...that when someone gets offended by something I choose to do, it is either because they/you are ignorant as to why I do it, and/or they/you infer some sort of judgment, from me, about you/themselves. (Sorry for all of the slashes. It wont happen again./)
I reference the plethora of 3rd person accounts of people who have inactivated themselves from the LDS church because of actions, statements or policies that either people in authority have put in place, or said, or instituted, etc. ad nauseum. “Bishop so-and-so said this, and I’m never going back to church until he’s not bishop anymore and he moves out!” “The church let blacks have the priesthood. Well, they’re wrong, the Negroes don’t deserve it. The church can’t be true because of such an outrageous doctrine.” “Brother so-and-so is such a lame neighbor. I hear him out in his yard swearing at the kids who walk on his lawn. I know he knows he’s supposed to not talk like that. I’m not going to keep going to church because he is a bad person.” We’ve all heard things like this, or have thought them to ourselves. Our choice is how we will react to these supposed ‘slights’.
I am vegan because I choose to be, in order to alleviate the suffering of helpless animals that have no choice for themselves, and can’t escape their loathsome existences. I do not want to exploit any animal, because to do so is morally wrong. It is wrong because animals have souls, and will be exalted in the Celestial kingdom along with the righteous. Did you hear me? They will be exalted, and have souls! They are not dumb, and they are not to be used as food, except in extreme circumstances. If you don’t believe me, go read D&C 89:12-14 and then come back and we’ll talk. The only justification for animal consumption is if you’re going to die and that’s all you have. Nothing else. They are, spiritually speaking, only different from us in their inability to choose for themselves what to do. They are God’s creations as much as we are. They have as many rights as dogs and cats do.
Keep your situational ethics out of the discussion, please. Just because you don’t want to offend someone by not partaking of their egg-infested cake or brownies, is a pathetic excuse. And if you think that being vegan is a ‘higher law’, then live it! If you think that, you have an obligation to live it, and to do it. Enforce it in your house, and don’t worry about that you might offend someone. Don’t be wishy-washy. And I also have a news flash for all of you LDS carnivores: what do you think the Millennium is going to be like? 1000 years of peace. No violence. The lamb and the lion will lie down together, the lion will eat straw. Doesn’t sound like animals will be killed for food, does it? ; which, by the way, is violence of the worst sort- violence against the helpless.
The thing that fries my cookies (poor metaphor, but there it is) is that 99% of the church who have temple recommends say they live the Word of Wisdom, and they don’t. I suppose that the caveat is that they don’t know that they aren’t living it. Pay attention to your scriptures! Interpret them for yourself and pray for understanding! Don’t be a sheep and take someone else’s word for it. THINK FOR YOURSELF!!!!
I know of 3 people, who are relatives of mine, who think that Val and I have gone off the deep end because we are vegan. One of them, whose father is a cattle-rancher, is offended because it isn’t possible that her father does anything morally wrong, so she is offended both on his part, and her own. Her soon-to be husband is of the opinion that he has to have meat and that anything that doesn’t have necrotic, decaying animal flesh is ultimately weakening. He also follows her in a lot of things. The last person feels that veganism is morally wrong, even though she can’t elaborate as to why she thinks that. She just thinks that it is wrong. (I am pleased that I kept all of my negative comments about these people to myself. Aren’t you proud? And believe me, those thoughts are there. Lots of them.)
The problem with these and other people who profess disbelief and amazement at our eating habits is that so very few are even slightly interested as to why we do what we do. If we were to tell them anything, that might mean they have to change, or do something different. Oh no, the horror of it!!!!
I have real problems with ignorance. My mother says that we Fauvers do not ‘suffer fools gladly’. But, in a sense everyone is ignorant of some things. No one knows it all. What I have a problem with is willful ignorance, and disrespect to go along with it.
An example: if Val and I provide a vegan dish that tastes good and we make enough for everyone, why is it sneered upon and seen as inferior? Or why is it not sufficient and something else, which is not vegan, has to be brought to ‘supplement’ our food? What, your decaying flesh is better than what we took the time and $ to make? Thanks for the disrespect. And by ‘thanks’ I mean that you can keep it to yourself.
Don’t whine to me about inclusion. Try being vegan for 1 week, preferably around Thanksgiving or Christmas, and then go to family parties. MMMMMmmmm. Noodles and tomato sauce, while everyone else eats a dead bird or a hunk of flesh. Then come back and whine about including everyone.
If you choose not to eat what my wife and I prepare, fine. But it is your choice. Don’t come trying to ‘supplement’ our food, that we worked hard on, with your unholy swill, whining about how you don’t like it, or how you prefer ‘real’ meat. Don’t eat it, and do it out of choice. True, Val and I choose not to eat meat out of choice, but ours is a moral choice, and theirs is personal preference. Our choice is not morally wrong. Theirs is.
What is wrong is always wrong, no matter if you believe it or not. You can sin in ignorance, and God will forgive you. But, He knows if you know something, and when you started knowing it. You will be held accountable.
