Biblical Nutrition: The Bible Supports Foods from Both Plant & Animal Kingdoms
Part 1 (Click here for Part 2)by James Ong
SingaporeDear Reverend,
I appreciate what you are doing [with the Genesis 1:29 Diet] for many people, especially the Christian community, in trying to convert them from over-indulgence in the S.A.D. to a healthier diet. In the process, many have been healed of degenerative diseases. Your work is of great value to those who have been eating a diet based on a predominance of refined, devitalized foods and too much meat.
However, after reading your two latest newsletters, I can't help but feel that you have been somewhat misguided, preferring to hold on tenaciously to your view that a 100% raw, vegan diet as the ideal diet for man, rather than acknowledge the truth of what is recorded in the Bible. I believe that the ideal diet should be predominantly plant-based but supplemented by a small quantity of clean, whole, pesticide- and hormone-free animal products, e.g. raw milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, eggs, fish, beef, chicken, mutton, venison, etc. The list of clean meats are found in Leviticus 11.
Allow me to highlight a few Biblical truths:
- Jesus Christ, our Lord, the Creator of the heavens and the earth and all human beings, ate animal foods (meat, curds, milk), during His pre-incarnate appearances (e.g. to Abraham in Genesis 18), during His 3.5-year earthly ministry (I'm sure it was no different during His pre-public ministry days) and, think of it, after His resurrection (He ate broiled/barbecued fish on two occasions). If my Lord, who loved me so much that He was willing to go the cross for me, ate fish and gave fish to His children to eat (the feeding of the 4,000 and 5,000), how can I possibly believe that eating fish is toxic to my body. Would such a benevolent God feed poison to His children? Jesus taught that fishes and eggs are good gifts which a loving father would not withhold from his children (Luke 11:11-13). He would not have used these examples if He knew that these were toxic. Jesus also ate bread, which was the staple food of the Jews, referring to Himself as the Bread of Life.
- We don't know for sure if pre-Flood man cooked their food, do we? How can you be so sure that they ate their food raw 100% of the time? We read in Genesis 4:22 that the pre-Flood descendants of Cain learnt how to forge implements of bronze and iron. This could only be possible if they had learnt to use fire. Are you suggesting that generations of pre-Flood man who knew how to use fire for other industrial purposes never cooked their food? It is really quite hard to swallow.
- We don't know for sure if pre-Flood man never ate animal foods, do we? Abel was a keeper of flocks. He brought an animal sacrifice to the LORD (Genesis 4:2). Do you suppose he threw the meat away after the sacrifice? The descendants of Cain also kept flocks (Genesis 4:20). It is hard to imagine that pastoral farmers who kept large quantities of livestock never ate from his produce. What did they keep livestock for? For fur coats and skins only? Now we know that the earth's climate in those days was uniformly warm throughout the earth. Why would they need so much coats and skin to cover themselves? After taking the skin and coats, did they throw away the meat? What about the milk of cows, sheep and goats? Did they also abstain from these for hundreds, even thousands of years? I believe that it is possible that pre-Flood man ate some animal foods from time to time.
- We don't know for sure if pre-Flood man never fell sick, do we? In Romans 8:19-23 tells us that the whole creation had been suffering the pains of childbirth ever since the fall of man. I believe sickness entered the world the moment Adam and Eve fell. To say that pre-Flood man never fell sick is therefore a gross mistake.
- We don't know for sure if pre-Flood man never ate grains or tubers or certain plant foods which require cooking, do we? However, Genesis tells us that Cain was a tiller of the grounds. Could it be that he or pre-Flood man never cultivated grains which is a staple food of man for thousands of years and made large civilizations possible?
What I am saying is this: just because the Bible is silent on certain topics does not allow us to make controversial statements as if these were gospel truths.
You asked the questions: Why did God shorten the lifespan of man and how did He do it? The answer to the first question is plain and simple. God shortened the lifespan of man as an act of His grace so that the wickedness and evil in the world would be kept under control. It is found in the Genesis passage itself (6:1-8). Imagine what would happen if Hitler, Idi Amin, Saddam Hussein, Mussolini and other tyrants were able to live till 900?
I would like to pose you a question, Reverend. If you kept a 100% raw, vegan diet, would you live till 900? We know it is impossible. That brings us to the answer for the second question. We don't know for sure how God shortened the lifespan of man. It could have been through several causes - genetic, environmental, loss of valuable topsoil, diet perhaps had a small role, etc. He is God and Creator. His knowledge and ways are too marvelous for us to comprehend. From the studies of eminent creation scientists, we learn that the earth's atmosphere before the Flood was very different, which accounts for dense tropical forests in what are deserts and snow-covered places today. Fact is, we will never be able to reverse the drastic shortening of life span, no matter how healthy our diet is. In your latest Health Tip, you suggested that God allowed the consumption of animal foods so as to accomplish His purpose of shortening the life span of man. This is without reasonable proof and totally against the loving, benevolent nature of God!
Here are some interesting Bible facts for you to consider:
- Isaac lived till 180, 70 years more than Joseph. Yet the Bible tells us that he loved game meats.
- Ezekiel 47:9-12 tells us that during the Millennium, man will still be fishing and harvesting sea salt. What would the fishes and salt be used for? If not for human consumption, then I don't know what for.
- Noah, his family and the animals spent about a year in the Ark. If they had only subsisted on fruits, nuts and vegetables, their food supply would have been exhausted after a short time, without refrigeration. Only dried beans and grains could have lasted for so long and managed to feed all those creatures in the Ark for a year. Hence, it is reasonable to assume that pre-Flood man had learnt to cultivate grains, legumes and other seed foods.
- If the Jews were to follow your vegan diet, they would not have been to celebrate the Passover, Pentecost, Feast of Tabernacles and many other appointed feasts of the LORD as these feasts required consumption of animal flesh and cooked bread. Are you suggesting that they should disobey God's commandments (punishable by death) to follow your dietary guidelines? Did you know the Jews of the Millennium are required to keep these feasts (Ezekiel 44-46)?
- Did you also know that God will feed us with meat and marrow during the Millennium (Isaiah 25:6)?
- When God gave manna to the Israelites during their wilderness wanderings, Moses did not forbid them to cook their manna. Rather, Exodus 16:23 tells us that the Israelites were to bake or boil the manna into bread/wafers or porridge. If raw food was the most nutritious and cooking destroyed many nutrients, God would certainly have told the Israelites to eat the manna raw, but He did not.
Reverend, do not get me wrong. I'm not advocating that we go out and eat as much animal foods or cooked foods as we can. There are advantages in eating raw, especially with fruits and certain vegetables. A predominantly plant-based diet is also very healthful. But some foods are best consumed cooked (e.g. grains, beans and tubers). And when clean, wholesome animal produce is available, we should not be afraid of consuming them as these are usually very good sources of essential amino acids, fatty acids, fat-soluble vitamins and minerals that are also of greater bio-availability than plant foods to the human body. Rather than preaching against consumption of animal foods, we should lobby for a return to traditional, organic forms of pastoral farming.
Reverend, I hope this email would cause you to review and re-think some of your teachings.
I have attached an excellent article on the Myths of Vegetarianism by Dr Stephen Byrnes for your further reference.
I'll leave you a passage from 1 Timothy 4:1-6:
Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. If you instruct the brethren in these things, you will be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of the good doctrine which you have carefully followed.
Warmest regards,
James Ong
SingaporeClick here for Part Two of this excellent series.
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