There are a few verses in the Old Testament that are often quoted to justify the consumption of animal flesh and products. These verses can serve as stumbling blocks to veganism. Salient examples include God granting humans 'dominion' over other animals in the sense of lordship, God allegedly giving Noah and his offspring the license to kill and eat animals, and the complex animal sacrificial rituals recorded in the Torah. Below is an introduction to how these stumbling blocks may be resolved one by one.
1. “Dominion” in Genesis 1:26, 28 Means Serving the Animals, NOT Lordship
Over the last 2000 years, numerous church leaders and theologians have (ab)used the term “dominion” in Genesis 1:26,28) to justify the enslavement, torture, abuse, rape, and murder of innocent creatures of God; and their interpretations of “dominion” can be classified as either hardcore or soft.
According to the hardcore interpretation, “dominion” means absolute, despotic authority and power over animals, as purported by St. Augustine (354-430), St. Thomas Aquinas (1224/1225-1274), and Martin Luther (1483-1546), etc.
As for the soft interpretation of “dominion” as stewardship (Linzey 1995:34) or benevolent lordship (Linzey 1995:106), it had existed since at least the 16th century, before it was formally established by Rev. Prof. Andrew Linzey (1995). Linzey justifies his interpretation on the ground that “dominion” is immediately followed by God’s prescription of a vegan diet to humans in Genesis 2:15; and subsequently by God’s commission to them to take good care of the Garden (Linzey 1995:34). Linzey even contends that the killing of a sentient creature who does not want to die could amount to murder (Linzey 1995:121), and that human species has the unique potential to become the “servant species” able to work with God in liberating animals (Linzey 1995:45, 57). Unfortunately, it is precisely the power of “lordship” that has been abused by people with ulterior motives. For example, Karl Barth (1886-1968) associates human “lordship” over animals with the “primary meaning of requisitioning, disciplining, taming, harnessing, exploiting and making profitable use of” them (Barth 1961:351).
I would like, therefore, to propose a third model of “dominion” in the compassionate spirit of Jesus Christ, namely, “dominion” as servanthood with no authority whatsoever on the part of humans over animals. For the ancient, pre-Masoretic Hebrew word in consonantal form for “dominion” is yirdu ( ירדו), which could refer to either radah (רָדָה /subjugate) or yarad (יָרַד /lower oneself) (cf. Ehrenfeld and Bentley 1985:301). IMO, only yarad could be the right interpretation, because, firstly, Jesus stresses, “I came to serve, NOT to be served!” (Matthew 20:28); secondly, “dominion” (Gen. 1:28) is immediately followed by a vegan diet prescribed by God to humans (Gen. 1:29) (cf. Linzey 1995:34); thirdly, humans are particularly assigned merely to be a humble caretaker of the Garden (Gen. 2:15) (cf. Ritenbaugh 1999). To "have dominion over animals" in Genesis 1 therefore signifies that God commands humanity to lower themselves and wait upon other animals as a powerless servant rather than a God-like authority (Chen 2024).
2. Not Only Humans But Animals are Made in the Image of God
Animals at least partly manifest God's image because of the following reasons:- Firstly, The Bible never denies that animals are made in the image of God. Secondly, both humanity and other animals were made out of dust by God. Thirdly, God made a covenant with not only humanity but also other animals (Genesis 9:9-11; Hosea 2:18). Fourthly, many verses in the Bible describe how different animals bear different characteristics of God (e.g. Isaiah 31:4; Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34; John 1:29; Matthew 3:16). Fifthly, not only humans but other animals are gifted with a "living soul" (נֶ֣פֶשׁ חַיָּ֔ה nephesh chayyah) (Genesis 1:21, 24; Genesis 1:30). It follows that animals are our fellow creatures, that we should go vegan and stop eating and abusing them.
