Weekly Newsletter from Christian Vegetarian Association CVA - November 17, 2017
From Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)

  1. Revised Booklet Cover
  2. Effective Leafleting Video
  3. The Hope of “Clean Meat”
  4. Original Sin, part 15
  5. This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and Mary Hoffman

1. Revised Booklet Cover

We’re thinking of changing the cover of our booklet “Joyful, Compassionate Eating.” Instead of the picture of a lamb, we might use the picture of fruits and vegetables currently on the back page. To see the pictures, go to http://christianveg.org/compassionate-eating-20170309.pdf Please let us know what you think at cva@christianveg.org.

2. Effective Leafleting Video

Last week I recommended a video on effective leafleting. A better link is  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMKUsOcvTHI

3. The Hope of “Clean Meat”

However strong the case against abusing and killing animals to satisfy a taste preference might be, a lot of people won’t voluntarily stop consuming animal flesh and other products. That’s why I want to give a shout-out to The Good Food Institute, which is working at scientific, marketing, and public policy levels to promote “clean meat” grown in vitro. I encourage people to visit the GFI web site, consider donating to that worthy organization, and consider working for GFI, which has several job openings.

4. Original Sin, part 15

I do think that Jesus’ death relates to “original sin” in a way that offers a path toward individual and communal salvation. Before I get there, I want to continue the discussion about how some popular theories related to Jesus’ death are problematic theologically and in terms of advancing social justice, including animal protectionism.

Last week, I began to discuss substitution atonement theology, which holds that Jesus was sacrificed to redeem humanity from Adam’s “original sin” of disobedience. I noted that, if the Roman authorities were responsible for Jesus’ death, then a secular, unjust process was integral to humanity’s salvation. A similar problem arises if we attribute Jesus’ death the mob or the high priests.

If we hold the mob or high priests responsible, evildoers would be doing the will of God. An act of murder without any element of sanctity or respect for either the victim or God would actually be the vehicle for God’s forgiveness of human sin. This certainly conflicts with prior notions of sacrifice, and it makes no sense to me.

Perhaps God orchestrated the killing of Jesus. There are difficulties with this theory as well. First, it conflicts with God’s prior declaration, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). What kind of parent chooses to kill a beloved child? Secondly, it conflicts with the notion of God as loving and compassionate. It is possible that God is not loving and compassionate. However, this view contradicts the 1 John 4:8 passage, “God is love.” And, if God were not loving and compassionate, we might worship God out of fear, but we would probably not worship out of reverence.

There are additional difficulties with substitutionary atonement theology, which I will explore next week, before presenting a theory about the meaning of Jesus’ death that I think accords with a faith in a loving, compassionate God.

Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.

5. This Week’s Sermon from Rev. Frank and Mary Hoffman

Spiritually Dismissing Heavenly Miracles

Newsletter Archives 2006-2017
See All Newsletter Archives