We hate SuperVegan and we hate the post Where to Eat Vegan for Thanksgiving 2009 in New York City.

1. WE HATE that you needed to write an entire post advising people where to eat vegans in New York city, because that’s cannibalism, and that’s not vegan. Furthermore, that post should be on SuperC.H.U.D.

SuperVegan's superpowers include: fighting the tide, corralling glaciers, calling gravity unethical,

2. WE HATE your first sentence. “Thanksgiving is a devastating time of year for vegans.” No it’s not. It’s vegans’ favorite time of year, because it’s the only time that social customs force the rest of us to put up with your tired animal rights rants during an entire meal.

3. WE HATE your “Gentle Thanksgiving” recipe guide with a menu suggestion from Alicia Silverstone. Actually, we hate that Alicia Silverstone is your go-to celebrity. Every vegan we’ve ever met cites Alicia Silverstone as a vegan. Is that all you’ve got?

But, we will give Alicia Silverstone credit. She’s such a vegan, she’s refused to be in movies that contain any animals, depictions of animals, or mentions of animals. To be on the safe side, she’s refused to be in any movies.

4. WE HATE tofurky. If you don’t want it, don’t want it.

He buys his tofu in the pop-up section.

Here are some other ideas for people to want when they can’t want what they want:

• For Jews: Kosher Krabs
• For virgins: Dildon’ts
• For clowns: Statutory Adults
• For vegans: Friends who Still Want to Hear Your Sermon

5. WE HATE your name dropping. You tell vegans to go to Farm Sanctuary, and get the chance to “hang out with Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, Peter Max and Ally Sheedy” (O Alicia, where art thou?). Vegans didn’t become vegans because celebrities became vegans. Vegans became vegans because they have weak teeth. It’s true.

A scientific study produced by a major university revealed that all vegans were born with weak enamel. This causes meat fibers to, in effect, tickle their teeth. We could go further into the study’s findings, but we’ll just cut straight to the conclusion: vegans can’t handle meat. They aren’t tough enough.

Here’s the take-home: vegans are born vegans. That’s why we have no problem with vegan marriage. Remember, we hate your blog, not your lifestyle.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

Thanksgiving Table Photographer: Tallented, but unknown

Thanksgiving is, perhaps, my favorite holiday.  There is just something warmly special about family gathered around big tables, tasty stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, and of course a huge, golden-brown, steaming Turkey.  Add to that Pecan and Pumpkin pie, Grandpa telling stories, and Uncle James leaning back in his chair and unbuckling his belt in order to take in even more food.  Yep, I love Thanksgiving.

This year, however, I have read countless articles by people calling for a “Turkey-less” holiday.  They don’t want people to eat Turkey, claiming the Turkeys were inhumanely raised and killed.  These veganites would rather we sit around a table filled with soybeans and soybean by-products.  The interesting thing is the choice of eating meat or not eating meat is becoming a political issue instead of a personal choice.  Next thing we know, the politicians in Washington will be debating and trying to pass an anti-Turkey bill.

This Thanksgiving I am going to help devour a 20 lb., juicy Turkey.  I am going to look around the table with love and pride at  my family eating their fair share of Turkey.  At some point before I finish eating, I’m going to chuckle at the thought that the politically correct protectors of Turkeys are sucking on soybeans.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  May your day be filled with love and compassion.

Why can’t you just take a normal vitamin or supplement, you ask? Well, Real Food Organics claims that those typical pills tend to contain dangerous synthetic materials, and they came up with nutritional supplements derived from organic fruits and veggies.

In addition, the company has pledged to be green: the vitamins are packaged in a glass bottle within a biodegradable box, which is made from mineral powder. And its paper marketing materials are made from food by-products.

And groups like the Organic Consumers’ Association are touting organic vitamins, and even launched a campaign, NutriCon, to get the word out that Big Pharma is giving people unhealthy supplements.
It’s great to see an organic vitamin company, especially one that uses green packaging. But is this just another way to get us to buy something we don’t need? The Center for Disease Control says that, on average, we consume fewer than four servings of fruits and veggies a day, instead of the recommended six to ten.

But we’ve all heard that excess Vitamin C just gets flushed out of our body, and taking too much of certain vitamins, like Vitamin E or iron, can be bad for us. For vegetarians or vegans, like myself, a vitamin is an important part of our daily regimen. But what about people who are getting a decent amount of iron, B12, folate, and the like? Will they really benefit from a supplement? Or are they simply wasting their money on these products, organic or not?

