That’s Not Very Nice

This is sort of off topic, but lately I’ve been wondering what authority Jesus had to tell anyone what to do. I mean, he was a carpenter, for pete’s sake.

I’ve been thinking about this related to the backgrounds of various preachers, particularly of nondenominational and megachurches. Many of them have absoltely no training in anything that would qualify them to give advice to or counsel people, and yet here they are in positions of authority, telling people how to live their lives, telling them what to eat, giving advice as if they were qualified as therapists or physicians.

I had pastors who were ex-firemen, cabinet makers (at least that’s the same job that Jesus had), used car salesmen, and who knows what else. I only think one or two pastors of churches I atteneded had any kind of seminary training, never mind real training in psychology or family counseling. This really struck home with me when I was thinking about a friend of mine at church who committed suicide. I am pretty certain she was gay and was depressed because she wasn’t “cured.” So much for getting good avice from “men of God.” Puke.

I think that pastors should have to recieve ceritification from the governement and should be tightly regulated, just as therapists are, since they can so easily destroy people’s lives. It’s pretty darn scary. I hope to give this more thought over the next couple of weeks and write up a post about it on skepchick.

Until then, where’s the beef?

Actually, I was raised in the SDA (www.sda.org) church, which heavily advises vegetarianism (avoiding all meat), and if that can’t be kept to, at least avoiding “unclean” meats. Ironically though, a large portion of the people I’ve known in the church from my childhood were 100+ lbs overweight. Of course, the casseroles and cheesy potatoes with excessive amounts of sugar and butter to make up for the lack of meat flavor might have something to do with it…

that’s a good point, writerdd.

Religion is the filler in the beef of reason. You can’t help but to consume it in some fashion, but it provides very little benefit to the consumer.

I’ve known an overweight vegetarian. I think it’s all the heavy carbs they eat!

OH GOD! I got this sermon from a crazy Christian the other day. My son’s new “girlfriend’s” mother is wacked! When she found out we were vegetarians, she went NUTS! Not that she wasn’t quoting the Bible every other sentence already, but she wen to every sentence after that:

“the Bible says we have dominion over the animals. We are suppose to eat them!” “The Bible says we need meat.” “The Bible says we can and should eat this and that, but not pork.” “Oh but Daniel was a vegetarian and he was very strong, so maybe it’s not too bad, but if it was good enough for the Lord, it’s good enough for me.” “Jesus ate meat.”

JESUS CHRIST! Shut up, Lady! I didn’t say that, but trust me, I wanted to. My older son got home and before I could give him details about the phone call (she called me) he asked, “What did you do, Mother?” I didn’t do anything! I swear! She brought up religion and went wacked, esp over us being vegetarians.

She called to invite us to her home next Saturday. I don’t think I could stand a whole day with that woman without going off on her. Then my son would be mad at me. He is sympathic though and thinks maybe there is a way out of it gracefully. My worry is, what is she going to say when she finds out my older son is a Buddhist and I’m a Humanist? I can hear it now, esp IF that bit over vegetarianism is any example. I tried hard not to nail her, but I’m afraid before it’s over, I’ll end up nailing her for her attitude and well… It’ll be WWIII. This I’m certain. Personally, I don’t care what Jesus wants me to eat. I know what I like and what I don’t like and I base my life on that.

I don’t like killing, not even of animals and my son’s Buddhist beliefs are compatible with this. I truly do not like meat period- not even when I was a child, so IF (which as far as I know the Bible doesn’t say that) I am ordered to eat meat as per the Bible, then I don’t care if that makes me a sinner. I find this woman’s attitude a very vile attitude and she can put it where the sun don’t shine.

However, I know there are Christians who are not like that- ie MikeC. I seriously doubt he would take the same attitude as this woman and start misquoting and misinterpreting the Bible. The only thing she did get right, is the deal on pork… according to the OT. The NT declared all things clean. Even so, I didn’t care to do battle with her, due to the fact that she had Christianity violently imposed on her and was supposedly in a Carlisle school as a child. This doesn’t mean I won’t if I have to spend a day with her. I really can’t stand the religious wackos here in Missouri and some are wacko due to what some Christians have done to them.

In all honesty though, how we eat can have a variety of reasons and some people just need to butt out of it.

Ironically though, a large portion of the people I’ve known in the church from my childhood were 100+ lbs overweight. Of course, the casseroles and cheesy potatoes with excessive amounts of sugar and butter to make up for the lack of meat flavor might have something to do with it…

I was going to make a similar point – especially for college vegetarians, who can’t afford to eat vegetables and fruit all the time, and therefore replace it with carbohydrates.

Well, I am vegetarian and certainly overweight, if not actually obese (though I have been into the obese range in the distant past; I’ve also been drastically underweight, both related to the same underlying problem).

It’s not that difficult to be a fat vegetarian, actually
(be a fat bastard now, ask me how!).

High carb intake will do it (in my case because I have a huge number of allergies, I have a pretty restricted choice of foods), if you combine it with a not-active enough lifestyle.

But this isn’t necessairly Jesus’ stance – both Romans and 1Timothy were letters written by his followers after death of Jesus, and can be thus just stances of author/s.

As others had mentioned, vegetarians need to care about what they eat, because it’s hard to balance the diet. And to prepare meals is harder and I think maybe more expensive.

So since most Seventh Day Adventists are vegetarians, does this mean they should change churches since it is clear Jesus must not like them????

I know an obese vegetarian! He seems to live off french fries and Coke. Yuck!

I have been a vegetarian for 20 years, and am what they consider obese. No, I do not live on fries and coke, nor on cheesy casseroles, nor on all carbs.

I have seen a bit of biased information in the comments of these obesity-related articles. While folks despise the ‘lose weight for God’ angle, most making comments seem to accept the ‘lose weight’ angle. Societally we have been fed a load of hooey as twisted as “intelligent design” regarding weight. Look into it.

http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/19235/
http://www.reason.com/news/show/38388.html

OK. I did it. I looked them up. Here’s what I found (NIV):

Romans 14:2 says,

One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.

Fine and dandy, right? But wait!! Here’s Romans 14:3, the very next verse:

The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him.

So, is calling vegetarians “pussies” a form of “looking down on them”? I think so. If the shirt said “Romans 14:2-3″, I’d buy it (just for the irony).

And finally (mostly for the sake of completeness… it’s not as funny), 1 Timothy 4:1-4 is:

The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,

No explicit mention of vegetarians there, but I can’t help but think of all the food taboos prevalent in religions without smirking a little…

Disclaimer: I am vegan. That’s why I looked them up in the first place, but I don’t think that really has anything to do with the points I raise.

i’m more annoyed by the mispelling of pussys (it’s pussies) than anything else.