On the Kindest Acts of the Wicked. By Dr. Chapman Chen

Proverbs 12:10 (NIV) reads, “The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.” The antithetic nature of this couplet leads to the inevitable conclusion that the second clause must also concern animal care or animal rights, just like the first. “The wicked” here likely refers to figures akin to the Pharisees, whom Jesus calls hypocrites—for they appear fastidiously clean and beautifully dressed on the outside, but are inwardly “full of dead bones and everything unclean” (Matthew 23:27), arguably alluding to animal remains, per Dr. Karl Anders Skriver (2025). Since Jesus’ ascension, numerous salient examples of such religious hypocrisy have emerged. “Saint” Paul, Martin Luther, and Karl Barth are notable cases in point.

On the one hand, Paul concedes that groaning creatures are eagerly waiting for the Second Coming to liberate them from pain and sufferings (Romans 8:19–22). On the other hand, he advises people to “eat whatever is sold in the meat market without questions of conscience” (1 Cor. 10:25 NIV).

Martin Luther (1483-1586), the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation, asserted that God is present in all earthly creatures, but insisted on his "Christian liberty" to eat animal flesh (LW 22:451). While admitting that God gave every animal a soul (LW 22.30, 22.37, 28.191), he argued that now "the animals are subjected to man as to a tyrant who has absolute power over life and death" (LW 2.132).

Similarly, Karl Barth (1886-1968), arguably the most influential and shameless Protestant theologian of the 20th century, tried to whitewash in a cunningly intricate way the “good hunter, honourable butcher and conscientious vivisectionist” by identifying them with an Old Testament Abel or Noah or a High Priest engaged in an “act of eschatological character”, which can only achieved “in recollection of the reconciliation of man by the Man [Jesus Christ] who intercedes for him and for all creation” (Barth 1961:355). In this act, the “High Priest” destroys the animal and surrenders them to God to atone for the humans’ sins. Only after that does the “High Priest” receive whatever remains of the animal for the satisfaction of the humans’ own needs and desires (Barth 1961:354).

In a word, do you want to be a Pharisaic hypocrite condemned by Jesus or a genuine follower of the Vegan Christ, practising in everyday life love and compassion for innocent creatures of God?    #VeganChrist #VeganGod #VeganTheology #VeganChurch

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