Ecclesiastes 3:19-21: A View of the Souls and Spirits of Humans and Animals
By William Morgan - 13 Apr 2011
To whom it may concern,
My name is William Morgan, I am a pastor and was doing some "recreational" studying ... just some easy going, light-hearted reading of many different articles on the internet,
I stumbled across your website through a link to one article (or link) titled "Archives of Systematic Vegetarian Theology - Eccl 3:19-21 A view of the souls and spirits of humans and animals - commentary by Michael Shaw"
I am not wanting to be argumentative by any means, I am just concerned that Mr. Shaw (and others) are all to eager to turn and twist (and ignore) God's words in order to make it agree with the point they wish to promote.
Case in point, in this particular commentary, Mr Shaw wishes to try and state that God expects us to be vegetarians because God made the same covenant with the animals that he made with us.... he tries to make his point by quoting Genesis 9:9 "Behold, I will establish my covenant with you and your descendents after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth that is with you, as many as came out of the ark" (and Mr Shaw conveniently did NOT give reference verse, possibly so that the readers would not notice verse 3 above it). Verse three states "Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything."
So, simply put, God may have intended for mankind vegetarian in the beginning, but after the flood it changed. If Mr. Shaw and others want to be a vegetarian, that's their choice and there is nothing wrong with that, BUT, there IS something wrong with misrepresenting God's word in order to deceive, that is very dangerous ground to tread upon.
Please, Please, Please ..... in ministry we are here to help shed light on God's word... not be deceitful in order to promote certain agendas.
Mr. Shaw, please give the truth of God's word as it is, and if you want to be a vegetarian, that's fine, you don't need to twist scripture to validate a simple choice you made.
Respectfully,
William Morgan