Extreme
Heartbreak: Ramblings From a Compassionate Heart - A Mary T. Hoffman Commentary from All-Creatures.org

A series of commentaries by Mary T. Hoffman about: humans and animals and the cruelty inflicted upon them; prayer and grace, and the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives; and the problems that plague our lives in this corrupted world.

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Extreme
By Mary T. Hoffman

Have you noticed how popular the word "extreme" has become in recent years? 

When used in a positive sense, "extreme" adds glamour and excitement, as in "extreme" skiing or snowboarding.

However, the word "extreme" is also thrown around in an irresponsible fashion to denigrate, as in "extreme" vegetarian diet.

As you can see from the examples above, the use of the adjective "extreme" in describing something is relative to the speakers' prejudices.

Do you know what I think is "extreme" in a negative sense?   "Extreme" is undergoing coronary bypass surgery.   "Extreme" is suffering strokes.  "Extreme" is being diagnosed with cancer.  "Extreme" is refusing to change to a vegan way of eating when you know that it may help you to avoid unnecessary pain, disability, and expense. (Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. James 4:17 KJV)

And what can be more "extreme" than eating a dismembered, dead body (meat) in the belief that this "extreme" practice can benefit your health?  And in case you think that this idea is some newfangled notion, a ninety-six year old  immigrant told me that in the "old country" people used to say, "Put vegetables (any non animal-derived product) and meat out in the sun, and see what happens."  The meat would rot, stink, and become maggot infested, but not the vegetables.  This was a simple, direct way of proving a point.

For further spiritual instruction concerning our health, 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 reminds us:

16    Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

17    If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. (KJV)

And 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 further elucidates:

19    What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

20    For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. (KJV)

Placed in the context of this discussion, these Bible verses would not be considered "extreme", because they are inspired by God.  Thus, what we take into our bodies in the form of "extreme" food may be the fulfillment of a prophetic message (See 1 Corinthians 3:17, above).  I am not saying that God is deliberately destroying our bodies, but that the way He created us to eat a plant-based diet is being defiled by our eating of flesh, resulting in many of our illnesses and untimely death:

Genesis 1:29-30

29    Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.

30    And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground-- everything that has the breath of life in it-- I give every green plant for food." And it was so. (NIV)

From my vegan  heart,

Mary

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Watercolor Painting by Mary T. Hoffman