Jesus has left us many vegan-friendly messages which can serve as antidotes to Paul's animal-hostile discourse.
Full Text: https://www.vegantheology.net/post/vegan-friendly-messages-in-the-new-testament-by-dr-chapman-chen
1. Jesus is Staunchly Vegan
Jesus is steadfastly vegan. Jesus desires compassion, NOT sacrifice (Matthew 9:13; Panarion 30.16.5; The Gospel of the Ebionites 22.4; Panarion 30.18.9); Jesus comes from a vegan family (Eusebius, Church History 2.23.5–6; Eisenman 2021:392); Jesus warns against flesh-eating (Luke 21:34, Evangelion Da-Mepharreshe — Old Syriac-Aramaic Manuscript of the New Testament Gospels; Gospel of Thomas, Saying 87); Jesus cares about animals (Mark 12:31; Genesis 1:20, 1:21, 1:24, 1:30, 9:4; Matthew 25:40; Matthew 21:1-7; Linzey 2010:60-61; Matthew 10:29; Luke 14:5); Jesus is in peaceable companionship with the wild animals (Mark 1:12-13); Jesus died for animal liberation (Mark 11:15-18; Akers 2020); “I desire compassion rather than sacrifice,” asserts Jesus (Matt. 9:13 NASB). https://www.hkbnews.net/post/jesus-is-staunchly-vegan-by-dr-chapman-chen
2. Jesus is a Martyr for Animal Liberation
Jesus is actually a pioneering martyr for animal liberation. In emptying the Temple of animals about to be slaughtered for sacrifice, and in calling the Temple-turned-butcher-shop "a den of thieves"(Mark 11:16, Luke 20:46, Matthew 21:12-13 KJV), He debunked the business fraud of animal sacrifice and disrupted the chief priests' and scribes' lucrative revenue stream (Akers 2020: 117-119; Chen 2024), who immediately afterwards conspired to destroy Him (Mark 11:15-18). https://www.hkbnews.net/post/the-open-rescue-of-temple-animals-by-jesus-the-vegan-christ-by-dr-chapman-chen
3. Jesus’ 12 Disciples are All Vegan
The first Christians, also known as Ebionites or Nazoreans, were all vegan/vegetarian (cf. James Bean 2013):
Peter said, “I live on olives and bread, to which I rarely only add vegetables.” (Clementine Homilies 12,6; also see, Recognitions 7,6)
“And happiness is found in the practice of virtue. Accordingly, the Apostle Matthew partook of seeds, and nuts, hard-shelled fruits, and vegetables, without flesh.” (Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor, Book 2, Chapter 1)
“John never ate meat.” (Church historian Hegesippus, according to Eusebius, History of the Church II 2:3)
“James, the brother of the Lord, lived on seeds and plants and touched neither meat nor wine.” (Hegesippus , Epistulae ad Faustum XXII, 3)
“James, the brother of the Lord was holy from his mother’s womb; and he drank no wine nor strong drink, nor did he eat flesh.” (Hegesippus, quoted in The Church History of Eusebius, book 2, chapter 23). https://www.hkbnews.net/post/why-saint-jerome-dumped-the-vegan-gospel-according-to-matthew-by-chapman-chen-hkbnews
4. Jesus’ Eucharist is Vegan, Physically and Symbolically
The original Eucharist was a vegan thanksgiving Messianic Banquet, subsequently transformed into a bizarre, abstruse, cannibalistic cult by Paul (cf. Tabor 2012:14-15, 44-47, 148-151). Luke juxtaposes the Messianic feast (Luke 22:15-18) with the cannibalistic cult (Luke 22:19-21) in his account of the last supper, making one wonder whether Jesus will drink His own blood with the disciples in the future Kingdom of God. A vegan "Messianic Banquet" is clearly described in the Dead Sea Scrolls, particularly in the "Rule of the Community" and other Essenic literature. And the Eucharist in the "Didache", a text discovered in 1873 dating to the beginning of the Second Century or even earlier, is also a simple thanksgiving meal of grape-vine juice and bread with no atonement via Jesus' body and blood mentioned. Jesus and His twelve disciples observed the Torah, which strictly forbade the consumption of blood and flesh killed by strangling, even symbolically. The four Synoptic Gospels' accounts of Jesus' last supper (Mark 14:22-25; Matthew 26:26- 29; Luke 22:15-20; John 6:52-56) come straight from the anti-vegan apostate Paul's (1 Corinthians 10:16-17, 11:23-26), almost word for word. https://www.vegantheology.net/post/the-vegan-eucharist-turned-into-a-cannibalistic-cult-by-paul-revised-dr-chapman-chen
5. No Blood, Animal or Human, is Required to Forgive our Sins
In the OT, the Torah clearly states that each person is responsible for their own sins (Deut 24:16; cf. Exod 32:31–33; Num 35:33; 2 Kgs 14:6; Jer 31:29; Ezek 18:4, 20; Ps 49:7–8).
