Monday, January 23, 2017

GIVING THANKS FOR ANY LIVING THING THAT WE EAT

We always give thanks around our table for the sacred life that was taken for our sustenance.

I got this from a FB pal who is valiant and is a vegan along with her family - and lives Section 89 to the letter:

I've been reading for several years how ingesting the flesh of animals killed in violence changes us. At first it seemed strange, but apparently this belief has been around for a very long time. Here are ideas from some of the greatest minds in history:
James E. Talmadge was one of the most brilliant minds of his time..
Once you understand the biology (the neurotransmitters/neuro-hormones) behind violence (whether the violence is turned outward in homicide or inward in suicide) you will clearly see how much truth his statement contains, how very profound it is, and how it would do religions of the world much good to heed his words below....
Leo Tolstoy wrote that by killing animals for food, "Man suppresses in himself, unnecessarily, the highest spiritual capacity-that of sympathy and pity toward living creatures like himself-and by violating his own feelings becomes cruel." He also warned, "While our bodies are the living graves of murdered animals, how can we expect any ideal conditions on earth?"
When we lose respect for animal life, we lose respect for human life as well. Twenty-six hundred years ago, Pythagoras, famous for his contributions to geometry and mathematics, said, "Those that kill animals to eat their flesh tend to kill their own.
Pythagoras stated, "Oh, my fellow men, do not defile your bodies with sinful foods. We have corn, we have apples bending down the branches with their weight, and grapes swelling on the vines. There are sweet-flavored herbs, and vegetables which can be cooked and softened over the fire, nor are you denied mild or thyme-scented honey. The earth affords a lavish supply of riches of innocent foods, and offers you banquets that involve no bloodshed or slaughter, only beasts satisfy their hunger with flesh, and not even all of those, because horses, cattle, and sheep live on grass."
In an essay titled On Eating Flesh, the Roman author Plutarch wrote: "Can you really ask what reason Pythagoras had for abstinence from flesh? For my part I rather wonder both by what accident and in what state of mind the first man touched his mouth to gore and brought his lips to the flesh of a dead creature, set forth tables of dead, stale bodies, and ventured to call food and nourishment the pets that had a little before bellowed and cried, moved and lived... It is certainly not lions or wolves that we eat out of self-defense; on the contrary, we ignore these and slaughter harmless, tame creatures without stings or teeth to harm us. For the sake of a little flesh we deprive them of sun, of light, of the duration of life they are entitled to by birth and being." Plutarch then delivered this challenge to flesh-eaters: "If you declare that you are naturally designed for such a diet, then first kill for yourself what you want to eat. Do it, however only through your own resources, unaided by cleaver or cudgel or any kind of ax."
The poet Shelly was a committed vegetarian. In his essay A Vindication of Natural Diet, he wrote, "Let the advocate of animal food force himself to a decisive experiment on its fitness, and as Plutarch recommends, tear a living lamb with his teeth and plunging his head into its vitals, slake his thirst with the steaming blood...then, and then only, would he be consistent.
We're fearful of enemy guns, bombs, and missiles, but can we close our eyes to the pain and fear we ourselves bring about by slaughtering, for human consumption, over 1.6 billion domestic mammals and 22.5 billion poultry a year. The number of fish killed each year is in the trillions. And what to speak of the tens of millions of animals killed each year in the "torture-camps" of medical research laboratories, or slaughtered for their fur, hide, or skin, or hunted for "sport". Can we deny that this brutality makes us more brutal too?
Leonardo da Vinci wrote, "Truly man is the king of beasts, for his brutality exceeds theirs. We live by the death of others. We are burial places!" He added, "The time will come when men will look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men."
Mahatma Gandhi felt that ethical principles are a stronger support for lifelong commitment to a vegetarian diet than reasons of health. "I do feel," he stated, "that spiritual progress does demand at some stage that we should cease to kill our fellow creatures for the satisfaction of our bodily wants." He also said, "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."

3 comments:

  1. Balance in all things. 1 Timothy 4:1-3; D&C 89:11-12
    It's interesting to note that while many large slaughter houses are indeed cruel and violent, and I certainly do believe in hormonal/chemical memories being able to pass on to us through our food, the small scale killing of animals, through either halal or modern means can be quick and painless. The trick is to be careful where you buy from.

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  2. The eating of meat is approved; D&C 49:18-19. (Some Shakers also forbade the eating of meat. In prefacing this revelation, Joseph Smith’s history states, “In order to have [a] more perfect understanding on the subject, I inquired of the Lord, and received the following.” The revelation refutes some of the basic concepts of the Shaker group. The aforementioned brethren took a copy of the revelation to the Shaker community (near Cleveland, Ohio) and read it to them in its entirety, but it was rejected.)

    18 And whoso forbiddeth to abstain from meats, that man should not eat the same, is not ordained of God;

    19 For, behold, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that which cometh of the earth, is ordained for the use of man for food and for raiment, and that he might have in abundance.

    For those who go vegan you need to take vitamin B multi-vitamins every day.

    https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2016/10/principles-and-promises?lang=eng

    Want true health - remove sugar and white flour from your diet. Filter your water to remove fluoride, chlorine. Read D&C 89 and write down the actual words God gave us... do you see white flour? Sugar? Switch to honey, dates, maple syrup sources. Eat more nuts, vegetables, herbs, herbs, herbs and find recipes for whole wheat and cooking wheat grains/seeds/berries like hot cereal.

    Eat cooked wheat seeds/berries/grains like meat - add cumin, salt, or chili powder. Add your HERBS! You will be shocked how AMAZING this tastes.

    Do you need to eat animal meat daily? No, but do not eliminate it completely. God has spoken.

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  3. Dr. Stockwell has talked of this in the past and always noted how vegans that come to his office are always anemic and sickly. To be a vegan you really have to be into it to acquire the right nutrients that are more conveniently found in meats.

    Steve Jobs tried to stave off pancreatic cancer thru veganism and we know how that ended. Granted that this form of cancer is a 90% death sentence - there still was a 10% chance and he was too full Pride to look for the truth of these things.

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