Did God Tell Humanity that We Can Eat

“Anything that Moves”?

 Lorraine Day, M.D.

 

“Every living thing that moves, to you it shall be for meat (food).”  Gen 9:3

 Fruit and Grains

What was God’s original diet for Adam and Eve as well as all the animals in the Garden of Eden?

Answer: a Vegan Vegetarian diet of fruit and grains.

In Genesis 1:29-30, God said:

“I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.

Vegetables Added After Sin

After Adam and Eve sinned and were banned from the Garden of Eden, what else did God allow them to eat?

In Genesis 3:6, we read that Adam and Eve sinned by eating of the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  Up until that time, Adam didn’t have to spend any time tilling the soil for food because it grew beautifully by itself in the orchard on the tree, and the grain grew readily in the ground.

But after sin entered, God cursed the ground “for thy sake. . . thorns also and thistles shall it cause to bud and thou shalt eat the herb of the field (vegetables).  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it were you taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”  Genesis 3:17-19

Vegetables were added after sin.  God “cursed the ground” for Adam and Eve’s sake so they would have to learn how to work hard, tilling the ground for food.  It is through hard work that we build character by learning diligence, patience, and endurance.  It is through tilling the ground for food that we are constantly reminded that God is the One who provides for us.  Vegetables cannot grow without the sun and the rain, both of which God has created.

Flesh Food Allowed After the Flood

God allowed humanity to eat flesh food after the flood, but only “Clean” animals could be used for food.

In Genesis 9.1-5 we read:

Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal.” (NIV)

How did Noah know which animals were Clean? 

When God first commanded Noah, He told him the following: 

And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. "Of the birds after their kind, and of the animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. (Genesis 6:19-20) 

About 120 years later, just before Noah was about to enter the ark, God repeated the command, adding in a few additional details: 

“You shall take with you of every clean animal by sevens, a male and his female; and of the animals that are not clean two, a male and his female; also of the birds of the sky, by sevens, male and female, to keep offspring alive on the face of all the earth.” (Genesis 7:2-3) 

This much is clear: Noah knew which animals were clean. However, Scripture does not clearly indicate how Noah came to know which animals were clean and which animals were unclean. In fact, Genesis 7:2 is the first passage in Scripture to make a distinction between clean and unclean animals. 

Until the flood, both man and animals were vegan vegetarians.  After the flood, God allowed humanity to each flesh food, with certain specific restrictions found in Leviticus, Chapter 11.  Mankind was allowed to eat only “Clean” animals: 1) animals who have a cloven hoof and chew the cud, 2) fish with fins and scales.

But all flesh food had to be eaten without blood or fat.

Why Did God Prohibit the Eating of Unclean Animals?

Among the animals, most considered unclean fell into one of three categories:

Predators (unclean because they ate both the flesh and the blood of animals), scavengers (unclean because they were carriers of disease, and they regularly contacted dead bodies – they ate dead and rotting flesh), or potentially poisonous or dangerous foods such as shellfish and the like, sea creatures that were also scavengers. Eliminating these from the diet of Israel no doubt had a healthy effect!

The “Clean” land animals are mainly herbivores – vegan vegetarians.  No scavenger among birds, fish, or animals was allowed to be used as food.

In general, the laws protected Israel from bad diet, dangerous vermin, and communicable diseases.

At Creation

At the creation of the world, such a distinction between clean and unclean animals did not exist. Genesis 1:31 states that after creation God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. From this, it can be concluded that it was not until after the fall of man that certain animals were marked as clean or unclean.

Did unclean animals become “clean” after the Cross? 

Many Christian denominations believe that the Old Testament dietary laws were “done away with at the Cross” – including the command to eat only “Clean” animals.  But God’s dietary laws were given to the Israelites of old, and to us today, to keep us healthy and free from disease. 

Unclean animals were forbidden because they were either predators who ate the blood of the animal, or scavengers that ate diseased and putrefying flesh, or animals that were diseased.  It is absurd to suggest that those Unclean animals somehow became “clean” – and no longer dangerous to the health of humanity – when Jesus died on the cross. 

