Summary: In Genesis, upon consuming the forbidden "fruit" (Gen 3:6) from "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Gen 2:9), “which is in the midst of the garden” (Gen 3:3 KJV), Adam and Eve were deported from the Garden of Eden and they went from immortal to mortal. By examining the Hebrew original of the words concerned and their context, this article, inspired by Jeff Popick (2007) and Jane Erwin (2010), argues that the forbidden fruit of Eden is meat; that the origin

My dear brothers and sisters… Welcome back. Today, I invite you to slow down…just for a moment… Take a deep breath with me… (inhale)…and exhale. Let go of control… just for this moment. Today, we are reflecting on a sacred truth: Miracles do not happen when we force life…they happen when we surrender to God. 1. The Illusion of Control So many of us… are trying to control everything. We want to control outcomes…people…timing… Even God’s plan. But Jesus Christ teaches us somet

In the language of the Septuagint, the term holokauston (ὁλόκαυστον) denotes the “whole burnt offering,” translating the Hebrew ʿōlāh (עֹלָה), a sacrifice in which the victim is entirely consumed upon the altar.¹ Such offerings, prescribed in the ancient Temple cult, required the total destruction of innocent life in the name of devotion. Yet the Christ whom we encounter here does not perpetuate this system. In liberating the animals from the Temple, and in calling the...

In part I, we have seen that there are absolutist vegan pacifists who insist that any militant action against tyranny is condemnable on the ground that innocent animals will inevitably be killed. This stance, however, ignores the much greater and more prolonged suffering that tyrannical systems impose upon the whole created order. 1. Just Wars vs. Unjust Wars Recently, Pope Leo XIV has strongly criticised the bombing of Iran by the US and Israel, framing it in moral and theol