Hi. It was your post #4579 that led me to think that you don't take much note of the SUFFERING of animals. Words (used by anyone) such as "valuable" or "created in God's image" are, to my thinking, pure abstraction. Pain and extreme fear & panic are not abstractions - not yours, not mine, not that of the animals people use and eat.

It is not outside the realm of possibility that there is a race on some other planet (God never said there wasn't) that is so highly developed compared to us, that they would consider us the same way you consider earth's animals. Now, if those ultra-beings were to do to us, what we do to our animals here, would the mere fact of the aliens' superiority take away our pain of being led to slaughter, hearing the cries of our fellow beings, smelling the blood of those that were just dispatched? I can't fathom the horror & panic these animals experience. It would be as immense as my own.

I support freedom of religious belief, so I don't know if I should debate with you too much, but what Tom had to say is more up my alley. I have thought about this deeply for years, and I just can't go along with the idea that Almighty God would expect all people, all over the world, from the day of Christ's birth, to the present day, to go to the Bible for advice on everything that they do. Personally, some of it makes a lot of sense, but some does not.

Also, you said it was the blood we should be careful to not consume, and that is why special methods of preparing meat are necessary. Well, isn't that from the Old Testament? Why would any Christian need to follow the rules & regulations & laws of the Old Testament? With Christ's sacrifice, all that was made null & void. "It is not what a man puts into his mouth that defiles him, but by what comes out."

Anyway, while I think that this is a good discussion, it really might be more suitable if it were placed in a separate thread, because this is supposed to be about PROTEIN - about which I have some thoughts & questions, so I will follow this post up with another. Thank you, Russ.