Words of Wisdom?

[etaks10]

Since y'all are talking about 'sparingly' regarding meat...

I was vegan when baptized. Part of the reason was health, but little by little, I got into animal activism (I like to stop short of 'animal rights.') Last spring, I started eating meat again because I thought I needed to control my carbs better than I could as a vegan. I felt very guilty. I contribute to animal activists to blow the whistle on animal cruelty in the food industry, etc. I'm lucky to live near Amish farms and can purchase free range eggs and local, non-factory farm, meat. That was better, but I still felt guilty. I decided to go back to being mostly vegan, occasionally eating eggs and yogurt. This still causes me angst, but I'm working through it. I may give them up because I don't want to support the dairy or egg industries. Life is so political! : )

So, the question is, if we are to eat meat sparingly, do we have any duties toward the animals? Should LDS avoid factory farmed foods, knowing the cruelty (much less the dirt and disease), that these animals face? Should we be at all concerned, as a matter of our religion, about how the animal gets to our table? Also, how about how meat industry workers are treated?

We had a huge scandal here at Postville, with a supposedly kosher facility. Not only were the animals not killed kosher, but the facility hired underage illegal immigrants, mistreated workers, and provided housing and check cashing for them (and not as a charitable service either, if you get my drift).

I consider veg*nism part of being charitable and life affirming. If I cannot be charitable and life affirming to God's animals, how can I be toward my fellow (wo)man?

Just so y'all know, I don't have a problem with people killing an animal to feed the family. I also don't have a problem with animals raised on family farms, though I would probably still choose not to eat them, well, maybe the eggs....

I think you are pretty much right on. there are many quotes from prophets and apastles regarding the life of animals and how they should be treated. In the same light of why we shouldn't eat meat, only in times of need, we should also be aware of how animals are treated when drinking milk and eating eggs and so on. Great post :)

[Just_A_Guy]

I also have to wonder why people can be very accepting of David Whitmer's experience at a temple dedication but think his recollection can't be trusted in regards to a social gathering.

Well played.

But then, Whitmer's first published testimony of the plates came out within six to eight months of the event. His testimony of the WoW origins - which again, I stress, I don't find to be particularly faith-shattering - comes fifty-three years after the event.

The integrity versus the reliability of a first-person account of a historical event, are two different issues. I can accept Whitmer as fundamentally honest and take his 1830 testimony of the plates at face value while (hypothetically) rejecting his 1886 testimony re the Word of Wisdom as tainted by fifty years of natural memory drift colored by personal animus towards Smith and an obsession with the seer stone that gave the early revelations (but not the WoW).

Edited January 27, 2013 by Just_A_Guy

[Maureen]

Well played.

But then, Whitmer's first published testimony of the plates came out within six to eight months of the event. His testimony of the WoW origins - which again, I stress, I don't find to be particularly faith-shattering - comes fifty-three years after the event.

The integrity versus the reliability of a first-person account of a historical event, are two different issues. I can accept Whitmer as fundamentally honest and take his 1830 testimony of the plates at face value while (hypothetically) rejecting his 1886 testimony re the Word of Wisdom as tainted by fifty years of natural memory drift colored by personal animus towards Smith and an obsession with the seer stone that gave the early revelations (but not the WoW).

Brigham Young's recollection was thirty-some years after the fact. What's the time frame allowed for rejecting and/or accepting someone's recollection?

M.

[Just_A_Guy]

Brigham Young's recollection was thirty-some years after the fact. What's the time frame allowed for rejecting and/or accepting someone's recollection?

M.

Q.E.D.