Jesus is a vegan!

Answer:

Except for replacing one curse word, I left the note as originally written. This serves as an illustration of how poorly people can behave who follow a cause without thought.

The first argument is from the absurd. "Do not answer a fool according to his folly, Lest you also be like him" (Proverbs 26:4).

The second argument that Jesus didn't feed the multitudes fish demonstrates a willingness to ignore the text and insert anything a person desires. He is basically arguing that all translators in all languages didn't realize that the Greek word ichthudion doesn't really mean "little fishes." "Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers" (II Timothy 2:14).

The third argument shows a continued trend of someone who loosely has heard about the stories in the Bible but has not read them for himself.

"Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the moneychangers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, "Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"" (John 2:13-16).

Notice how he picked up on Jesus driving out the sellers of animals but ignores the moneychangers. Worse, he thinks that the animals being sold in the Temple were for food when the truth is that they were being sold for sacrifices. Of course, he ignores the reason Jesus gives for driving out both the moneychangers and animal dealers -- they were using the need for sacrificing to God as a means of making money.

But this brings up an interesting point. Sacrifices of animals went on constantly in the Temple, even while Jesus was teaching in the Temple, but Jesus never says anything against those sacrifices. Instead, one of the illustrations shows acceptance of animal sacrifices. "Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift" (Matthew 5:23-24). The altar he is referring to is the altar of sacrifice. When Jesus healed the leper, "And Jesus said to him, "See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them" (Matthew 8:4). What did Moses command? "Now on the eighth day he is to take two male lambs without defect, and a yearling ewe lamb without defect, and three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering, and one log of oil; Then the priest who makes him clean shall present the man who is to be made clean, and those things, before the LORD, at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. And the priest shall take one male lamb and offer it as a trespass offering, and the log of oil, and wave them as a wave offering before the LORD. Then he shall kill the lamb in the place where he kills the sin offering and the burnt offering, in a holy place; for as the sin offering is the priest's, so is the trespass offering. It is most holy" (Leviticus 14:10-13). Yes, Jesus kept the law of Moses and told others to keep it as well -- which included the killing of sacrifices.

This, by the way, brings us to the fourth point and demonstrates the writer doesn't understand Hebrew. See: Is the commandment "You shall not kill" or "You shall not murder"? for a correct discussion of the word's meaning. "You shall not kill" was never applied to animals.

You know a person doesn't understand the Bible when they find a statement to pull out of context to contradict what is clearly stated repeatedly throughout the rest of the Scriptures.

Regarding Jeremiah 7:22, consider:

"For thus says the LORD: 'David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; nor shall the priests, the Levites, lack a man to offer burnt offerings before Me, to kindle grain offerings, and to sacrifice continually'" (Jeremiah 33:17-18).

The people of Israel had convinced themselves that it didn't matter how they lived their lives, so long as they did their sacrifices. They went so far as to offer sacrifices to multiple gods to cover all their bases. "Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? he children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger" (Jeremiah 7:17-18). Somehow offering sacrifices to God was supposed to make this better. What God reminded them was that the first thing He told them was not to offer Him sacrifices, but to give Him obedience. "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you'" (Jeremiah 7:21-23). Sacrifices don't make up for disobedience. This is not saying that God did not command sacrifices. The entire book of Leviticus gives directions for numerous sacrifices. To claim as this person does just demonstrates that he doesn't know the Bible. He takes a sentence out of context only as "proof text" but once the context is restored everyone sees that he is dishonest in his handling of the text.

Genesis 1:29, "And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food," is followed by "Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food"; and it was so" (Genesis 1:30). Yes, mankind did not eat meat in the beginning and neither did the animals! But that changed after the flood. "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs" (Genesis 9:3). The writer violates the commands of God by ignoring all that God has said on a matter. Some animals began eating meat after the flood, and so did men.

Clearly, this person's note was not designed to be persuasive. Instead, he tried to use threats. But here again, he shows that he doesn't know Christianity well. Threats don't work against Christians. "But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. "And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled" " (I Peter 3:14). As a Christian, I teach the truth.

"And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (II Thessalonians 2:11-12).

"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables" (II Timothy 4:3-4).