The Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)
Weekly Newsletter - May 10, 2017
From Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)
1. Activist Feedback
Silvana, who tabled at the LA VegFest, writes:
Overall everyone is VERY RECEPTIVE to our booklets, whether they're Veg already (this info is ammunition for them) or thinking about it.
2. On Faith, part 8
Last week, I suggested that looking at the life and teachings of Jesus can provide general guidance for discerning Christian teachings on morality. One would hope that faithful, God-centered people would be exemplars of compassion and justice. Yet, Nobel Prize physicist Steven Weinberg famously remarked, “With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil - that takes religion.”
I think many people err by claiming that the Bible contains legal prescriptions from God meant to dictate the lives of all people for all times, rather than seeing the Bible as a multi-authored work that reflects the values and ethics of specific people at specific times. Curiously, those who regard the Bible as describing God’s eternal law seem selective in which laws to preserve and which to discard. For example, few people today think we should stone a rebellious son (Deuteronomy 21:18-21), that we should kill witches (Exodus 22:18), or that slaves should obey cruel masters (1 Peter 2:18). But, many of these Christians readily turn to Genesis 1:26, in which Adam is given “dominion” over the creatures, and Genesis 9:3, in which Noah is given permission to eat animals, to justify enslaving, abusing, and murdering animals today. Similarly, many Christians today denounce homosexuality because of certain biblical passages.
Of course, nearly all Christians today agree that we should not kill
rebellious sons, arguing that Deuteronomy 21:18-21 should be interpreted “in
context.” Such an approach to the Bible allows virtually any passage or
story to be interpreted as one pleases, depending on how one defines “the
context.” I will continue to explore how Christian faith and tradition might
guide our lives next week.
Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.
3. This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and Mary Hoffman
Everlasting Truth
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