3. Not Only Humans But Animals Have a Soul (Nephesh Chayyah)
The Biblical Hebrew word, נֶ֫פֶשׁ nephesh (soul) is translated "life" or "creature" in most English versions of the Bible when applied to animals, e.g., Genesis 1:20, 1:21, 1:24, 1:30 KJV. Whereas it is often translated accurately when applied to humans, e.g., Genesis 2:7 KJV (cf. Antipas 2014). The same with רוּחַ ruach (spirit), e.g., "For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts... they have all one breath [ר֫וּחַ ruach (spirit)]; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast" (Ecclesiastes 3:19 KJV). The significance of animals having a soul and a spirit lies in its implication that humans and animals are equal before the Creator, that animals are our neighbors; and we are supposed to follow Jesus' commandment and love them (Matthew 22:39), instead of abusing and murdering them.
St. Augustine did believe that animals have souls, but he considered them to be irrational. He often emphasized the rational soul as the defining feature of human beings, which sets humans apart from animals. Augustine's views on the soul can be found in works like De Quantitate Animae (On the Greatness of the Soul) and De Trinitate (On the Trinity). Thomas Aquinas categorized souls into three types: 1. Vegetative souls (plants); 2. Sensitive souls (non-rational animals); 3. Rational souls (humans). Aquinas discussed these distinctions in his seminal work, Summa Theologica. He argued that while animals have sensitive souls that enable them to perceive and move, they lack the rational soul that humans possess, which is capable of intellect and will. These are, of course, Augustine’s and Aquinas’ personal inventions. The OT in Hebrew never mentions anything like a “rational soul” or a “sensitive soul”!
4. Did God Make Fur Coats for Adam and Eve
"The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them" (Genesis 3:21). This verse has been quoted by many a flesh-eater to argue against Christian veganism. Did God actually hunt down in cold blood a couple of innocent animals, and skin them mercilessly, in order to make fur coats for Adam and Eve to wear? Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? In reality, עור (`owr), the Hebrew original of "skin" in the verse, means human skin, and/or the physical human body, or animal skin, in accordance with the Old Testament Hebrew Lexical Dictionary. In fact, in the context concerned, the death of an animal is in no way mentioned. So where did the Lord acquire the skin with which he provided clothes for Adam and his wife? The text doesn’t say. But it is likely that God just created it as either the human skin or the human body itself, for before the Fall, Adam and Eve were bodies of light “clothed in light” (Psalm 104:2; Taylor 2013; Malan 1882). After the Fall, their bodies of light turned into skinless flesh, which soon dried up, and God found it necessary to cover them with human skin, according to The First Book of Adam and Eve as translated by Vicar Dr. S.C. Malan (1882). Stop wearing animal skins. Or else you are going against the all-loving God by causing unspeakable pains and unnecessary deaths to His innocent creatures.
5. Abel Did Not Kill His Lamb Nor Was Cain’s Offering Rejected by God
Genesis 4:3-8 is frequently quoted by anti-vegan Christians to justify the killing of innocent animals. But actually Cain and Abel each made a bloodless offering [מִנְחָה minchah] to God, as opposed to a bloody sacrifice [זֶבַח zebach]. Cain offered vegetables while Abel brought along the choicest [חֶלֶב cheleb] of his lambs just for God to see how well he Abel has taken care of his flock. [חֶלֶב cheleb] is unfortunately rendered "fat portion" in many versions of the Bible (cf. Denny 2022:100). Abel never killed the lamb because God as the embodiment of love detested animal sacrifice (Proverbs 21:27; Isaiah 6:18). According to Rabbi Chaim Hirschenshon (see Shapiro 2014), both Abel and Cain left their offerings at a peak, expecting God to pick them up. When Abel's lamb went away and was subsequently nowhere to be found, it was assumed that God had accepted it. In contrast, when Cain returned later only to find his veggies still there, he wrongly imagined that God had rejected his offering. Out of envy and spite, he murdered his brother.
6. God Never Permitted Noah and his Clan to Eat Animals
Many flesh-eaters seize upon "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you” (Genesis 9:3 KJV) to claim that God thereby gave humans permission to kill and eat any animals they fancy. But in the Exegeses Companion Bible (ECB), a literal translation of the Bible, it’s “Every living creeper…”(Jahn 1992: Col.11), which could only mean creeper plant because the eating of creeping animals, i.e., reptiles, was strictly forbidden (Leviticus 11:41-2); and in the Genesis Apocryphon, one of the Dead Scrolls, it’s just “vegetables and plants” (Reeves 2014).
