{"id":70285,"date":"2019-02-11T14:11:34","date_gmt":"2019-02-11T21:11:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=70285"},"modified":"2019-02-17T19:31:20","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T02:31:20","slug":"a-note-on-veganism-and-vegetarianism-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2019\/02\/a-note-on-veganism-and-vegetarianism-1.html","title":{"rendered":"A note on veganism and vegetarianism (1)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Wheat<\/a>
A rich harvest of wheat (Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over the past several years, I\u2019ve enjoyed a few dinner table conversations at the annual FreedomFest<\/a> in Las Vegas that, among others, included John Mackey, the libertarian co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market. \u00a0So, a few months ago, I read\u00a0John Mackey, Alona Pulde, and Matthew Lederman, The Whole Foods Diet: The Lifesaving Plan for Health and Longevity<\/em> (New York: Grand Central Life and Style, 2017)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I found the book, on the whole, rather persuasive. \u00a0And not eccentric. \u00a0I may write a bit more about it in subsequent weeks, though maybe this mention of it will turn out to be enough.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not inclined to food crankiness, though, nor to adopting a diet that would require a great deal of focused attention or that would be socially distancing. \u00a0I simply don\u2019t want food to be a central issue in my life; I have other things on which I would prefer to concentrate. \u00a0With this in mind, vegetarianism and, even more so, veganism seem to me a bridge too far. \u00a0And I simply don\u2019t see a compelling moral argument for veganism; I see nothing intrinsically wicked about eating eggs, let alone consuming dairy products. \u00a0Further, although I do understand the ethical argument for vegetarianism and am more than a little sympathetic to it, the Latter-day Saint theological argument against regarding the consumption of meat as sinful or wrong seems to me decisive (for a Latter-day Saint).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

For one thing, Doctrine and Covenants 89:10-15 plainly permits the eating of animals. \u00a0(See below.) \u00a0For another, Jesus, whom I believe to have been sinless, presumably ate lamb at the Last Supper (a Passover celebration). \u00a0And the miracle of \u201cfeeding the multitude\u201d (recorded in all four gospels, at\u00a0Matthew 14:13-21<\/a>,\u00a0Mark 6:31-44<\/a>, Luke 9:12-17<\/a>, and John 6:1-14<\/a>) plainly involved both \u201cloaves\u201d and \u201cfishes,\u201d as did the apparently distinct miraculous provision of food mentioned at Matthew 15:32-39<\/a> and Mark 8:1-9<\/a>. \u00a0Moreover, Jesus assisted in the catching of fish during his mortal life (see Luke 5:1-11<\/a>) and, after he had risen from the dead, in both the catching of fish and the preparation of fish for eating (see John 21:1-14<\/a>), and it seems unlikely that he himself didn\u2019t eat fish on those occasions, as well. \u00a0He certainly<\/em> ate fish at least once after his resurrection (Luke 24:41-43<\/a>; ) \u00a0Finally, in the vision granted to the apostle Peter at the house of Simon the Tanner at Joppa, divine revelation declared the killing and eating of animals to be \u201cclean\u201d (Acts 10:10-16<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

With all that said, however, I think that both the scientific and theological cases are strong for reducing<\/em> the amount of meat that many of us eat:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Verily I say unto you, all wholesome\u00a0herbs\u00a0God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man\u2014every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with\u00a0prudence<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0thanksgiving. \u00a0Yea,\u00a0flesh\u00a0also of\u00a0beasts\u00a0and of the fowls of the air, I, the Lord, have ordained for the use of man with thanksgiving; nevertheless they are to be used\u00a0sparingly<\/em>; and it is pleasing unto me that they should not be\u00a0used, only in times of winter, or of cold, or\u00a0famine<\/em>. \u00a0All\u00a0grain\u00a0is ordained for the use of man and of beasts, to be the staff of life, not only for man but for the beasts of the field, and the fowls of heaven, and all wild animals that run or creep on the earth; and\u00a0these\u00a0hath God made for the use of man only in times of famine and excess of hunger<\/em>.<\/strong> \u00a0(Doctrine and Covenants 89:10-15, emphasis mine)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

To be continued.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 Over the past several years, I\u2019ve enjoyed a few dinner table conversations at the annual FreedomFest in Las Vegas that, among others, included John Mackey, the libertarian co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods Market. \u00a0So, a few months ago, I read\u00a0John Mackey, Alona Pulde, and Matthew Lederman, The Whole Foods Diet: The Lifesaving […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1809,3523,788,55,2481,2478,2147],"class_list":["post-70285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints","tag-diet","tag-mormon","tag-mormonism","tag-veganism","tag-vegetarianism","tag-word-of-wisdom"],"yoast_head":"\nA note on veganism and vegetarianism (1)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    Over the past several years, 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