Is God a vegetarian and will heaven be vegan?

The God of Genesis is often called the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. You can read the stories of these patriarchs in the Jewish Torah, the Islamic Koran and the Christian Bible. All three faiths share a common history and shared beginning. So you would think there would be so much more to unite them.

Veganuary is a foretaste of the heavenly banquet prepared for all…no really it is.

However, we are tribal in our approaches to other people and so focus on what separates us rather than what unites us. I have always the loved the Emo Philips joke that Ship of Fools voted as the best religious joke of all time in 2005:

Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, “Don’t do it!” He said, “Nobody loves me.” I said, “God loves you. Do you believe in God?”
He said, “Yes.” I said, “Are you a Christian or a Jew?” He said, “A Christian.” I said, “Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?” He said, “Protestant.” I said, “Me, too! What franchise?” He said, “Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?” He said, “Northern Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?”
He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist.” I said, “Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region.” I said, “Me, too!”
Northern Conservative†Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?” He said, “Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912.” I said, “Die, heretic!” And I pushed him over. (Emo Phillips 1985, E=mo2)

Food also separates the faiths. Whether meat is halal or kosher has been a hot topic with the Daily Mail jumping on the bandwagon recently, but I suspect that all the three faiths in question have all missed the point. Heaven will be vegan. Read what its says in Genesis 1:29:

 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.

God told Adam and Eve that they should only eat plants – no mention of eating meat occurs until chapter Genesis 9:3 where it says:

Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

So why the difference? The fall. In Genesis 1 the world is in its pre-fall state and so perfection is in place. This is what heaven will be like according to the writers of the time. In Genesis 9 pragmatism has taken over. The sin is in the world and humans have been banished from the Garden of Eden. God is now working with fallen people and so he relaxes the rules.

So next time someone beats you up over some minor point of scripture and your failure to heed it, ask them if they are vegan. If they are not, they are falling short of the perfect world order that God intended. So I suggest we all become vegan now to to prepare ourselves for heaven….