When Jesus died on the cross, did a vulture no longer eat decaying animals in the road?  Did a pig no longer eat filth and no longer have trichinosis?  Did crabs and lobsters no longer clean up the ocean floor of filth and decaying sea creatures? 

It is amazing the lengths to which many will go, particularly Christians, to rationalize their desire to eat what they want, no matter how dangerous it is to their health! 

Because God has told us that we are not to eat Unclean animals, what “Clean” animals are available now?  What animals are available for food that do not eat decaying, putrefying flesh food?

Food Fed to Farm Animals 

(From “The Reality of Feed at Animal Factories” http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/our-failing-food-system/industrial-agriculture/they-eat-what-the-reality-of.html) 

When many Americans think of farm animals, they picture cattle munching grass on rolling pastures, chickens pecking on the ground outside of picturesque red barns, and pigs gobbling down food at the trough.

Over the last 50 years, the way food animals are raised and fed has changed dramatically—to the detriment of both animals and humans. Many people are surprised to find that most of the food animals in the United States are no longer raised on farms at all. Instead they come from crowded animal factories, also known as large confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs).

Just like other factories, animal factories are constantly searching for ways to shave their costs. To save money, they've redefined what constitutes animal feed, with little consideration of what is best for the animals or for human health. As a result, many of the ingredients used in feed these days are not the kind of food the animals are designed by nature to eat.

Just take a look at what's being fed to the animals you eat.                               

They Eat What?

The Reality of Feed at Animal Factories

When many Americans think of farm animals, they picture cattle munching grass on rolling pastures, chickens pecking on the ground outside of picturesque red barns, and pigs gobbling down food at the trough.

Over the last 50 years, the way food animals are raised and fed has changed dramatically—to the detriment of both animals and humans. Many people are surprised to find that most of the food animals in the United States are no longer raised on farms at all. Instead they come from crowded animal factories, also known as large confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs).

Just like other factories, animal factories are constantly searching for ways to shave their costs. To save money, they've redefined what constitutes animal feed, with little consideration of what is best for the animals or for human health. As a result, many of the ingredients used in feed these days are not the kind of food the animals are designed by nature to eat.

Just take a look at what's being fed to the animals you eat.

Same Species Meat

Manure and other animal waste

Plastics

Drugs and Chemicals

Diseased Animals

Feathers, Hair, Skin, Hooves, and Blood

Are these ingredients legal? Unfortunately, yes. Nevertheless, some raise human health concerns. Others just indicate the low standards for animal feeds. But all are symptoms of a system that has lost sight of the appropriate way to raise food animals.

Same Species Meat, Diseased Animals, and Feathers, Hair, Skin, and Blood

The advent of "mad cow" disease (also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE) raised international concern about the safety of feeding rendered cattle to cattle.

According to Wikipedia, Rendering is a process that converts waste animal tissue into (disgusting) “food” for the animals you eat.  The majority of tissue processed comes from slaughterhouses, but also includes restaurant grease and butcher shop trimmings, expired meat from grocery stores, and the carcasses of euthanized and dead animals from animal shelters, zoos and veterinarians. This material can include the fatty tissue, bones, and offal (entrails – the bowels – and other internal organs of animals), as well as entire carcasses of animals condemned at slaughterhouses, and those that have died on farms, in transit, etc. The most common animal sources are beef, pork, sheep, and poultry.

The rendering process simultaneously dries the material and separates the fat from the bone and protein. A rendering process yields a fat commodity (yellow grease, choice white grease, bleachable fancy tallow, etc.) and a protein meal (meat and bone meal, poultry byproduct meal, etc.).

Rendering plants often also include other materials, such as slaughterhouse blood, feathers and hair, but do so using processes distinct from true rendering.

That’s what they feed the animals YOU eat.  So YOU are eating this filthy, disgusting, stuff yourself.

Since the discovery of mad cow disease in the United States, the federal government has taken some action to restrict the parts of cattle that can be fed back to cattle. (Ed. Oh yeah!  They eliminate the brain and spinal cord, as though the Prion that causes Mad Cow Disease doesn’t go anywhere else in the cow’s body.  Obviously, the Prion can be transmitted EVERYWHERE in the cow’s body by the blood that flows through the brain and spinal cord, and then to the rest of the body!)