Awhile back I wrote a little article (and podcast to accompany) on some favorite granola bar choices here. Of all of these, you know I am a huge fan of Kashi, as I wrote in this spotlight here. But, there’s one that also has a special place in my favorites list, and that is Lärabar.

Lärabars are a tasty and nutritious bar with a cool history, too. The founder of the company, Lara Merriken, created this grassroots company based on her idea of natural, healthy but widely-enjoyable simple raw foods that would help her and others get the sustained energy they need. Enough of me talking, here’s a video about the story of the self-made phenomenon that is Lärabar. The video gives the basic gist about the product, too. Check out their site and history page here for more.

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To show my love of their product (and because I was bored and love graphic design), I made this little collage of Lärabars. Enjoy.

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If I said these things, I’d be a liar:

1. It hurts when I eat. So I don’t.

2. My inability to cook brings all the boys to the yard. And they’re like, it’s better than yours. I can teach you, but i’d have to charge.

3. My cat and I; we have the best conversations.

4. After 7 years and you  still don’t know what you want?  That’s totally cool. Take your time. I’ll just be waiting here listening to my ovaries cry.

5. Vegans are good people.

6. My skinny jeans just aren’t skinny enough.

7. I wish everyone would stop being so jealous of my tan.

8. Thank you Mr. David Sedaris. It is a pleasure to be your favorite writer.

9. No, my co-worker’s breath does NOT smell like regurgitated Easy Mac.

10. I love duck hunting. There is nothing better.

11. Your dreadlocks smell delicious Mr. white hippie man.

12. Why yes, I would love to sit here and listen as you explain to me why the WNBA sucks and why women just shouldn’t play sports or show their faces in public.

13. NO, I have never told a woman that she has a face like she was born in a bar.

MIDWEST SIDE! Can’t get enough of this gangsta sh$#.

1) Copy this list into your blog, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out or italicize any items that you would never consider eating.

1. Molasses

2. Cactus

3. Scrambled Tofu

4. Grilled Portobella Caps

5. Horseradish

6. Sweet Potato Biscuits

7. Cornbread

8. Vegan Cole Slaw

9. Carrot/Squash/Sweet Potato Soup

10. Fiddlehead Ferns

11. Roasted Garlic

12. Umeboshi

13. Almond Butter

14. Aloe Vera

15. Fresh Bagels

16. Butternut Squash

17. Truffles/truffle oil

18. Fruit wine made with something other than grapes

19. Wasabi

20. Coconut Milk Ice Cream

21. Heirloom tomatoes

22. Apple cider

23. Mango

24. Quinoa

25. Papaya

26. Raw Scotch Bonnet

27. Goji Berry

28. Fennel

29. Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie

30. Radishes

31. Starfruit

32. Sourdough bread

33. Sangria

34. Sauerkraut

35. Acai

36. Blue Foot Mushrooms

37. Vegan Cupcakes

38. Tempeh

39. Falafel

40. Spelt Crust Pizza

41. Oyster Mushrooms

42. Jicama Slaw

43. Edamame

44. Hemp seeds/milk

45. Champagne

46. Persimmon

47. Avocado

48. Tofu Pesto Sandwich

49. Vegetable juice

50. Seitan

51. Prickly pear

52. Almond Milk

53. Concord Grapes

54. Ramps

55. Coconut Water

56. Arugula

57. Vidalia Onion

58. Kale/Collards/Swiss Chard

59. Honeycrisp Apple

60. Taro Root

61. Vegan Smores

62. Grapeseed Oil

63. White Peach

64. Pita bread with hummus

65. Chestnut

66. Guava

67. Vegan Oatmeal Cookies

68. Vegan marshmallows

69. Plantains

70. Mache

71. Beets

72. Pickles

73. Liquid Smoke

74. Meyer Lemon

75. Veggie Paella

76. Vegan Lasagna

77. Kombucha

78. Soy Milk

79. Loose tea

80. Lychee fruit

81. Tempeh Bacon

82. Sprouted Grain Bread

83. Lemon Pepper Tofu

84. Vanilla Bean

85. Watercress

86. Carrots

87. Vegan Pie

88. Edible Flowers – at Sonya’s Garden

89. Corn Chowder

90. Vegan (raw) chocolate

91. Yellow Kiwi

92. White Flesh Grapefruit

93. Harissa

94. Coconut Oil

95. Jackfruit

96. Risotto

97. Spirulina

98. Tangerine

99. Sorbet

100. Fresh Peas

Gulay Girl♥

I have (somewhat) recently reconnected with a very close friend from highschool.  In fact we dated… well as much as two kids in the ninth grade could date in 1970-71.   As we began to catch-up via Facebook, emails and phone I became quite surprised at where life has taken her.

