There's Nothing Wrong with Being a Vegetarian, But It's Not a Biblical Mandate

After reading Exchanging Truth for a Lie, which addressed people worshiping animals (Romans 1:22-23), a professing Christian wrote to tell me he’d unsubscribed from Bible Love Notes because he was “angry and heartbroken” that I would approve eating meat.(1) 

I asked if he'd read Genesis 9:3 where God told Noah he could eat both plants and animals.(2) 

He believed that God's offer in Genesis 9:3 was an offer God wants us to refuse because it came after the Fall of mankind. Adam and Eve were vegetarians in God's perfect world, but after the flood, God offered mankind animals to eat.

I've heard similar arguments for submission, claiming it's not God's will for women to submit because God commanded it after the Fall.

If we follow this line of reasoning to its end, all Christians would be vegetarian, nudist farmers living off the land. And prayer, repentance, forgiveness, and salvation would be some of the post-Fall offers that God wants us to refuse.

We live in the fallen world, and God gave us His Word to navigate our life here and now. 

This "after-the-Fall" reasoning is one of many ways that false teachings distort or discredit the clear messages of Scripture, and that's why we must stand firm and proclaim that we are not ashamed of the gospel! (Romans 1:16). 

(1) There is nothing wrong with being a vegetarian for dietary purposes, but it's not biblical to claim that eating meat is wrong or sinful. There isn't a single verse in the New Testament where God shows disapproval of eating meat, unless it was sacrificed to idols. And the Old Testament dietary laws always included meats. In addition, part of the Old Covenant was killing and sacrificing animals. God would never command us to do something sinful. 

(2) I also asked this man if he'd read Acts 10, but he didn't comment on it. In Acts 10 God commands Peter to kill and eat meat, warning Peter, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” This command was given to the early church as part of the New Covenant, ending the dietary laws.

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