Biblical Nutrition: The Bible Supports Foods from Both Plant & Animal Kingdoms
Part 2 (Click here for Part 3)

by James Ong
Singapore

Dear Reverend,

After reading your Health Tip: Biblical Nutrition (Part 3), it amazes me that you continue to advocate so strongly a 100% pure vegan, raw diet by putting forth rather weak arguments while at the same time ignoring Biblical truths. Your statement that biblical nutrition begins and ends with Genesis 1:29 is simply without basis and is a gross distortion of Biblical truth. So here's my rebuttal:

1. Man possesses four canine teeth out of a total of thirty-two teeth. If man were to be a pure vegetarian, God would not have placed any canine teeth in us. Four out of thirty-two is 12.5%. Hence, it may be argued that the inclusion of 10%-15% meat products to our diet is supported by our God-given physiology.
   
   
2. Milk, cheese, butter, yogurt, eggs and fish (especially cooked) does not require sharp, canine teeth for mastication.
   
   
3. Although the strength of hydrochloric acid in man's stomach is much weaker than carnivorous animals, it nevertheless contains adequate amounts of hydrochloric acid to assist in the digestion of modest amounts of animal proteins. Herbivores like cows, sheep and goats do not have hydrochloric acid in their stomachs.
   
   
4. You like to use comparisons with animals and cite human instincts as arguments. Did you know that these same carnivorous animals started out as pure vegetarians before the Fall and will end up as pure vegetarians again during the Millennium? Young carnivorous animals have to learn how to hunt for prey from their parents. Likewise, for thousands of years, fathers have taught their children how to catch wild animals, fish, birds, etc.
   
   
5. If man eats a well-balanced meal with lots of high-fibre vegetables, legumes, seeds, grains and fruits, it is very unlikely that the meat he consumes with that meal would be stuck in the intestines and putrefy. The plant foods would also help to neutralize the acidity of animal foods.
   
   
6. There are carnivorous animals that feed on the flesh of all kinds of dead animals, whether these were herbivores or carnivores. These are the scavengers, e.g. hyenas, wild pigs, vultures, etc.
   
   
7. You quote experiments that were done 80 years ago. I wonder if the same kind of experiments have been repeated today. For instance, Pottenger's experiments with the cats have been proven to be flawed (see http://www.beyondveg.com website).

Reverend, the problem with the SAD and most modern diets is the over-consumption of meat, sugar, refined flour, etc, and under-consumption of fresh vegetables and fruits, whole grain products, etc. People who eat a balanced diet often do not suffer from health problems.

Consider the following Biblical evidences:

1. Many of the heroes of faith, the Godly men of the Bible, were shepherds and herdsmen, e.g. Abel, Job, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jacob's twelve sons, David, etc, and had very many livestock. Jacob's entire household were in the profession of animal husbandry. That is why they settled in Goshen for the Egyptians did not like keepers of animals. The chosen people of God must have eaten lots of dairy products and meat!

2. God said He would give the covenant people, Israel, the promised land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey. If milk is so bad, why would God have used it as an illustration of the abundance and blessedness of the promised land?

3. Three of Jesus' closest disciples were fishermen by profession. They must have eaten lots of fish!

4. Read Isaiah 55:1-2:

"Ho! Everyone who thirsts,
Come to the waters;
And you who have no money,
Come, buy and eat.
Yes, come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without price.
Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And let your soul delight itself in abundance.

According to the Holy Spirit, milk is good, it is bread for food and it satisfies. For this reason, it is used as a biblical illustration for the importance of feeding on God's instruction. Are you feeding on the whole counsel of God's Word, from Genesis to Revelation? Milk, per se, is not bad for health, it is what modern man has done to the milk.

5. Read Zechariah 14:16-21:

And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain. If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. In that day "HOLINESS TO THE LORD" shall be engraved on the bells of the horses. The pots in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the Lord of hosts. Everyone who sacrifices shall come and take them and cook in them. In that day there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts.

The above passage tells us that during the Millennium, all nations have to send envoys up to Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. Do you know how many animals (oxen, rams, sheep, etc) are slaughtered for sacrifices during this Feast? You can check out the book of Leviticus and Numbers for the details. That is beside the animals that are freely offered by the worshippers. What does the Scripture say? Refusal to participate in the Feast is punishable by plagues and drought. The meat of the sacrifices will be cooked in pots and thrown away, because it is unhealthy to eat meat? Of course not, the meat will be eaten by all who participate in the Feast.

Jesus said, "Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." Have you carefully considered the rest of the counsel of God?

I would rather obey God than man.

Click here to read the final part of this series.

Regards,

James P T Ong
Singapore