A Letter to My Vegan Sister and Carnivorous Family

Hey Family :)

Sadie recently asked me about my opinion on 1 Timothy 4: 1-4, and all those scriptures that have been floating around and building in my mind these last few months were anxious to finally get written down! In other words,  my answer was a bit too long for text, so the following is what I emailed to her.
This is my opinion, but its as close to the truth as I've gotten so far.

How do I understand 1 Timothy 4: 1-4? This is obviously an indirect way of asking "how do you justify being vegetarian with the scriptures" and the deeper question "what does God actually want us to do?" I'll try to answer both in this article.

This scripture is a prophecy of the latter days, and is a warning for the saints in the last days. Its definitely helped open my mind about extreme diets, and other modern modern people "speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron" which is definitely how I felt when I first became Vegan. Still, I prefer being an non-extreme vegan, in that I see nothing wrong with drinking milk and eating eggs. In fact, I see nothing wrong with eating meat! Why? Because I believe God made it that way. But I'm still a vegetarian, why?

"Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:"
And let us also consider D&C 89: 13-15, "and all wild animals that run or creep on the earth; And these hath God made for the use of man only in times of famine and excess of hunger.

In order to understand this seeming contradiction, lets relate it to a concept that most Mormons seem to accept more easily: the Word of Wisdom acknowledging the negative effects of alcohol and making it a commandment to no longer drink it. Fermented juice had been used as a clean source of water and a necessary part of living since the early days of human existence (See Youtube Crash Course on Human Migration). But today its unnecessary for us to drink it, unless you were in an area in the world with no resources for clean water except through alcohol. So now a days, "conspiring men" use its effects to create addictions, when really we don't need to use it at all anymore--society has progressed both temporally and spiritually.
     The purpose of the word of wisdom is not to create a law that we cannot keep (See vs. 1-4 of D&C 89, and also A Students Study Guide to Doctrine and Covenants: The Word of Wisdom), but later became a commandment as the saints adjusted to the change and were able to more fully keep the law according to their faith. Thus, by a collective progression of Mormon society, the Word of Wisdom became a commandment during the era of Brigham Young. The word of Wisdom prepares the Saints to live a higher law.

Another example of progressive commandments is the law of consecration: we don't keep it now, but we will as soon as its possible. I'm willing to, you're willing too, but the majority of people aren't. So is it a sin to not live the law of consecration? No, but we have to be prepared to live it in our hearts.

  Both of these concepts of surplus and spiritual maturity, or societal progression, apply to modern day meat. We once needed it, but the more we live in a surplus of food, the more opportunity we have to not have to take other animal lives. I'm not going to go into the scriptures of the sanctity of animal life, that would be missing the point anyway. I'm not trying to convince you of something with scriptures like a law book; the purpose of scriptures is not to create a dogmatic law, but to open our minds to the will of God and to prepare us for His coming. Scriptures are like an alarm clock for the world, waking us up from a carnal sleep and giving us spiritual insight. That is the beauty of making the bible available to the public in the Enlightenment Era, inspiring people like Martin Luther and other Protestant churches that paved the way for the Restoration of the gospel. In that light, even Buddhist and other world religion scriptures have fulfilled a similar purpose of awaking people in ignorance toward thinking about spiritual things.

When supposed contradictions arise in scripture, the goal is to find out what God intended by giving the scripture in the first place: To help us become aware of 1. The nature of the world around me and how I'm supposed to live in it and 2. The nature of heaven and how I should prepare to live in it. In other words, scriptures show us how things are and how things are supposed to be, how to live presently and how to prepare to meet God.

The prophecy of 1 Timothy 4 teaches us how things are and how I should react to it. When someone offers me meat and I am living in my parents house with little money, of course I accept what they give me with a thankful heart. However, D&C 89: 13-15 is still true, so in my heart I'm willing to give up meat. Though I don't see the consumption of it as wrong, the cruelty of the meat-packing industry is still real and needs to be improved. While the most ethical way of improving that system is another topic, I will say that if I had the capacity, I would not buy meat, and I would sparingly buy eggs and milk. Why?