Similarly, Metcalfe (1840), referencing the Hebrew version, argues that a more accurate translation of “every moving thing” is “every creeper.” He indicates that there are two kinds of creepers: vegetable creepers and animal ones. “Animal creepers”, i.e., reptiles, are out of the question because they are explicitly forbidden as articles of food (Leviticus 11:41-2). Thus, the creeper which Noah was allowed by eat by God was the vine, or grapes, of every kind (Metcalfe 1840: Chapt. 13). This is corroborated by God immediately afterwards declaring “Flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof shall ye not eat, for surely your blood of your lives will I require”(Gen. 9:4-5 KJV); by Noah and his sons subsequently planting a vineyard (Gen. 9:20 KJV) (Metcalfe 1840: Chapt.12-13); and by God having inspired His prophet to announce to us most solemnly that “He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man” (Isaiah 66:3 KJV) (cf. Metcalfe 1840: Chapt.11).
7. Abraham Never Demanded by God to Sacrifice his Son nor a Ram
Abraham was never demanded by God to sacrifice his son Isaac nor a ram caught in a nearby bush as a substitute. God loves His creation (Psalm 145:8-9) and He already has everything (Psalm 50:12). Indeed, God has explicitly said that He hated burnt offering (Isaiah 6:18). So why should He need or want any sacrifice, human or animal, from us (Hosea 6:6)? How could He, who is love (1 John 4:7-21), possibly order anyone to do any evil act as a test of their obedience to Him? Genesis 22:1-18 needs to be looked at from a Freudian-Christian perspective:- Abraham was tricked by the Devil into projecting to God his faith crisis and unconscious, murderous, Oedipal feelings toward his own son (Wellisch 1954:131), and into thinking that he, Abraham, had to sacrifice his only son, or some other sentient being like a ram, in order to prove his loyalty to Yahuah. Actually, meatism is sacrificing innocent creatures of God to human gluttony (Proverbs 23:20-21). Therefore, go vegan!
8. Meatism is Animal Sacrifice Detested by God
In the Bible, there are verses claiming that animal sacrifice is a food offering for God's consumption, "an aroma pleasing to the Lord" (e.g. Leviticus 1:9 NIV, Exodus 29:18 NIV). In reality, God never delights in animal sacrifice (Psalm 51:16-17); He is fed up with it (Isaiah 1:11-12); He prefers thanksgiving and a repentant heart to it (Ps. 50:7-14, 23; Ps. 51:17). Leviticus 16 claims that animal sacrifice can take away human sins, but Hebrews 10:4-10 stresses that this is impossible.
Both God and Jesus Christ have explicitly said, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice" (Hosea 6:6 NIV, Matthew 9:13 NIV, Hebrews 10:8). In expelling from the Holy Temple vendors who sold innocent animals to be slaughtered and sacrificed there, Jesus offended the Pharisees and scribes, who then plotted to have him killed (Mark 11:18).
True Prophets, including Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Amos, and Micah (Isaiah 1:11; Jeremiah 7:22-23; Hosea 6:6; Amos 5:21-22; Micah 6:6-8), protested against the sacrificial cult and offered to God bread instead of burnt animal flesh [Leviticus 21:6, 21-22]. The animal sacrifice ritual must be an evil cult concocted by the "lying pen of the scribes" (Jeremiah 8:8 NIV). Otherwise, how would God, who is LOVE (1 John 4:16), delight to see innocent creatures slaughtered and bled to death, and go on to consume them as His favorite dish?
Eating animals is animal sacrifice detested by God. For eating animal flesh means sacrificing innocent animals' lives, a sacrifice to the idol god of the belly (Philippians 3:19), and a sacrifice to gluttony (Proverbs 23:20-21) (cf. Hicks 2018). Thus, go VEGAN!
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