Cannibalism!

Most animals are still fed meat from their own species. Pig carcasses can be rendered and fed back to pigs, chicken carcasses can be rendered and fed back to chickens, and turkey carcasses can be rendered and fed back to turkeys. Even cattle can still be fed cow blood and some other cow parts.

Under current law, pigs, chickens, and turkeys that have been fed rendered cattle can be rendered and fed back to cattle—a loophole that may allow mad cow agents to infect healthy cattle.

Animal feed legally can contain rendered road kill, dead horses, and euthanized cats and dogs.

Rendered feathers, hair, skin, hooves, blood, and intestines can also be found in feed, often under catch-all categories like "animal protein products."

Manure and Other Animal Waste

Feed for any food animal can contain cattle manure, swine waste, and poultry litter. This waste may contain drugs such as antibiotics and hormones that have passed unchanged through the animals' bodies. 

The poultry litter that is fed to cattle contains rendered cattle parts in the form of digested poultry feed and spoiled poultry feed. This is another loophole that may allow mad cow agents to infect healthy cattle.

Animal waste used for feed is also allowed to contain dirt, rocks, sand, wood, and other such contaminants. 

Plastics

Many animals need roughage to move food through their digestive systems. But instead of using plant-based roughage, animal factories often turn to pellets made from plastics to compensate for the lack of natural fiber in the factory feed.

Drugs and Chemicals

Animals raised in humane conditions with appropriate space and food rarely require medical treatment. But animals at animal factories often receive antibiotics to promote faster growth and to compensate for crowded, stressful, and unsanitary living conditions. An estimated 13.5 million pounds of antibiotics—the same classes of antibiotics used in human medicine—are routinely added to animal feed or water. This routine, non-therapeutic use of antibiotics speeds the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which can infect humans as well as animals. Antibiotic resistance is a pressing public health problem that costs the U.S. economy billions of dollars each year.

Some of the antimicrobials used to control parasites and promote growth in poultry contain arsenic, a known human carcinogen. Arsenic can be found in meat or can contaminate human water supplies through runoff from factory farms.

Again, the land animals God allowed humanity to eat were almost exclusively herbivores – vegan vegetarians.  Now, with Factory Farming, no animal raised for food is a vegan vegetarian.  They all eat flesh food – frequently filthy, rotting flesh food.  They are fed animal waste.  They are fed blood, and they are filled with drugs and chemicals. 

Therefore, there are NO “Clean” animals raised on Factory Farms.

 ALL animals are now UNCLEAN.

What about Fish?

Jesus ate Fish and Lamb, so why shouldn't we?

Jesus ate fish, and He also ate lamb at the Passover.  If He ate meat (flesh food) - why shouldn’t we?

We must go back to the beginning.  God’s original, ideal diet given to Adam and Eve before sin was fruits and grains, in their natural form (Gen 1.29).

After sin, God added vegetables as well to His Ideal Diet for mankind (Gen 3:18).

It was only after the flood that God allowed humanity to eat flesh food, but even then, man was forbidden to eat the blood or the fat. (How many Christians obey that directive of God?  Flesh food eaters agree that without the blood or fat it tastes like shoe leather!)

“It shall be a perpetual statute for your generations throughout all your dwellings, that you eat neither fat nor blood.”  Leviticus 3:17 

Yet, many hundreds of years after the flood, when God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, before He gave them the Ten Commandments (in Exodus, Chapter 20), He cleared the minds and bodies of the Israelites so they could understand the Ten Commandments.  He gave them a totally vegan diet - - - MANNA! (In Exodus, Chapter 16 – four Chapters earlier.)

And what was the Israelites’ response?  Total ingratitude!  Speaking of the Manna they said, “We loathe this light bread!” and they pleaded for the fleshpots of Egypt.

So God gave them exactly what they wanted - - all the quail they lusted after.  And thousands died!  Many died with the flesh still between their teeth.  And not one of those who lusted after flesh food entered into the Promised Land.  They ALL died in the wilderness!

This is a perfect example of “God’s wrath!”  Giving us what we want – what we desperately whine and complain for, and then letting us reap what we have sown.

God’s IDEAL diet is a totally vegan vegetarian diet. 

