Should Animal Abusers be Forgiven? By Dr Chapman Chen
- Chapman Chen
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
“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 hurt us, because they too are God’s children. Our enemies are often God-sent mirrors, awakening us to our own inner demons—greed, hatred, and delusion—reflected back to us through life, so that we may rediscover our true identity as God’s beloved children. “All these evil things come from within,” reveals Jesus (Mark 7:21).
Equally importantly, people who do harmful things to others may be more confused than truly evil. This confusion is nowhere more visible today than in our treatment of animals. Anti-vegan animal abusers mistakenly believe that they will become more happy, more powerful, and more healthy by abusing, exploiting, and consuming others—especially defenceless animals—while remaining blind to the fact that such actions damage their own spirituality, their own health, and their own environment. They fail to see that infinite joy, infinite power, infinite abundance, and perfect health are already very fabric of their being, for “the Kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). As “children of God” (1 John 3:1), we don’t need to snatch anything from others.
That being said, merely scolding anti-vegans is unlikely to convince or convert them. Instead, let us be the change we wish to see in the world. Let us become the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13) and the light of the world (Matthew 5:14) by following Jesus the Vegan Christ. In doing so, we will naturally attract good people and life-giving circumstances. “Give, and it shall be given unto you,” Jesus assures us (Luke 6:38).