The Readers Digest version is that her passion is being an Animal Rights Activist (ARA).  She is also a vegan.  I’ve never know an ARA before and to be honest my thoughts about “those people” have been pretty negative.  After all my total knowledge of ARAs and their intentions consisted of sound-bites and the typical things you see in news reports.  Of course, if you think about it, news organizations usually try to find the nuttiest person in any given group and portray them as the norm of that group.

I have had occasion to interact (via the internet) with some of her co-hearts and pretty much without exception they have been pretty hard-core, rude and vile.  Their interactions  with me left me with the feeling, “wow, if you want someone to see your point of view you sure need to change the way you approach us “non-believers.”"  Honestly, if it were not for the relationship I have with my friend and the way she has approached me with this issue I would not even consider changing my views much less consider at least considering changing my diet to exclude eating things with a face.  I have cut back on my meat intake and am still trying to muster the courage and planning skills to institute a ‘NO MEAT MONDAYS” in our home.

I do know that there are some companies who treat their animals as just a means to putting more money in their bank accounts.  I do know that some animals are ill-treated and abused.  But I must admit that I still think that while animals should NOT be abused it’s still okay to eat meat.

Then there is the other side to the Animal Rights movement.  Pet stores that use puppy mills.  I just can’t stand that.  Heck, if there were a protest here I would even consider going out to show support or even join in the protest.  However, my life is such that I wouldn’t make the time it would take to organize and lead such a protest.

I’m certain at this point that I haven’t adequately stated the case for my Animal Rights Activist friend.  That was not the intent of this Blog post.  I just wanted to get you thinking and ask a few basic questions.
So here’s my question.  What are your thoughts and feelings toward Animal Rights Activists?  Do you eat meat?   Do you wear leather products, etc.?  Would you be willing to at least consider adopting a lifestyle of at least one day a week with no meat in your diet?

No, I don’t mind vegans.  So they choose to make a stand by not eating, smelling, touching or even pondering anything that comes from, is vaguely shaped like, or has once been looked upon by an animal.  If this makes the world a better place (while inflating their egos and creating a false sense of self-righteous superiority), good for them!

The moral arguments abound in favour of this entirely noble cause.  Sustainability, health (I question this, but I’ll let it go for now), and the downright fuzzy wuzzyness of adorable little piglets with their little tocks and adorably kissable snouts.

Hell, if anyone has any reason to be a vegan, it’s me.  I’m the guy whose father came home one fateful Sunday when I was 12 yrs old from a less than successful fishing trip saying, “Son, come outside.  I have something for you.”  (Please imagine this said in a very heavy Russian and Middle Eastern accent, it will make it more palatable.)  What was this present, you ask?  Well, you can imagine my shock when I eagerly skipped outside only to have my Borat of a father pop the trunk of his 1998 Camry, revealing a live sheep (lamb?) bound at the feet, bleating lamely because it had been stuffed into an area the size of a coffin.   “Wha… What… the fuck, dad?” was my natural reaction, not unreasonable considering the circumstances – the circumstances being that my father had just stuffed a rather sizable live animal into his family-sized sedan on a whim on the way home from a fishing trip after seeing a sign on the side of the road that said “LIVESTOCK FOR SALE.”  I am imagining the conversation that likely occurred at the site of the purchase.  I will hereby refer to my father as Borat, to help you paint a more accurate mental image:

Borat: “Hello.  You have lamb?”

Sheep farmer: “Sure, how many are you looking for?”

Borat: “One.  If he taste good, I come get another.  I want maybe 100-150 lbs.  Fat, but fit into my car.”

At this point, I’m sure the farmer weighed the pros and cons of selling livestock to a crazed foreigner who may or may not have been planning on killing the animal and smearing its blood on the doorways of his friends and family.  The point here is that he not only sold it to him, but bound its legs and tossed it into the trunk next to my soccer shoes (those were promptly burned).  I guess it had been a rough year at the ol’ Hwy 9 sheep farm.