This is the diet God gave Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. 

He confirmed it when He gave it (manna – a vegan diet) to the Israelites when he brought them out of Egypt through the wilderness into the Promised Land.

And God tells us that a vegan vegetarian diet will be the only one available in heaven and the New Earth (because nothing will die).  Even the animals will be vegan vegetarians. 

“And the cow and the bear shall graze:  their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.”  Isaiah 11:7

Some incorrectly believe that the saved will not be eating anything in heaven or in the New Earth.  But that is not biblical!  We have already seen that the animals will eat straw.  And in Revelation 22:2, we learn of the “tree of life that bears twelve manner of fruits, and yields her fruit every month.”

After Jesus was resurrected He was in His “resurrection body” and He ate food. Luke 24:40-43.  Notice that when Jesus was resurrected, He was not a “spirit.”  He could be seen and felt, and he ate food.  He referred to His body as “flesh and bone.”

So if Jesus ate flesh food, why can’t we? 

Jesus came to change hearts.  When we truly love Jesus, we will want to follow the IDEAL diet He gave mankind in the Garden of Eden, in the Wilderness during the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, and the diet He has designated for heaven and the New Earth for eternity.

Jesus was against slavery:

When Jesus was on earth, He was against slavery, but He never organized a march to “Free the slaves.”  He even told slaves to work hard for their masters.

Jesus was against licentious behavior:

Jesus was against fornication and adultery, but he told the adulterous woman thrown down in front of Him by the Pharisees, “Neither do I condemn you.  But go and sin no more.”

Jesus was against divorce:

When the Pharisees asked Jesus if it was acceptable to divorce one’s wife, after all, Moses said it was, Jesus responded by saying, “Moses said you could divorce your wife because you are a stiff-necked, hard-hearted people.  But it was not like that in the beginning.  It was to be one husband and one wife, for their whole life.”

The answer is this:

When Jesus came to earth He met the people where they were but He did not leave them there.  He came to change hearts, to turn the heart of mankind back to Him.  Once that happens, then all else will follow.  When we truly love Jesus Christ, we will want to follow His precepts.

Eating Flesh Food Lowers Life Expectancy

After the flood, when the eating of flesh food was allowed (not commanded – but allowed) by God, the life expectancy dropped dramatically - from Methuselah at 969 years (Methuselah died the year the flood came) - to a life expectancy of 400 years within 4 or 5 generations after the flood.  By the time of King David, the life expectancy had dropped to around 70 or 80 years – only TEN PERCENT of the original life expectany! 

Of course, the flood changed other things as well; the water canopy surrounding the earth was destroyed leading to extreme seasonal changes in temperature, and the oxygen content was lower.  Both of these things contributed to the decrease in life expectancy.  But the eating of flesh food was a major factor, as well.

Even as recently as 2001, studies show that vegetarians live approximately 10 years longer than meat eaters.  (See Archives of Internal Medicine 2001:161:1645-1652)

Why would God allow the human race to eat something that would be harmful?

Remember, God’s wrath (Romans 1:18, 24, 26, 28) is giving us over to “our own desires” to reap what we have sown.

It took only 1400 years, from Creation to the Flood, for wickedness to “fill the earth.”  During that time, men often lived to be over 900 years old.  With that lifespan, a person could become very wise – or desperately evil.

God promised never again to destroy the earth by water.  But Jesus tells us (Matthew 24:37-39) that before He comes again, the earth will become as wicked as it was “in the days of Noah” and eventually the earth will be destroyed by fire (2 Peter 3:10).   It appears we are now entering that general era of “End-Times.”

But it has taken over 4,000 years to “achieve” the same level of wickedness that was attained in only 1,400 years before the flood.  Why has it taken so long?

The most likely answer is the difference in life expectancy.  Man, if he is so inclined, can become much more wicked in 900+ years than he can in 70 years.  And because God has an appointed time for everything: for Creation, for the Flood, for His Appearing on earth as a man 2,000 years ago, AND for His Second Coming, the earth had to last an additional 4,000+ years so wickedness had to be restrained to some extent.

How could that be accomplished?  By shortening the lifespan! 

