Biblical Vegetarian - What is that?

Someone recently asked me to explain what a Biblical Vegetarian is. I don't think it is a real label that anyone else has coined. I use it to describe the basis for my personal vegetarian beliefs, for which I find some interesting basis in the translations of the biblical texts available today. I am a heathen and not a Christian, preferring to avoid the hypocrisy of organized religion. I believe that the moment you only believe what you are told, then you have turned your back on the higher powers that put you here to learn. How can you learn if you will only hear one voice and do no research of your own? I do believe in faith, and even an atheist has faith in their beliefs. Everyone should have faith. However, there is a lot to admire in the biblical stories that are attributed to the covenant and to the reformers of Judaism, particularly the reforms of Jesus, one of the many Jewish Christs (teachers) who tried to fulfill the prophesies and reform Judaism to bring it back to its roots. The old testament has a prescription for a healthy abundant life and that is a vegetarian one. You will find no evidence in the bible that Jesus ever ate any animal product. He told his disciples to get "meat" for the Passover meal, but the translation of "meat" was from words that merely mean provisions. Jesus did not eat lamb at the Passover meal. The last supper was prior to the Passover meal and Jesus taught us that he demands mercy and not sacrifice. He destroyed the moneylenders operation in the temple because he came to us to BECOME the Senechal Lamb, not to partake of it. Thou shalt not kill. Period.

Biblical texts demonstrate the earliest human histories in terms understood to the least educated of those times. There are some common threads that run through the explanations and I have been seeking them out since I was very young. The common theme is that we have free will and thus have choices to be made. Every choice you make leads you down a different fork in the road and thus has consequences. Every vegetarian will tell you that if forced to "explain" their choices they will be almost viciously attacked for them. It seems to be a visceral reaction. The early Christians were vegetarian and were also viciously attacked for them.
Well, you can attack and I expect it. But my beliefs are firm on the matter. The right choice is the humane choice. It is right for our bodies and our spirits to be humane. "I require mercy and not sacrifice." (Matthew 9:13 & 12:7). So, have a little mercy on vegetarians.

Remember, the bible never commanded you to eat meat. You make that choice and it shortens your life and destroys the world. You who eat meat even try to quote scripture and claim that it tells you it is "ok" to eat animal flesh. God commanded ten things of you. And when he created the earth he gave Adam and Eve every herb bearing seed on the face of the earth, and for us it would be for "meat". He said that is was good. He has never again said anything else was "good". It is understandable that those who lust for animal flesh would try to justify it, and even try to subvert God's word to do it. But, it is still a bad choice. The scientific evidence is in.

Strictly from a pragmatic viewpoint, the ecological footprint of a vegetarian is smaller than the equivalent in animal flesh that is raised on nearly 16 times the acreage. It takes more petroleum products, more chemical fertilizer, more antibiotics, more water, and creates more waste than simply growing and eating the plant energy directly without processing it through the alimentary canal of a bird or mammal. To take pragmatism even further, it has been scientifically demonstrated that eating a vegetarian diet is extremely healthful in comparison to eating animals. So take a broccoli chill pill and enjoy the fruits of the earth. It's so tasty, too!