“Watch your fucking mouth, and help me carry him to shed.”  My father may have been a lot of things: slayer of animals, impatient and angry Mathematics professor, god of giant backyard bonfires  (making him infamous with the local fire department), and mushroom expert and peddler, but he’d be damned if he’d let me grow up with a potty mouth.

I feel a little context is in order here.  The setting: the front driveway of my urban North York (Toronto) home. Tiger lilies, lilies of the valley, tulips, roses were blossoming in the spring warmth.  My dog sat lazily tied to a long red leash, lapping at the bucket of water on our front lawn.  Monarch butterflies circled playfully around the huge Maple tree, red currents bushes were starting to flower with promise of a good yield.  It was a thoroughly charming day in Toronto, except, of course, for the imminent slaughter of an animal.

Neighbours gaped (as well they should have) as my father and me, a skinny and awkward youth, laboured to carry this reeking animal to the backyard and hung it up in the empty extra shed.  At that point, Borat pulled out a huge bone-handled hunting knife and said, “Cut its neck.”  All I could see was the gaping mouth of the sheep and its frightened eyes staring directly at me.  There was nothing I could do but squint and slice.  I shall spare you the details, kind reader, but rest assured that it was bloody.  My mother, the kind meek woman that she is, recoiled in horror and ran inside to rid herself of her lunch.

The crazy part?  When it was all done, my father started a huge fire by burning down three quarters of a birch forest and cooked the damn thing.  On the spot.  Right there.  All of it.  And even crazier was when all his brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces (my uncles, aunts, and cousins) magically materialized to join in the barbaric ritualistic feasting of this poor creature.  Of course, much vodka and whiskey was also consumed.  It was like a real-life re-enactment of My Big Fat Greek Wedding, except before the movie even came out.  I can (proudly?) say that my father killed and cooked a whole live animal before it was made popular by Hollywood.  Hurrah!

So, clearly, if anyone has reason to never touch animal products ever ever, it’s me.  And yet, I love the delicious meaty texture of undercooked meat and the fatty gristle that sticks to the top of your mouth as you chew carnivorously.  Of course, having endured the above experience (and even though I came out still eating meat), I understand completely the desire to avoid that particular food group.

However, I do not appreciate it when the preachy vegans – usually working in couples, and the girl is usually very attractive – approach me unsolicited (or subtly egged on, I fail to recognize the difference) and begin explaining to me the horrors endured by animals before they are killed and the morality of eating meat.  First of all, very few people can claim to have actually killed an animal and I am one of these people. The confrontational side of me simply cannot resist boasting of this fact to these poor dogmatic followers of Vagenism.  I usually bring up the following points:

1. It’s okay for other animals to kill animals (and devour them much more messily than we do, mind you) but not for us?   What are we if not animals ourselves?  In this way Veganism substantiates religion because it claims that humans are somehow “different,” morally aware or what not.
2. INCISORS!  Om nom nom tear.
3. Humans need protein, and I’ll be damned if I subsist on soybeans, algae, and setan.
4. It’s delicious.  My body wouldn’t tell me it’s delicious unless my body wanted me to eat it.  QED.
5. Paul McCartney be damned!  The Great Canadian Seal Hunt helps keep seal populations in check.  Break out your seal clubs, friends.

So next time, vegan, you see a bearded (or moustached, depending on the mood) Canadian man sauntering down the street of San Francisco, be wary.  Don’t approach me and spout your leaf-eating gospel, because I’ve seen and done things, man.  Things you’ve only ever seen in documentaries.

RAWR.

I was listening to the radio today and I hear this guy saying we should kill all the elephants and hippos and I’m thinking what. Then I realize it’s Rush Limbaugh and he’s probably being facetious. But I listen in anyway after the break and he’s trying to make a point about the global warming lie.

His point was that the vegans are on a tear again about cow farts and such and Limbaugh’s point was two-fold. First was, don’t the vegans eat a lot of beans for their protien? And wouldn’t that make them fart a lot? And second, if farts are causing global warming shouldn’t we kill all the elephants and hippos as well as the cattle, shouldn’t we just kill all farting animals?

Then he went on with some sound bite from someone he called “Swifty” who sounded like the pompous ass on “South Park”. Turned out to be John Kerry, or as I like to call him Lurch. Anyway Lurch was on a roll about some twisted crap that I couldn’t even believe and he’s saying it in this pompous ass tone and it occurs to me.