But notice that God did not command mankind to eat flesh food.  He left it up to the individual.  If carnal man lusted after flesh food, he would significantly shorten his life span.  He would reap the consequences of his own decision.  He would reap what he had sown.

But a diligent student of the Bible can easily discern from the diet given by God a) in Eden, b) to the Israelites in the wilderness (which represented God delivering each of us from sin – Egypt – and taking us to the “Promised Land), and c) in heaven and the New Earth, that God’s IDEAL diet is a vegan vegetarian diet! 

In ALL three instances, God designates a vegan vegetarian diet!

The Israelites in the wilderness were griping and complaining about having nothing to eat but manna, God’s miraculous “bread from heaven”, the perfect food that represented the coming Jesus Christ, instead they wanted the flesh pots of Egypt.

And the mixed multitude that was among them yielded to the intense craving and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, “Who shall give us flesh to eat?”

We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt freely; . . and now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all beside this manna, before our eyes.

And Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent: and the anger of the Lord was aroused greatly. . .

And the Lord said unto Moses, “Say unto the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves again tomorrow, and you shall eat flesh: for you have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, “Who shall give us flesh to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt;” therefore the Lord will give you flesh, and you shall eat.

You shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days;

But even a whole month, until it comes out your nostrils, and it becomes loathsome to you; because you have despised the Lord that is among you and have wept before Him, saying ‘Why came we forth out of Egypt?”  Numbers 11:4-6, 10, 18-20

So God “gave them what they wanted”, flesh food – quail, for a whole month - until it came “out of their nostrils!”  And thousands died “while the flesh was still between their teeth!”

And there went forth a wind from the Lord, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day’s journey on this side, and as it were a day’s journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth.

And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp.

And while the flesh was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a great plague.

And He called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah (literally – Graves of Craving): because there they buried the people that lusted (yielded to craving).  Numbers 11:31-34

And not one of those Israelites who lusted after the flesh food entered the Promised Land.  They ALL eventually died in the wilderness.

How prophetic it is for those longing to go to the “Promised Land” of heaven.  Everyone must get rid of his appetite for meat, poultry and fish – while here on earth!  God is not going to wave a magic wand when you die in order to remove your desire for flesh food.  That is a habit you will have to develop during your life on earth.

All Flesh Food is Filthy Today

Flesh food, including fish, was clean 2,000 years ago, compared to today.

Can you imagine the following being stated about the fish in Jesus’ time?

“The FDA has issued warnings to pregnant women, nursing women and children, to limit their intake of fish.  They are warned not to eat ANY fish of these four types:  swordfish, king mackerel, tilefish and shark, because they could contain enough mercury to damage an unborn baby’s developing brain.”

Tuna is also a problem because of its mercury content.

Generally, the bigger the fish, the more contaminated they are because the little fish eat (contaminated) algae, the larger fish eat the little fish, and the biggest fish eat the moderate size fish.  The fish, like other animals, concentrate the metals, pesticides, and other contaminants in their muscle, therefore, a fish can be a thousand times more contaminated than the water from which it is taken.

Farmed fish are also dangerous.  Salmon raised on “farms” can contain up to 10 times more pesticides and chemicals than are usually found in wild salmon.  Toxins discovered in farmed fish include PCB’s that can attack the nervous system causing learning disabilities in children and suppression of the immune system in all ages.

The problem is thought to lie in the food fed to salmon which is made from fish trawled from the ocean and concentrated into pellets, multiplying the toxins in ocean fish into more significant, concentrated doses.  The oceans and rivers are grossly contaminated from the dumping of industrial waste and human sewage.  The human sewage contains huge amounts of prescription drugs that are causing disease and death in the fish.

None of these problems existed in the fish from the Sea of Galilee when Jesus was on earth.

Sheep have a disease called Scrapie, which is “Mad sheep disease,” because they are being fed pellets formed from ground up animals who died from disease.  Sheep and cows are vegetarians.  When they are fed meat – ground-up animals – they become sick!  Vegetarian animals get sick when they eat flesh food!

The sheep in the time of Jesus were grazing in the field.  Sheep, NOW, are factory farmed, mass-produced in close quarters in barns, fed huge amounts of hormones to make them grow abnormally fast, antibiotics, because they’re all sick, and ground-up dead animals, even though sheep are created by God to be vegetarians.

