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! 

Why I eat less Fast Food

Anyone who has hung out with me since this last summer knows that I’ve been eating very little fast food.  I wouldn't say I was eating a ton of fast food before -in fact, I began to actively reduce my intake a few years ago in an effort to facilitate better blood health.  But reading a book by Joel Salatin titled “The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs” has made a veritable impact on me and our family.

I’ve always loved fast food; I used to work at McDonalds and I’ve been a notorious advocate* for Taco Bell.  In fact, even recently I would dream and scheme about how cool it would be to run a fast food restaurant! I used to scoff at people who got over emotional about how “nasty” or un-healthy fast food was.  In my heart I felt they were mostly driven by a desire to appear sophisticated and set themselves apart from the masses or else they were weak minded people who got worked over by the “Super Size Me” documentary. I would often challenge people to be less picky and be open to more fast food if only for the sake of table fellowship. Suffice it to say, i was never looking for an excuse to stop eating fast food! And, while we haven’t completely stopped eating it, I now try to avoid it for the most part. I’m thinking very differently about the fast food industry, farming, food production and nutrition.  And my change in thinking on these things is being facilitated mostly by theological discussion on God’s design for creation and for our bodies and even for human work.

Joel Salatin is an inspirational  guy who describes himself as a  "Christian, libertarian, environmentalist, capitalist, lunatic, farmer".   He’s fairly well known among permaculture and organic farming types. Joel not only runs a farm regarded as ‘beyond organic’ called Polyface Farm down in Virginia, but he writes books and gives lectures all over America.  (He actually came and spoke at Cornell a few years ago and unfortunately I didn’t really know who he was at that point so I didn’t make a huge effort to go and hear him. If he came back, I would try and hang out with him all day!) 

Joel is a passionate educator who mostly helps people learn how to farm in ways that are sustainable, healthy and ecologically beneficial.  Even though most of what he promotes seems like old fashioned common sense he’s often considered a “radical” and a revolutionary. He is certainly creative and innovative.  Joel takes a lot of heat because he’s an outspoken critic of industrial farming practices and food systems driven by greed and sustained by exploitation. But I think Joel is  helpful because he labors to farm in ways that are fundamentally glorifying to God. He makes a point not to divorce his theology and his understanding of God from his farm work and business practice.  Again, that sounds like simple Christian integrity, but when you step back and realize how un-thoughtful we can be about God’s design and how He would have us interact with animals, produce food and take care of people, you can see that most of us are carelessly  hypocritical and un-Biblical!

One of Joel’s newest books is titled “The Marvelous Pigness of Pigs.”  Most of what he writes (I think) are practical “how to” books about how to farm under girded by theology and the Christian worldview.  But this book is a theological treatise with farming and food production in view. It’s a challenge written specifically to American Christians addressing Creation care and stewardship of the earth.

In my next post, I’ll share with you one of my favorite parts of Joel’s book.  For now, I just wanted to tell you how much I’ve been impacted and recommend it to you!  

*On top of eating at the Bell throughout my life, I've incorporated Taco Bell into most 'special events' in my life. My wedding, the birth of my children, mission trips, tourist journeys. I also claim to have "invented" the 'Double Loco' Taco with my kids. LOL