Earlier I was listening to something Bawney Fwank was spewing and then Chairman Zero talking about the war like it was a scorecard between him and Bush. And it all made sense. This is what you get when you are not Godly. When you don’t believe in the “nice little fairy tale”, as they like to call it.

God created this planet to function exactly as it is and they actually think they are better than all that and they can “make a difference” with all their BS because they are heathens. They just don’t get it, and they probably won’t until they are burning in hell. Somebody once said, I think it was Franklin or one of his buddies, “All that is needed for evil to suceed is for good men to do nothing.” I think we’ve been doing nothing for quite some time. Just vote them out.

It’s midday, dark, pissing down with rain, and I’m supposed to be finishing my PhD application. There’s water seeping through the walls and on the living room floor because the landlord has ignored three years of requests for the useless guttering to be replaced. So much for protecting your investment. But they have just put the rent up again.

Man Friend is at uni (hopefully) finishing an assigment for his Masters. My best friend and her partner are packing up their house to leave Sydney in two days. We’ll grab a couple of pizzas for them tonight, and then there will 400km between us.

As I said, I’m meant to be PhD-ing, which is why I just read Sam de Brito’s column in today’s Sun Herald. (Hendo, this one’s for you.) Sam’s topic is “why veganism is against nature”. His arguments are so obvious that I’m not sure he even believes them himself. Maybe he was having a bad writing day?

Is there anything more tedious than a vegan?

I dunno Sam, what about a tired cliche? That’s pretty tedious.

Vegans, especially the militant, preachy ones, tell us eating meat is barbaric and unncessary, yet they wouldn’t have a mind complex enough to conceive of the term “barbarism” or be able to spell the word “unnecessary” if it wasn’t for the increased brain-size meat provided for our distant ancestors.

Oh, yawn. C’mon Sam, it’s like you’re not even trying anymore. Why not just say “if we weren’t meant to eat animals, then why are they made of meat”?

Vegansaurus has the scoop on how Mission Mission’s constructive criticism was received.

Previously on Mission Mission:

• Mission Vegans Need to Learn How to Market Themselves

Thanks to everyone who answered the poll on what this site should provide to the Ithaca vegan community. The highest-rated site features people would like are:

• Timely event listings for local potlucks, social gatherings, and events 16%
• Profiles of local vegans and vegan organizations 16%
• A place where I can post stuff too – I want to be an author! 16%
• Vegan recipes 16%

So, by popular demand, let’s get some more voices in here! Does anyone want to be an author, or know someone who would like to write for this site? Please check out our call for authors.

Sylvester Johnson is the author of a free video slideshow about health and healing, and he’s a real mover and shaker in the Ithaca vegan community. Come help celebrate his 60th birthday on October 17th, and enjoy some live music, delicious vegan food, and the company of many local vegan groups.

Please join Club Veg, Ithaca Vegan Circle, Ithaca Vegans, Vegan Meetup, and Ithaca Vegan Parents to eat and dance to live music performed by the semi-acoustic band Radio London on October 17th 2009 from 6:30 PM at the Women’s Community Building, 100 West Seneca Street Ithaca NY (map).

Come tell Sylvester he’s 60 (preferably in song) on his actual birthday October 17th. Help him enter his sensational sixties!

Your presence will be your present (no other presents, please). Sylvester will provide dinner (his signature lentil stew, and yams, chips, hummus, salsa, and Food for the Planet’s tofu cheese cake as well as cider, and BYOB), so no need to bring food unless you are so inspired. If you are so inspired your variety will be quite welcome, with the guideline being any plant-sourced foods, for this occasion please withholding animal-based such as honey, eggs, butter, cheese, and flesh.

If you can, bring a plate and utensils. However, please come even without them, because disposable utensils and plates will be readily available.

An RSVP to Contactsj@mac.com would be welcome.

Hope to see you soon, and that you’re having a great day! Best regards,
Sylvester Johnson

I like meat. Correction: I love meat. To me, meat comes second only to…well, you know. Sex.

I’ve wanted to talk about this subject for some time now, so to all my vegetarian buddies who think meat is so yucky for you…please listen up.

The truth? It’s the carcinogens from the preparing of meat that is a danger. You know…the frying, the grilling, the smoking. (personal digestive issues excused).

Now I’m certainly not advocating eating raw meat by any means ( my grilled Thai chicken will make you slap someone). But, ever hear of a lion, tiger or a wolf with heart disease or diabetes? Didn’t think so.