2 Nephi 30: 12 - 13 "And then shall the wolf dwell with the lamb; and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling, together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox."  This scripture makes it appear that the celestial kingdom will be a vegetarian one, and one without violence or fear. But, since "its better that one cow perish than an entire nation dwindle in hunger" (see 1 Nephi 4:13, words obviously changed to apply the concept of obedience to the spirit here) I would say that its also better that "one meal of meat be eaten in gratitude than a family dwindle in a divide of misinterpretation of scripture."

And while we should stand for truth without fear, there is a difference between standing for "a law" and being wiling to suffer the will of God. Only for the second should we be willing to separate from our family. While being vegetarian may be the will of God, I hope I've shown that it's also the will of God that we progress towards that in moderation. Being vegetarian is not the goal, but helping society become the kingdom of God is the goal, and that is done by individually understanding and living the law within our present circumstances. I will emphasize this final point with this last scripture:

JST Romans 7: 6-19 "But now we are delivered from the law wherein we were held, being dead to the law, that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not Covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.... For we know that the commandment is spiritual, but when I was under the law, I was yet carnal, sold under sin. But now I am spiritual; for that which I am commanded to do, I do; and that which I am commanded not to allow, I allow not.
"For I know what is not right, I would not do; for that which is sin, I hate.
"If then I do not that which I would not allow, I consent unto the law, that it is good; and I am not condemned. Now then, it is no more I that do sin; but I seek to subdue that sin which dwelleth in me.
For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing; for to will is present with me, but to perform that which is good I find not, only in Christ.

These words of Paul to the Romans are interesting, because in my World History class my professor showed us how much our mindset today in modern America is because of the Romans, and how much we relate to them. They too, surely, had a hard time between the spirit of the law vs. the letter of the law, but I feel that Paul in this verse has confirmed my points: That scripture awakes us from our carnal nature and sin, but the law is not the letter, the law is the Holy Ghost, and obedience is not just "the way I feel", but is overcoming the carnal man and living in this world with a heart consecrated to God, and preparing to meet God by developing Christlike attributes and cleansing my heart from sin. And that spiritual law, and our overall happiness within society, depends on the collective progression of society. (As demonstrated in 3 Nephi and 4 Nephi, and the rise and fall of the Nephite and Lamanite society throughout the Book of Mormon.)

Does that make sense?

And I'd like to give thanks to Buddha and Gandhi, whose perspectives have helped me find these scriptures and to take a new approach to understanding and living scriptures.


Sincerely,
Lucas

Islam Sharia Law and Missionary Rules

The Islamic Republic of Iran is not merely a dictatorship or that its merely repressive. If it is, then so is the mission. Int he mission, the mission president has authority to create rules as he pleases and feels according to his understanding of the scriptures and according to the spirit dictates, which can sometimes be by his “feelings”, or sometimes inspiritation. Either way, we follow him and support him. Thus, though we sometimes feel oppressed, we also support him as our religious leader and line of revelation for guidance from God, and any disobedience is harshly dealt with either by ejection from the mission or some other form of structural punishment. Of course, the punishment of disobedience in Islam is often death, but to them that is the way it should be (they still live a type of the law of Moses.) Are we repressed? No, because we choose our repression as the will of God. Is it a dictatorship? No, because it is the will of God and we support His callings.

Is this good or bad? Its only bad when we don’t live close to the spirit. The condition o fthe state of Islam and the state of a mission are directly correlated to a correct understanding of scripture and application of such. The success of an LDS mission by its president or Islam is by its Shia Clergy is based on its enlightnement through the scriptures that comes from a broken heart and a contrite spirit: thus the scriptures become refuge, and as we keep that attitude, we will see things as they truly are and as they truly should be.