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By Sven Johansson - 25 Oct 2013

My name is Sven Johansson and I live in Sweden. I am both vegetarian and Christian and I am glad that there are people like Frank and Mary Hoffman, Andrew Linzey and others.

If my English is incorrect it depends mostly on the fact that it is not my native language.

I sometimes feel rather lonely working both for promoting the Christian message and for a more vegetarian world. It is not a very common position if we look at Christianity at large, at animal-rights groups and at society at large. In our society most people are neither Christian, if we use biblical terms, nor vegetarian, and a great challenge is: How, as a vegetarian Christian, can I help to attract people to Christ without scaring them off from the gospel by being an active vegetarian and how can I attract people to a more vegetarian lifestyle without scaring them off by openly being Christian?

It seams clear that I have no biblical reason to say that you have to be vegetarian to take benefit from the salvation by Christ, but at the same time I think vegetarianism can decrease the suffering in the world among both humans and animals.

To make things even more complicated my heart is also much disturbed by the many abortions carried out in the western world today. I think God loves creatures of all kinds and also unborn individuals. The challenge becomes even greater with 3 main-fields to combine.

How can I effectively take part in work for decreasing abortions without scaring people off by being both Christian and vegetarian?

How can I promote vegetarianism and not scare people off by beíng ethically very critical to most abortions and also by being Christian?

How can I promote that people get to know Christ without scaring them of with my thoughts on diet and on abortions?

I see everything as connected. Everything I think is connected to God's love for creatures of all kinds, born and unborn, human and animal. Amen!

From Sven Johansson in Sweden

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