Weekly Newsletter from Christian Vegetarian Association CVA - October 7, 2021
From Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)


  1. The Truth Will Make You Free
  2. All-Creatures.Org Ministry

1. The Truth Will Make You Free

I think our faith offers guidance on what we should teach our children. Jesus said, “If you continue in my works, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free” (John 8:31-32). I would like to explore two questions: What is truth? What does it mean to be made free?

The world as we know it exists in our minds. Even our impressions about our own bodies are representations in our brains. We can never know external things-in-themselves, but we can still have information that allows us to interact effectively in the world (whatever it really is). The tool for effective interaction is science – gathering information, finding patterns, and testing hypotheses to see whether those patterns reflect meaningful attributes of the world or whether the patterns are just products of chance.

Prior essays have explored faith. Having faith is different from having truth. Faith relates to questions of meaning and purpose about which science has little to say. The intersection of truth as revealed by the scientific inquiry and faith as inspired by our cosmology is what makes us free. For Christians, faith involves beliefs about divine purpose as revealed in the ministry of Jesus. Jesus assured his followers that following his path would make them free.

Free from what? Free from feelings of meaningless and despair. Shakespeare’s Macbeth laments, “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Faith is a conviction that we are part of a larger project to make the world better. In this way, we can find direction and purpose because we can have confidence that, perhaps in important ways or perhaps in very limited ways, our lives matter.

Next issue, I will suggest specific areas of inquiry that, I think, should be part of the education of every child.

Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.


2. All-Creatures.Org Ministry

Here is our recent All-Creatures Newsletter, which we hope you like and share with others to help stop the exploitation and killing of animals.


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