Do we fail terribly if we consume animals?
Question:
When we are in heaven all is perfect.
Isaiah 65:25 says, "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD."
In heaven, no one will run slaughter yards or feast on animals bodies. Obviously this is a very important
part about dwelling in God's land thus why it is stated in the Bible.
Why not start now by eating as God wants us to in Heaven. We work towards living a wholesome life by doing what is God's will and to serve him as our master. Yet we eat his animals which in heaven he keeps protected and loved.
After the great flood, he gave the option to eat animals (as vegetation would have been destroyed) but we do not live in the times after a great flood now. Most people buy their meat packaged without giving a second thought to what suffering the animal endured.
I believe when we strive to live on earth as in it is Heaven we fail terribly if we consume animals and those who do (without even trying to refrain from such greed) will not be of the blessed to enter heaven's gates.
Answer:
Here is yet another classic case where a person has decided what is right or wrong on their own and then runs to the Bible to find something to support their notion.
Isaiah 65:25 refers to the time of God's holy mountain. This is a reference to the church, not heaven. The answer to the question "Is God's kingdom vegetarian?" shows this in greater detail. What you did was take a prophetic statement filled with symbolic meaning and assigned a meaning to one part without consideration as to what God said the symbol meant. Then you took the remaining parts and gave it a literal meaning. God's holy mountain is symbolic, but so are the animals and their behavior. It is a reference to the peace in God's kingdom, the church, when Jews and Gentiles would be united. "For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity" (Ephesians 2:14-16).
It is also strange to apply rules for a state of being for which we have no experience (living in heaven) and attempt to apply them to life here on earth. What is life like in the spiritual realm? Who even stated that spirits eat? If you wish to apply imaginary rules to people on earth, then why not apply one of the few things we do know about the spiritual realm? "Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven"" (Matthew 22:29-30). The concept of male and female is something from this physical realm. There is no gender, no sex, and thus no marriage in heaven. So are you willing to tell people that they must give up sex now so that they won't "fail miserably?" But then we know that the heavenly state doesn't apply to the earthly state. "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth" (I Timothy 4:1-3). Yes, God foresaw the time when people like you would make up false rules for people.
In regards to the covenant with Noah, Noah and his family did not exit the ark until vegetation has started to grow once again. That is why Noah waited for the sign of the dove carrying the olive leaf. "Then the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth; and Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth" (Genesis 8:11). Even then, Noah waited another two months before leaving the ark. Therefore, your contention that God gave permission to eat animals solely because there was a temporary absence of vegetation is false. Secondly, there is no indication that God's covenant was temporary. Terms of that covenant remain in effect today, as the rainbow is witness to that covenant. "So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs"" (Genesis 9:1-3). Nor has there ever been a statement that the terms were rescinded. In fact, that opposite exists. As we saw in I Timothy 4, God warns about people who would forbid certain foods, meat in particular, because of their belief in false doctrine.
Finally, I see you added a rule for entering heaven that God never gave:
"we fail terribly if we consume animals and those who do ... will not be of the blessed to enter heaven's gates."
You have added to God's words your own mistaken opinions. "For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book" (Revelation 22:18-19).
"I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:6-9).
