Life Requires Death (Joel Salatin Notes)

In Chapter 4 of Joel Salatin's book"The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs' he provides some powerful Biblical perspective on why eating animals is o.k. in light of the Christian's desire to honor animals and treat them with reverence.  I meant to post this a couple of months ago and it sat in draft form!   I'm basically just posting this section verbatim.  Please enjoy.  

"Perhaps a big issue we need to deal with at this point is the push back that if life is so special what gives us the right to kill and eat? 

How does killing the pig honor it's glory? How is the "pigness of the pig" reverenced when we enjoy bacon for breakfast?  That's certainly a valid question. 

First let's look at this Biblically.  Nowhere does the Bible even hint that eating animals is wrong. The Patriarchs ate animals.  The Prophets ate animals.  The kings and peasants all ate animals.  The feasts included animals. Jesus ate animals. The disciples and apostles ate animals.   

How does killing and eating animals add strength to their glory? Because life requires death. 

While it's true that killing a carrot in the big scheme of things is no different from killing a chicken; when the blood flows and the eyes go dim it's far more graphic and real. 

The typology of sacrifice preceding life occurs throughout the old testament and culminates of course in the ultimate sacrifice of God's son as the perfect lamb to take away the sins of the world.  Every time we kill something whether seed embryo (wheat) vegetable or animal in order to live, it should remind us not only of the sacrificial death of Jesus that enables us to partake of eternal life but also how precious life is. Life is so precious that it requires death. 

The goal of radical animal rightists working through research scientists to grow non-living meat like substances from human feces or primal slime in petri dishes is a denial of this foundational principle that life requires death. 

Jesus uses the principle of seed being planted and dying before sending forth the new shoot.  Unless it dies the new shoot can't come forth. Everything, everything, everything requires death in order to create life. And lest anyone think I'm skipping the Edenic period when nothing died -we're not in Eden anymore Toto!  We don't have perfect bodies.  We live in a fallen world in which bringing glory to God includes appreciating the cost of life in him. It is precious enough to require death.  Eating reminds us of that with every chomp of our jaws.  

Our sustenance is completely and utterly dependent on taking life; be it plant or animal.  That alone should drive us to appreciate the sanctity and precious value of life. That means we don't hurt people and things unnecessarily.   

We are all one step away from our last breath. Every breath is a gift borrowed or snatched from the hands of death. 

That's the biblical part.  Now let's go to the ecological part.....

...I would suggest that what makes the sacrifice of any being sacred is how it was honored in life. To take that one step further, I would even suggest that only when we've honored the life do we have the right to make the sacrifice.  In other words someone who has abused the life, disrespected the life, looked at it as just inanimate stuff does not deserve to kill and eat.  

The right to participate in that sacred act must be earned.  

Think about the worship surrounding Biblical sacrifices.  Every one entailed a hush -a God-centric demeanor.  Sacrifices were not a place to exalt the dominion of man but a place to humbly appreciate the cost of life.   And of course alter sacrifices show the cost of forgiveness which is the door into eternal life. Viewing life as mechanical like industrial farming does cheapens it, which in turn cheapens the death. 

Is it any wonder that our culture is wrestling with increased violence among humans when we cheapen life through CAFO's and a cheap food policy -which is actually a cheap life policy.  

Food is life.  Food must live in order to die. 

families who spend extra on high quality food, who emphasize sacrificial value in food  create a beautiful platform for explaining the cost of salvation. If our food goal is the cheapest stuff available, what does that say about the cost of physical life?  By extension what does it say about the cost of eternal life. 

Please don't construe my meaning beyond it's intent.  I'm not suggesting that we be careless about shopping and comparing prices but price is definitely not the number 1 criterion.  Glory. Does this food honor life's distinctiveness is the number 1 criteria.  After that's been met, then be frugal!