The popular red meat!
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Image #1
Very many animals are sold for the city market known to be diseased by those who have sold them, and those who buy them are not always ignorant of the matter. Especially in larger cities this is practiced to a great extent, and meat eaters know not that they are eating diseased animals.[1]
Believe it or not, this practice is going on right now in our day too!!
They knew about it back then, and look at the warning given to us today.
When will those who know the truth take their stand on the side of right principles for time and for eternity? When will they be true to the principles of health reform? When will they learn that it is dangerous to use flesh meat? I am instructed to say that if ever meat eating were safe, it is not safe now.[2]
Image #2
What would prompt them to say something like that about eating meat?
Those who subsist largely upon meat cannot avoid sometimes eating flesh which is more or less diseased. In many cases the process of fitting animals for market produces an unhealthy condition. Shut away from light and pure air, inhaling the atmosphere of filthy stables, the entire body soon becomes contaminated with foul matter; and when such flesh is received into the human body it corrupts the blood, and disease is produced….[3]
But few can be made to believe that it is the meat they have eaten which has poisoned their blood and caused their suffering. Many die of diseases wholly due to meat eating, when the real cause is scarcely suspected by themselves or others. Some do not immediately feel its effects, but this is no evidence that it does not hurt them. It may be doing its work surely upon the system, yet for the time being the victim may realize nothing of it.[3]
The chart above presents the correlation between meat and cancer, by classifying the meat in groups as determined by the evidence through the latest research. As you can see Group 1 is the most cancerous and is labeled “causes cancer” because there has been an established relationship with sufficient evidence to be carcinogenic in humans. Group 2A is labeled as “probably causes cancer” because there is only limited documented evidence in humans but sufficient evidence in animals. Group 2B is labeled as “possibly causes cancer” because there is limited evidence in humans and insufficient evidence in animals. Group 3 is labeled as “not classifiable” because there is inadequate evidence in both humans and animals. Group 4 is labeled as “probably not cancerous” because the evidence suggests that there is no carcinogenicity in humans or animals.
Lev 3 (v. 17) This shall be a perpetual [everlasting] statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you shall eat neither fat nor blood.
For years people thought this command forbidding the eating of fat and blood was merely a ceremonial restriction. Modern research confirms the wisdom of God's command. We now know that blood carries impurities, germs, viruses, and wastes of the body. Many diseases are passed on through the blood. We also know that highly saturated fats as found in meats and dairy products cause a rise in the cholesterol level of the blood; an important factor in vascular and heart diseases. Cholesterol is not found in grains, fruits, nuts and vegetables; only in animal products. The importance of caring for our bodies can only be understood when we know what God has said in the Bible.[4]
Is there anything else that we should know about eating meat?
We do not mark out any precise line to be followed in diet. There are many kinds of wholesome food. But we do say that flesh meat is not the right food for God's people. It animalizes human beings. In a country such as this, where there are fruits, grains, and nuts in abundance, how can one think that he must eat the flesh of dead animals?[5]
Image #3
What does animalize the human being mean?
A meat diet changes the disposition and strengthens animalism.…When the animal part of the human agent is strengthened by meat eating, the intellectual powers diminish proportionately. A religious life can be more successfully gained and maintained if meat is discarded, for this diet stimulates into intense activity lustful propensities, and enfeebles the moral and spiritual nature.…This stimulates the lower passions of the human organism.[6]
I Pet 2 (v. 11) ....abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul....
I learned something else from experience too. Since I sold prime beef, I decided I should use my own products. Soon I was eating New York steak for breakfast, T-bone steak for lunch, and fillet mignon for dinner. But then I noticed that I felt run-down all the time, with no energy. My behavior began to change too. At night I would sit and watch TV and eat a quart of ice cream by myself....I felt my spiritual life being numbed, and I had less inclination to resist temptation. My cave-man diet of rice, beans, bread, and fruit had given me a feeling of strength and vigor. For the first time I realized what an impact diet had on my physical, spiritual, and moral well-being.[7]
What are some other effects of animalization of the human nature?
I was instructed that the use of flesh meat has a tendency to animalize the nature, and to rob men and women of the love and sympathy which they should feel for everyone. We are built up from that which we eat, and those whose diet is largely composed of animal food are brought into a condition where they allow the lower passions to assume control of the higher powers of the being . . . .[8]
Image #4
Do we experience alot of love and sympathy from people today?
Flesh food is injurious to health, and whatever affects the body, has a corresponding effect on the mind and the soul. Think of the cruelty to animals that meat eating involves, and its effect on those who inflict and those who behold it. How it destroys the tenderness with which we should regard these creatures of God![9]
Will there be any killing of animals for food in the kingdom of God?
Rev 21 (v. 4) And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death....and there shall be no more pain....
Do we bring glory to God by our present diet?
I Cor 10 (v. 31) Therefore, whether you eat or drink....do all to the glory of God.
Those who claim to believe the truth are to guard carefully the powers of body and mind, so that God and His cause will not be in any way dishonored by their words or actions.…We are to give careful attention to our diet. It has been clearly presented to me that God's people are to take a firm stand against meat eating.[10]
Would God for thirty years give His people the message that if they desire to have pure blood and clear minds, they must give up the use of flesh meat, if He did not want them to heed this message? By the use of flesh meats the animal nature is strengthened and the spiritual nature weakened.[10]
References:
1. Counsels on Diet and Foods, p.386, par.1
2. E.G. White, Manuscript #133, (1902).
3. Counsels on Health, p.115, par.2
4. Mark Finley, (1995). Beyond Orion’s Gates, p.187, Hart Research Center.
5. Counsels on Diet and Foods, p.390, par.2
6. Counsels on Diet and Foods, p.389, par.5,4
7. Doug Batchelor, (1991). The Richest Caveman, p.93-94, Mountain Ministry.
8. Counsels on Diet and Foods, p.390, par.1
9. The Ministry of Healing, p.315, par.2
10. Counsels on Diet and Foods, p.383, par.1
Image #1: Public Domain Image, (n.d.). US Beef Cuts. Retrieved from https://halfrdhalfhuman.com/tag/national-beef-steak-month/
Image #2: Cancer Research UK, (n.d.). Does Meat Cause Cancer. Retrieved from https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/
Image #3: SpiderPic, (2013). Eating raw meat. Retrieved from http://www.spiderpic.com/search/eating-raw
Image #4: Play, Sympathy, Empathy, Compassion, (2017). Engagement. Retrieved from https://culamdiblog.wordpress.com/2017/06/22/phan-biet-empathy-va-sympathy/
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