Letter from Christina Mason about Christians and Being Vegan - 10 Dec 2003
Letters From All-Creatures.org and The Mary T. and Frank L. Hoffman Family Foundation

Letter from Christina Mason about Christians and Being Vegan - 10 Dec 2003

Hello, my name is Christina Mason, and I just wanted to say that you are doing a great job for standing up for what you believe. I am 21 and have been vegetarian since I was 18, and vegan for the last 4 months or so, and I'm still alive and well!

People ask me, "Don't you need meat to live and be healthy?", and I say, "Obviously not!". That's is one of the most common comments I get, or the other most common is, "God created the animals for us to consume, so there's nothing wrong with that." This one is hard for me to combat since I am not a Christian, and in not sharing their views on certain issues am closed off even more from them in the conversation.

One of the things I wonder is how so many people can be pro-life and argue that the small clump of cells at conception is considered alive and has a right to live a full, healthy life, and then buy meat form a factory farm, or worse to be informed and turn a deaf ear to this similar issue.

I understand after a lifetime of eating meat it is hard for someone to think they've been partaking in something as cruel and vulgar as factory farming or vivisection. I know it was hard for me, but I couldn't forget the faces of those poor creatures.

I was raised Christian and went to a Christian school most of my life, and is it not one of the staples of this faith to accept the fact that you are a sinner and have and will commit sins, to repent, and to ask for forgiveness? Why is this one issue so hard to listen to and accept as wrong or a sin? Why can people think of living, breathing creatures as nothing more than a lump of flesh, and a small lump of flesh as a living, breathing creature? I'm sorry, I'll get off my soapbox.

Animal rights is a very important issue to me. If people were only aware of the activism going on and the cruelty rampant in the system, and the fact that it is all for profit and greed, and the alternatives that are so readily available, but only need more demand, and that for every factory farm job produced, three family farm jobs are lost, not to mention the environmental hazards and the general health hazards, etc. The list goes on and the facts are overwhelming, just unknown to most people.

I believe that one day the good will prevail over the bad, maybe not in my lifetime, but if it doesn't happen then mankind will ultimately perish and take the animals and fellow humans and the world down in torture, sadness and death.

Why is choosing a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle such a hard step when so much is on the line? How can people be so selfish? I'm glad your site is helping inform people of the truth, and hopefully when people know the truth, the selfishness will be replaced with compassion, like the compassion Jesus showed for all living creatures, animals and humans alike.

Thanks again and be well!

Yours in the struggle, Christina Mason

Reply from Frank L. Hoffman

Dear Christina:

Thank you very much for your letter and commitment to vegan living.

We're afraid we could write a book in order to answer all your questions, but let's begin by looking at the problem of God's will vs. human will.

Jesus told us to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect, and that we should pray for our Father's heavenly will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. We also know that there was no death in Eden and that there is no death in heaven, which is representative of God will.

All through human Biblical history, God granted concessions that people would soften their hearts and return to Him. You might want to read: http://www.all-creatures.org/sermons98/s17mar2002.html   which explains this a little more.

Most people don't want to live in the perfect love and will of God. They don't want to change their lifestyle, as you have done, so they resort to trying to justify their hardness of heart by blaming God and by belittling truly compassionate people.

If people are truly pro-life, they would be against war, capital punishment, the killing and eating of an animal, and the ending of life before birth.

We hope this helps.

In the Love of the Lord,

Frank

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