This is why they are sick with Scrapie, a fatal disease that can be transmitted to other animals and to human beings. 

Then the diseased, dead sheep are ground up and fed to cattle - - - giving them Mad Cow Disease!

Chickens are no better.  Here is a quote from a newspaper, the Atlanta Constitution, on 5/26/91, given by a USDA Chicken Inspector:

“Every week millions of chickens leaking yellow pus, stained by green feces, contaminated by harmful bacteria, or marred by lung and heart infections, cancerous tumors or skin conditions are shipped for sale to consumers, instead of being condemned or destroyed.”

If a reasonable person cannot understand the difference between the condition of fish and meat in Christ’s time, compared to the condition of fish and meat today, - - - - - - - they need our fervent prayers!

Doesn’t the Bible Say that Vegetarianism is a Doctrine of Devils?

A large segment of Christianity believes that vegetarianism is not only unnecessary, and even unwise, but they believe it is spiritually WRONG, the result of a “deceiving spirit and a doctrine of devils,” according to 1 Tim 4:1-5.  Doesn’t the Bible say to beware of those who command you to abstain from eating meat (1 Tim 4:3)?

“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing (deceiving) spirits, and doctrines of devils:

“Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

“Forbidding to marry and commanding  to abstain from meats (The Greek word here is broma and means “food” – not “meat” - as in flesh food.) that God has created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.

“For every creature (created thing, or creation) of God is good, (Everything God has created is good - including marriage and natural food - fruits, grains and vegetables originally created as food) and nothing is to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:

“For it is sanctified (consecrated - set apart) by the word of God and prayer.”  1 Tim 4:1-5

This passage describes a group who depart from the Biblical truth in the latter days.  According to 1 Tim 4:3, they teach two twin errors.  This group, 1) forbids marriage, and 2) commands to abstain from the food that God has created to be received with thanksgiving.

The word “commanding” is in italics, denoting that it is an added word and does not appear in the original Greek Scriptures. 

The word “meat” here refers not to flesh food, in particular, it refers to food, in general.  The same word (broma = food) is used in the Greek version of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) in Genesis 1:29:

“Every herb-bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is a fruit of a tree yielding seed to you shall it be for “meat” (broma = “food”).

Obviously, herb-bearing seeds and fruit are not literal meat – animal products.  The correct word is food.

Certain religious groups throughout the ages have endorsed asceticism.  Declaring the world as evil, they forbid their spiritual leaders, such as priests and monks, to marry, and they have looked on the enjoyment of the food God created for us to eat “with thanksgiving,” as a sin.  Excessive fasting and a close-to-starvation diet are encouraged as part of a religious program of salvation by works.

But marriage and food are both created by God.  They both were created in the beginning, in the Garden of Eden.  They both are part of God’s good plan for the human race on this earth.  According to 1 Tim 4:4,5, those created things sanctified by the word of God are good and not to be refused when received with thanksgiving.

The “foods God has created to be received with thanksgiving” are clearly described in Genesis 1:29:  “every herb-bearing seed and every tree yielding fruit” -- grains and fruits.  Vegetables were added later, after sin (Genesis 3:18).

“Paul here is arguing against the fanaticism that declares all physical pleasure as evil.  He reveals that God’s creation is good.  God desires that His creatures heartily enjoy the food He has created for them.  The issue here is NOT clean or unclean foods, but whether food itself is part of the material world to be rejected through monastic life.  Paul says, “NO!  God’s creation is good.”  Studying Together, Mark Finley, pg 46,47

Conclusion

God’s ideal diet is a vegan vegetarian diet. 

And even though after the flood God allowed humanity to eat flesh food, He commanded mankind to eat only “Clean” meats.  He forbid the eating of Unclean meat. 

At this time in earth’s history, there is NO “Clean” flesh food, whether land animals or fish.

Furthermore, because in heaven and the new earth, nothing will die, everyone will be a vegan vegetarian.  But God will not take away your desire for flesh food with the swipe of a magic wand.  You must do that yourself – here on earth.  No one is safe to save until he or she has no desire to eat God’s creatures.