian Richard Bauckham's "(1994) Jesus and the Wild Animals (Mark 1:13): A Christological Image for an Ecological Age,

Within early Jewish-Christian theology, Jesus did not reform the sacrificial system but decisively replaced it through two bloodless rites. First, he instituted water baptism as a substitute for animal sacrifice in matters of purification and forgiveness, explicitly rejecting cleansing by “the blood of beasts” in favour of moral and spiritual purification:- “What was wanting in the Mosaic institutions should be supplied…He should warn them by the mercy of God to cease from sa

Jesus advises us to seek the Kingdom of God first (Matthew 6:33). The Kingdom of God must incorporate and unite the vegan Eden (Genesis 1:29) with the peaceable New Heaven and New Earth (Revelation 21:1), where violence has ceased and harmony is restored. In the prophetic vision of God’s redeemed creation, “the wolf shall dwell with the lamb” (Isaiah 11:6; cf. Isaiah 65:25). In the Garden of Eden, God prescribes a vegan diet for humanity (Gen. 1:29). In the New Heaven and New

Executive Summary: 1. Animal Sacrifice as an Evil Cult In the OT, there are graphic descriptions of animal sacrificial rituals (e.g., Exodus 29:15-17; Lev. 1:9, 13, 7:3-4, 12-16; Num. 28:2-6; Ezekiel 44:7). God is depicted as demanding the internal organs, fat and blood of animals on a daily basis and as coveting the aroma of the burnt flesh. The whole thing sounds like an evil cult. 2. Five Prophets Opposed Animal Sacrifice Contrariwise, per the 5 great OT prophets (Amos, Is

It is the cross that vegans bear. We oppose oppression of the weak. We oppose the killing of innocents. We live in a world of oppression, greed, murder, war, raping and pillaging, toxicity and poison. Yet through all this vegans continue to strive to educate others as to the horrors that are attributed to the choice on their plate. Vegans know that if the world were vegan, rape and greed would end, love would replace war, toxicity and poisons would be things of the past as wo

When we help innocent creatures of God, life itself rises to help us. When we rescue animals from danger, the Lord will deliver us from evil. The more we pray for and bless animals abused by humans, the more blessed our own lives become. The more we speak out for animal rights, the more righteousness, harmony, and inner peace we encounter. The more we donate to animal sanctuaries and those who protect God’s creatures, the more abundance flows into our lives. Jesus understood

Jesus died for the sake of humans and animals, but not in place of humans. 1. Jesus Chose to Die Jesus took the initiative to die in order to align with God’s grand scheme (Matthew 26:39; Luke 22:42), to fulfil the prophecy of the Scriptures (Matt. 26:54), and to wake us up from our falsities (e.g., Matt. 23:27–28), our indifference, and our atrocities toward animals and humans, raising us to a level of love (e.g., “Blessed are the merciful” — Matt. 5:7; cf. 1 John 3:16), pur

The idea that God wanted Jesus to die as a blood sacrifice is not the earliest Christian view. It is closer to pagan sacrificial religion than to Jesus’ own teachings or to the theology of the earliest Jewish-Christian communities (Ebionites, Nazarenes). It is also by definition anti-vegan. The belief that Jesus died as a necessary blood atonement was developed later, especially by Paul and then by later Gentile Christianity. 1. Jesus Himself Rejected Blood Sacrifice Jesus tw

Miss Cindy Amick ( https://www.facebook.com/cindy.hopper.amick ): "Does anyone know of a vegan musician who would be interested in working on a project with me? I wrote a song called “Lift the Veil” about animals living on factory farms. "  Editor’s Review: The lyrics are simple yet powerful, and the melody is celestial and profoundly moving. Although Miss Amick is a self-taught singer, her performance is both natural and impressively polished. She has indeed done a good job

Summary : Many flesh-eaters seize upon "The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth… into your hands are they delivered” (Genesis 9:2 KJV) and “Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you” (Gen. 9:3 KJV) to claim that God thereby gave humans permission to kill and eat any animals they fancy. Upon close scrutiny, this interpretation is incorrect.   1. Gen. 9:2 as a Description, Not an Approval Judging from its context, Gen. 9:2 is a des

St Francis of Assisi (1181/1182–1226) was renowned for his extraordinary compassion towards God’s innocent creatures. He addressed animals as his brothers and sisters, protected them from harm, and healed many of them (I:234–5). Animals, in turn, were often deeply attached to him, responding to him with devotion, gentleness, and even obedience (Bonaventure 1904:8.1, 8.6-11). However, because the medieval Church frequently accused strictly vegetarian or vegan groups—such as th

Summary:  In Exodus 3:8 (NKJV), God speaks to Moses from the burning bush and announces His plan to deliver the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and bring them into Canaan, described as “a land flowing with milk and honey.” Israel then sets out toward Canaan, and the spies sent by Moses later confirm its extraordinary fertility with a massive cluster of grapes. The people’s fear causes a forty-year delay in the wilderness, and only the next generation, under Joshua, finally e

For the last 2000 years, numerous anti-vegan theologians and clergy have claimed that according to the Bible, animals, unlike humans, do not have a soul, and so it is ok for humans to exploit them, use them to the core, and kill them for food, for labour, for transport, for entertainment, for experimentation, etc. Yet, it is stated clearly in the Hebrew Scripture that animals, just like humans, are given a living soul (nephesh) and a spirit (ruach). Augustine & Aquinas St. Au