As mentioned before, animal sacrifices in the OT are concocted by “the lying pen of the scribes” (Jeremiah 8:8) to serve their own avarice, despite the five great prophets’ strong protests (Isaiah 1:11; Jeremiah 7:22-23; Hosea 6:6; Amos 5:21-22; Micah 6:6-8). God forgives people over and over in the Hebrew Bible without any bloodshed being required. The Jewish path to forgiveness, includes simply confession (Leviticus 5:5), repenting (Proverbs 28:13), praying for forgiveness (1 Kings 8:33-34; Psalm 32:5), and making restitution (Numbers 5:6-7; Leviticus 6:4-5). King David confesses and repents of his nasty sins, including murder and adultery, and is told by the prophet Nathan, “The LORD has taken away your sin (2 Samuel 12:13). “No bulls or rams had to be slaughtered and barbecued to gain God's favour,” as indicated by Suzanne Gates (2024).
In the NT, Jesus asserts that loving God and “thy neighbour” is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices (Mark 12:33). The idea of Jesus taking the wrath of God upon himself “for us,” implying that Jesus believes God demands His blood to pardon humanity, is incompatible with Jesus’ own teachings about God as a being of forgiveness, kindness, and compassion (Wright 2011:184-5; Joseph 2017:228). “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful” (Luke 15:11-32 JB), Jesus reminds His followers.
Indeed, after saving the adulterous woman from an angry crowd who wants to stone her to death, Jesus forgives her, without having to purify her sin with any blood, be it His own blood, or any human or animal’s (John 8:1-11). He just told her not to do it again and then sends her away. Similarly, in the Parable of the Loving Father, when the prodigal son returns home, repents and begs for forgiveness, his father forgives him straightaway without requiring the shedding of any blood as a precondition (Luke 15:11-32).
Moreover, according to Andrew Remington Rillera’s 2024 book, Lamb of the Free, neither animal sacrifices in the OT nor Jesus’ death in the NT is substitutionary atonement. In the OT, most animal sacrifices are non-atoning, e.g., the regular burnt offerings (to attract God), the well-being sacrifices (shared meals with God), and the Passover (to commemorate Exodus) (Rillera 2024:27). Kipper is atoning but only in the sense of cleansing the sanctuary of ritual impurities. Based on 1 Peter 2:21-24 as an allusion to Isaiah 53 (the Suffering Servant passage), Jesus’ crucifixion is not a substitutionary sacrifice but a call upon us to follow His example, pick up His cross, and share in His righteous sufferings and resurrection (Rillera 2024:243-4, 251). https://www.vegantheology.net/post/no-blood-animal-or-human-is-required-to-forgive-our-sins-by-dr-chapman-chen ; https://www.vegantheology.net/post/a-vegan-review-of-rillera-s-lamb-of-the-free-by-dr-chapman-chen
6. Jesus Heals a Mule
There’s a Coptic Bible story about Jesus healing an abused, badly beaten, exploited, and overloaded mule (see Linzey 2007:60-62). It is indeed a precedent of modern animal activism. It shows that Jesus loves animals as much as he loves humans; that animals also have a personal relationship with God; and that those who look the other way in the face of animal cruelty or social justice are accomplices to the wrongdoing. The authenticity of this narrative is corroborated by the fact that Jesus died for the cause of animal liberation. https://www.hkbnews.net/post/jesus-heals-a-mule-a-coptic-bible-story-go-vegan-by-chapman-chen-hkbnews
7. “You Animal Abusers, Repent or Perish!” Warns Jesus In Luke 13:1-9, Jesus warns murderers of animals that unless they repent, they will perish like the Galileans whose blood Pilate has mixed with their sacrifices, or they will be cut down by God just like a fig tree which fails to bear fruits (cf. Kaufman 2019). https://www.hkbnews.net/post/you-animal-abusers-repent-or-perish-warns-jesus-ed-dr-chapman-chen-1
8. Miscellaneous Animal-Friendly Sayings of Jesus
Jesus always took the side of the downtrodden and marginalized. And who would be more marginalized and downtrodden than the trillions of animals who are crammed into small cages, tortured, exploited, raped, abused, humiliated, and slaughtered every year?! "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me" (Matthew 25:40 NIV). https://www.hkbnews.net/post/does-dominion-over-animals-in-genesis-mean-stewardship-or-despotism-go-vegan-by-chapman-chen
Jesus “the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep” (John 10:11 NIV).
And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” (Luke 14:5 ESV)
“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? (Luke 15:4 ESV)
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