Following are a few pieces of information that may be helpful.

I want to add that I value the input of both Carla and Demi as well as all others on this forum although some of your styles are very different, I have no problem with that.

Both are extremely knowledgeable and helpful to others in a variety of areas and although they have a very different style of communication, they both make excellent points. Many—including me—have benefited from the depth of the knowledge and experience they have.

For example, the discussion about animals: I believe eating meat is perfectly acceptable and healthy. So is not eating meat. it's a personal preference. Some people may have different ideas on whether or not it's healthy, but that information differs only because we get information from different sources. Although I realize the conversation got much deeper than that.

The part that is not acceptable is when animals are treated cruely. If they are raised and killed for food, they should be killed in a way that does not hurt and raised in a way that they can have a good life experience. Not surprisingly, this makes them even more healthy as food (free range, etc.).

I currently view this issue this way: The part that is not healthy is not the animal meat itself, it is the blood which is carrying the toxins and waste out of the body when the animal is killed. The Bible states not to eat the meat with the blood and there are many ways to remove the blood from the meat including using salt. Of course, salt is an important symbol in the Bible symbolizing purification. Interesting.

I also don't believe animals have spirits. They are refered to as "souls" in Genesis (see Strong's). In the spirit dwells faith and intellect and other higher attributes that animals simply don't posses because God did not intend that they be intellectual beings. They are emotional (i.e., soulful) and physical. Humans are both of these, plus spiritual (see "Breath" in Strong's: Genesis). God also demonstrates the "value" factor of human beings by saying we are of more value than "many sparrows" (Luke 12:7). This is not to say that animals are not valuable, just that humans (I believe "saved" humans) are more valuable to God.

The Bible speaks about both the grace and severity of God (Rom 11:22) but we humans don't always like to deal with the severity part. An animal had to die to make the covering for the original garden dwellers. This is an early symbol of Christ, who's death was also severe.

The spirit of mankind is the most compelling part of us. It allows us to plan for the future, create weights and measures, examine physical laws and build buildings by using faith in physical laws. It also enables us to love, sacrifice and express our will, sometimes for the better, often for the worse, but always—hopefully—improving.

Debating is a natural outcome of intellectual beings expressing their differing experiences and conclusions. It's healthy so long as it remains intellectual and does not become animal. So, debate away. Just remember that your opponent may very well be valuable to God even if they haven't come to the same conclusions you have.

It's important to remember that a debate would never occur if people were completely apathetic, so I always respect those who debate (so long as they are not simply feeding off dissention) because they have passion. Christ said He prefer that we are either hot or cold, just not apathetic (Rev 3:15-17).

On another note, research that I've read has shown that "O" blood types digest meat better than "A" blood types, who probably do better as vegetarians.

Just a little information that I hope is helpful.