Weekly Newsletter from Christian Vegetarian Association CVA - February 14, 2019
From Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)

  1. Activist Feedback
  2. Original Sin part 64: Living outside the Garden
  3. All-Creatures.Org Ministry

1. Activist Feedback

I want to thank our friends at Vegan Outreach, who are helping us find and coordinate volunteers for Winter Jam events. They have been very rewarding, as you can see from the report below. Please contact Lorena atlorenavalenziveg@gmail.comto be a voice for the voiceless. We can find leafleting opportunities in your area.

Winter Jam Charlotte, January 20, 2019
Booklet total: 1,470

"We had a good crew of volunteers. There were 5 of us and getting leaflets out to the crowd was pretty easy. I had some good conversations, including with hunters and farmers. Many didn't approve of factory farming or had health concerns. Still, overall the crowd seemed very disinterested in talking about veganism - most had not considered reducing their intake of animal products. The kids were more receptive, and a couple teens had their parents sign them up for out 10 Weeks to Vegan program. People enjoyed the Primal Strips, which is good." -Stacy Shepanek, Vegan Outreach staff

2. Original Sin part 64: Living outside the Garden

Last week, I asserted that Adam and Eve could not live in the Garden of Eden, because they had eaten from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They recognized potential threats to their well-being, and the resulting fear made it impossible for them to live in peace and harmony with the rest of creation. We can’t go back to the Garden. Unless there is a Messianic Age in which all creation lives in harmony (as prophesied in Isaiah 11:6-9), there will always be suffering and death in the world. In our “fallen” world, we will want to protect ourselves and those we love. Can we live in peace outside the Garden?

A central problem, Jesus well understood, is fear. Most people oppose causing pain and suffering to humans and nonhumans, which is why animal agribusinesses go to great lengths to hide their cruel practices. However, compassion vanishes from the concerns of fearful people. The world outside Eden is full of dangers, and humans are distinctive (if not unique) in our knowledge of the inevitability of our deaths. In the face of terrifying prospects, how can we find the equanimity needed to show love and compassion for God’s creation?

Jesus said, “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26) Animal rights advocates might cringe at Jesus’ apparent devaluation of birds, but I don’t think that this is Jesus’ point. God cares about all creation, including birds. Therefore, we can surely trust that God will take care of us.

We are still left with reconciling Jesus’ reassurance in God’s beneficence with the real world, in which people and nonhumans suffer deprivation. Obviously, those with wealth who hoard food and other resources are less vulnerable than those who live hand-to-mouth. I think Jesus wanted people to trust in God, which is difficult in a world filled with scarcity and violence. How is such trust even possible? I will consider this question next week.

Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.

3. All-Creatures.Org Ministry

Newsletter Archives 2006-2019