 |
|
| Update
Newsletters |
|
Christian Vegetarian Association
Blog
Discussions
Update Newsletters
Take
Heart!
Take Heart Contents
| Animal Issues | Articles |
Bible | Children |
Devotionals | Environment
| Food | Health |
Opinion | Quotations |
Recipes |
Update Newsletters
25 May 2011 Issue
1. Activist Feedback
2. Essay – Christianity and Animal Rights, part 9: Facing the Truth
3. This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and Mary Hoffman1. Activist Feedback
Alan, who tabled at WorldFest in California this past weekend, writes:
The World Fest was a lot of fun. The sky was a bit overcast so the temperature was great. A lot of people stopped by the table. Many people were glad to see a Christian vegetarian presence—especially the Christians, of course. A lot people stopped by the booth and we had pleasant discussions. I thought the CVA presence was extremely well received. My wife joined me and she had a lot of fun too.
All god’s blessings to you,
AlanUpcoming Outreach Opportunities
The Christian Vegetarian Association (www.ChristianVeg.org) is looking for volunteers to leaflet at the upcoming events with our “Would Jesus Eat Meat Today?” booklets to spread the word about vegetarianism as good stewardship of all of God’s Creation. Volunteers have a great opportunity to earn $18.00 per hour (up to 2 hours) per person to be donated to their favorite Animal Advocacy or Veg Group. For more information please contact Paris at christian_vegetarian@yahoo.com or Lorena at (770) 633-7415.
| 6/3 FL Jacksonville Francesca
Battistelli Christian Concert
6/3 MA Boston Joel Olsteen: A Night of Hope Conference 6/4 TN East Ridge J-Fest Music Festival 6/11 IN Fort Wayne Francesca Battestelli Christian Concert 6/11 CA Redding Illumination Festival 6/12 SC Myrtle Beach Stellar Kart Christian Rock Concert 6/15-18 KY Wilmore Icthus Music Festival 6/17-19 WI Milwaukee Polish Fest 6/19 VA Richmond TABLE Richmond Vegetarian Festival 6/19-24 KY Grayson Summer in the Son - High School 6/23-25 MI Iona Big Ticket Festival Christian Rock Fest 7/5-8 OH Cincinnati TABLE Church Turning the World Upside 7/10-15 KY Grayson Summer in the Son - Jr. High 7/15 NC Raleigh Joel Olsteen: A Night of Hope Conference 7/16-17 SD Rapid City Hills Alive Music Festival 7/21-23 NY Albany Joyce Meyers Ministries Conference 7/21-24 WI Milwaukee Festa Italiana 7/28-31 WI Milwaukee GermanFest 8/3-6 NH Gilford SoulFest Christian Music Festival 8/4-6 PA Hershey Joyce Meyers Ministries Conference 8/4-14 WI West Allis Wisconsin State Fair 8/6 IL Chicago Joel Olsteen: A Night of Hope Conference 8/12-13 NE Omaha Women Of Faith Conference 8/12-13 GA Atlanta Women Of Faith Conference 8/13 KS Kansas City Farm Aid 2011 8/19-20 IN Indianapolis Women Of Faith Conference 8/26-27 TX Dallas Women Of Faith Conference 8/26-27 DC Washington Women Of Faith Conference 9/9-10 CA Anaheim Women Of Faith Conference 9/15-17 MO St. Louis Love Life Women's Conference- Joyce Meyers- 9/17-18 MO Kirkwood TABLE 2011 Kirkwood Greentree Festival 9/29-10/1 GA Atlanta Joyce Meyers Ministries Conference 10/7-8 VA Lynchburg Extraordinary Women's Conference 10/13-15 CA Long Beach Joyce Meyers Ministries Conference 10/14-15 IN Fort Wayne Extraordinary Women Conference 10/21-22 MS Tupelo Extraordinary Women Conference 11/4-5 IL Rockford Extraordinary Women Conference International Events: 6/4 CANADA ON Oakville Manifest Christian Rock Concert 7/22-24 CANADA ON Burlington Burlington Jazz'n Blues Festival |
Contact Paris at christian_vegetarian@yahoo.com if you can help. To find out about all upcoming leafleting and tabling opportunities in your area, join the CVA Calendar Group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/christian_vegetarian/ .
2. Essay – Christianity and Animal Rights, part 9: Facing the Truth
In recent essays, I have been arguing that animal rights are crucial for human rights. This week, I will start to explore spiritual aspects of animal rights.
If we are to grow spiritually, we must be honest with ourselves. The human capacity for self-delusion is strong, and (as I’ve discussed in previous essays), the human mind is often a slave to human passions. If we are to avoid self-deception, we must recognize that our self-centered hopes, fears, and desires can obscure the truth. Otherwise, we will tend to serve our own needs and be blind to the needs of others. To the degree that we allow our own passions to cloud the truth about the needs of others, we will fail in our Christian calling to serve others.
Though it is often easy to see how other people delude themselves, it is always difficult to see our self-delusions. These delusions are lies, and lies are crucial to a demonic mindset. Jesus said, “You are of your father the devil . . . He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44).
One of the most prevalent lies relates to animal issues. Most people oppose cruelty to animals and claim to “love animals.” Yet most people directly or indirectly participate in animal exploitation and abuse. When confronted by animal activists, many people claim that they don’t want to know what happens to animals on modern factory farms. I think this is largely because they strongly suspect that terrible abuses occur, and they wish to remain ignorant about details. They want to avoid the “cognitive dissonance” of trying to fuse their self-image as a compassionate person who loves animals with the reality of funding animal abuse.
We can only serve God faithfully if we are honest with ourselves. If we avoid or ignore facts and choose obvious self-delusions that help make us complicit in evil, our claim to love God is a sham. And if abusing God’s innocent, defenseless creatures isn’t evil, I don’t know what evil is. In my view, when Christian churches endorse animal abuse, they have fundamentally failed to transmit the message of God’s love that Jesus tried to teach 2000 years ago. Next week, I’ll explore this theme further.
Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.
3. This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and Mary Hoffman
By Faith We Can Walk with God
http://www.all-creatures.org/sermons97/s24apr88.html .
Your question and comments are welcome
| Copyright 2008 © Christian Vegetarian Association. All rights reserved. |
