Ah, bumper stickers.

Driving in to work today, I saw a car with a number of bumper stickers that would indicate the driver was a vegetarian. You know, the "Be kind to animals, don't eat them" type.

But the bumper sticker that stood out to me was one that read: "If animals could talk, you wouldn't eat them."

I suppose that's right. Like if we lived in Narnia.

But we don't, and they can't.

If they were gifted with speech, with reason, with the ability to understand their origins and destiny -- if they bore the image of their Maker, they could be considered the moral equivalent of man, and we would be wrong to eat them.

By the way, the driver of that car also proudly displayed a bumper sticker that read: "A Pro-Choice Voter."

I wonder what position she would take on aborting baby rabbits.

Comments

[Benjamen R. Meyer]

It's an interesting thing...and please don't get me wrong - I eat meat myself. However, to note:

From Genesis 1:29-30 (http://tinyurl.com/6h2e3g) we can tell that all things at creation were vegetarian. (Kind of debunks evolution by itself right there!)

This doesn't change immediately after the fall. In fact, it doesn't change until after the flood in Genesis 9:1-4 (http://tinyurl.com/6x9cm9), whereby God gives us meat to eat, but at a cost - no more harmony with animals. (However, it could be argued that this was necessary as there likely wasn't enough vegetation at that time to continue as before.) Interestingly, God also decided to cut the average life span at the same time by a factor of 9 or 10 (from 900-1000 years maximum, to 120 years); a change which took a few generations to fully take root. A connection? Perhaps, but likely due to other issues too.

To get back to my point - there is nothing wrong with being a vegetarian, and we should not be harsh on them for doing so. It probably is healthier. But, those that choose to be vegetarians (and are Christians too!) must also realize that God gave man (and beast) the right to eat meat; and they should not be harsh on the meat eaters for it. It goes both ways - love (agape) thy neighbor.

Things haven't always been as they are now. But there is much wisdom and knowledge we can learn from God on High, if only we take the time to listen.

[Steve (SBK)]

Dave,
I think the inclusion of fantasy worlds when discussing these kinds of activists is fitting: it seems to be their main residence.

Re: the rabbits... more information is needed: is the daddy rabbit in the picture?

[Jason Taylor]

That bumper sticker does bring out one point though. Our civilization has not so much become more compassionate as more squeemish.
The routinized cruelty of former ages was done by people who saw violence as a mere part of life. How many today would be willing to eat meat they had had to kill themselves? A rural person of course but not many still live like that.
A modern Westerner is more likly to commit acts of violence he cannot see. Even the Nazis went out of their way to separate the victims from their persecutors. People like Eichman were of course bureaucrats. And even the Deaths-head SS(recruited and trained for the job), sometimes didn't have the stomach for it. In fact one of the purposes of the gas chambers was to separate the executioners from their victims.
This is beside the point and I am not saying that animals and Jews are the same thing. I am rather making a side point. That modern urban people are horrified, perhaps to an exagerrated degree by violence they can see or easily imagine. And quite callous toward what they cannot see or imagine.
Which state is worse? Good question. A little bit of squeemishness is a good thing. It protects people from doing things they might otherwise do. However I often feel that inordinate squeemishness causes sanctimoniousness rather then mercy.

PS. The recent fascination with morbidity in cop shows for instance is not contradictory with this. They come from the same source: that death has become a strange thing.

[Elizabeth]

This reminds me of a conversation I had with a vegetarian friend. She said she felt squeamish about eating eggs, but she had no objection to abortion. It shows how people can hold contradictory beliefs without even thinking about it.

I especially like the example of aborting baby rabbits because, given the way rabbits reproduce, you could make an argument about them experiencing overpopulation.

[Allen]

Jason nails this one. Big time. Bravo.

I have little to add other than - despite my love of the Narnia tales - I'm certainly thankful that we don't live in Narnia.

Because fried chicken is really tasty.

[Jason Taylor]

They have dumb beasts in Narnia too.