Don't Hate Me Because I'm a Vegetarian ;)

Another thing that the pastor of the Boston Vineyard wrote that struck me was this:

So last fall, for instance, during our 21 days, I asked God if I should fast (I'd actually felt like I shouldn't fast during one of the previous 40 days, so I make it a practice to ask God). Super-quickly, I felt him answer "yes" and suggest a new fast to me that I would never have seen myself doing: that I eat vegetarian during the 21 days. (Which I'm learning from Wikipedia is a common Lenten practice in Eastern churches. That's so like God to invite me into a new thing which is an old thing.) And my "what do you want Jesus to do for you?" prayer related to one of my outside-the-church writing dreams, which looked pretty much dead at the time.

So I started my fast. It went surprisingly well. I did indeed find myself connecting better with God and, shock of shocks, I felt better, which was a nice bonus. And within days my "pretty much dead" writing dream revived with an unexpected e-mail coming my way. Woo-hoo! This prayer and fasting stuff works!

Now the key point of interest for me is the fact that the pastor felt like God was asking him to fast from eating meat. Why would not eating meat help someone "connect better with God"? As a vegetarian I often cling to the story of Daniel:8-20 (NIV) *bolded script is my highlighting

8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. 9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, 10 but the official told Daniel, "I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your [c] food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you."
11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 "Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see." 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.
17 To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.
18 At the end of the time set by the king to bring them in, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with them, and he found none equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king's service. 20 In every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king questioned them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom.

So I've read theories that it wasn't so much the food that Daniel was eating that caused him to be better physically and mentally than those who ate the royal food (which included mostly meat and cheese) but his obedience to God for choosing not to eat the royal food. I wonder if any of those theologians have ever tried eating a vegetarian diet for 10 days just for the sake of trying it to see how they felt?

Daniel clearly looked better, performed better, and recieved more blessings and spiritual gifts as a result of eating a vegetarian diet. Even the pastor in Boston said that surprisingly he "felt better" and found himself "connecting better with God" as a result of eating that way. So I wondered, if he felt so good and was blessed by it, why did he stop doing it?

Then I remembered, like a slap in my face, my own experience with the 21 Days of Faith experiment - fasting from cooked food. I felt amazing. Truly amazing. And God was certainly very present in all of it. But it was hard. It took a lot of effort on my part. So I gave up on 100% raw because it was too hard. Having had a taste of that purity and life, however, leads me to hope that I will be strong enough to move back in that direction for the long haul very soon...

And thinking of that led me further to wonder about the phrase I hear all the time "you are what you eat." So what am I? Mostly coffee and carbs. Some fruit and veggies - mostly organic. And cheese, I can't seem to give up cheese! So if I feel a lag in spirituality by eating more carbs and cheese and fewer fruits and veggies, could the lag be causeed by what I'm consuming?

And what about meat? If you are what you eat, and you eat meat that was produced on a giant corporate "farm" where animals are routinetly given growth hormones and antibiotics and it's not uncommon for an animal to never see the light of day, are you eating those growth hormones and antibiotics? How about pain, fear, misery, dispair and terror, or do animals not feel those things? Is it better to eat animals raised on a small family farm? I don't know the scientific answer to those questions but I wonder.

Sorry if you are a meat eater and feel frustrated by what I wrote. I feel frustrated and confused about meat consumption too. I choose not to eat it. Mostly because I wouldn't be able to slaugter the animal, clean it, chop it up, all that stuff. I have no problem growing vegetables and picking them off the plant or vine. So that's what I'm sticking with. But on a spiritual level, I'm pretty sure there's much more to learn.