If you’ve sworn off meat for medical or biological reasons….different ballgame and no slight to you. But Vegans who swear off meat just because “it’s bad for you” or you think all cute furry animals shouldn’t be eaten, rest assured there is no plate for you at my BBQ.

Vegans are also soft. Mmhmm, that’s right. Soft. Step up and prove me wrong and I’ll show you a vegan whose been lying to his friends and deepthroating hardees thickburgers or mega dosing a ton of protein supplements.

Simply put, not getting enough protein will cause the body to break down muscle to compensate for the lack of protein in your diet. This is known as a catabolic state. Bodybuilders hate it. Vegans revel in it. Hence the “softness”.

The RDA(recommended daily allowance) for protein is 50 grams. Really? Seriously? I average 1.5 grams times my lean body weight divided by six meals to get roughly 45-50 grams of protein a meal.

The FDA and their cookie cutter RDA’s are solely responsible for the 80% obesity rate in this country. Who needs that many carbs on a daily basis anyways? Oh yeah, wanna know why sodium and cholesterol aren’t on any RDA food chart? Because then food companies would have to clean up their act and stop serving you garbage. They pay their lobbyist waaay too much money to grease the wheels of the FDA for that.

The RDA is a joke.  “Know thy self”, don’t rely on someone telling you how to eat. Discipline yourself.  No one’s going to do it for you.

“You are what you eat” has never been a truer statement.  Did I really say Vegans were soft?

Why yes I did…

Want to know who shares our lifestyle? Watch this video about famous vegans and Vegetarians on my Tumblr.

Part 2 – Moral Authority

As I’ve done in previous blogs, in Part 1 of this topic I purposely tried to limit my arguments to finite human reasoning, to illustrate again the limits of finite human reasoning.  In any moral argument we humans tend to appeal to either popular consensus, some supposedly “natural” law, or a transcendent authority, such as God.  When you imply moral standards you journey to the very limits of human reason and stretch beyond into faith, whether it be a faith in God, in your fellow man, or even only in yourself.

I’m not smart enough to rest securely on moral arguments of my own making.  I’m imaginative enough to invent my own religion, but I would fear, always holding skepticism in my own ability to arrive at universal truth.

The God of the Bible astonishes me with the security that only ultimate authority can bring.  Even in preparing to write on this subject, I already had an inkling of what God had to say on the subject, but I didn’t know he had given words to a prophet centuries ago about this very era.  The more I read his words in his exclusive written communication to man, the more overwhelmed I become.  ”Relevance” is a gross understatement regarding the Bible.  Never was anything more critical to man ever written.

There are hundreds of references (maybe thousands?) to animals all throughout the Bible.  Below are some highlights from the NIV along with some observations I’ve made, and I clearly marked those with “I observe” because my observations of Scripture are hardly as authoritative as the Bible itself:

Genesis 1

²⁴ And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. ²⁵ God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth,  and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

I observe: man is made in the image of God, we are very special to God.  He gives us the privilege of stewardship over the whole earth.

Leviticus 16:11

“Aaron shall bring the bull for his own sin offering to make atonement for himself and his household, and he is to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering.”

I observe: Aaron sins, yet God wants the bull slaughtered to save Aaron.

Luke 8

²⁸When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!” ²⁹For Jesus had commanded the evil^[a] spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.

³⁰Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him. ³¹And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.

³²A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into them, and he gave them permission. ³³When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned.

I observe: Jesus is more concerned with one demon-possessed man than a whole herd of pigs.

Mark 7

¹⁸“Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’? ¹⁹For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods “clean.”)

I observe: Jesus has no condemnation for what a man eats, but is far more concerned about what comes out of his heart.

John 21

¹²Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. ¹³Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. ¹⁴This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

I observe: Jesus ate fish and encouraged the disciples to as well.

Mark 14

¹²On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?”

¹³So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. ¹⁴Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ ¹⁵He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”

I observe: Jesus probably ate lamb.

1 Corinthians 10

²⁵Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, ²⁶for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”

Acts 10

¹³Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

¹⁴“Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”

¹⁵The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.”

I observe: It is permissible to kill something in order to eat it.

Romans 14

²One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.³The 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.

I observe: Vegetarians can be Christian brothers.

1 Timothy 4

¹The 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, ⁵because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

I observe: The “later times” spoken of in many places throughout prophetic scripture will see a day when some are deceived and forbid others not to eat things God created to be food.