Raising The Steaks

HSUS and PETA have been busy this summer with some new campaigns to keep people from consuming meat.  About one month ago, PETA wrote a letter to the Southern Baptist Convention that they should adopt a vegetarian lifestyle to boost church membership.  Simply put, I was stunned by this implication.  I was raised in a Southern Baptist home, where my parents have tought me first the love of the Lord and secondly the care and management of His creatures on this world. The claim that both PETA and the HSUS make that animal production “violates core Christian values” is truly an inaccurate statement. 

I have spent a great deal of my morning reading through chapters and verses of the Bible to best give you my response to this accusation. Let me begin by first telling you that I am not here to preach to you, but instead, I want to share with you why I believe that farmers and ranchers are not in the wrong.  The Bible is written in a language that uses a lot of imagery. In many cases, this imagery is derived from on the farm terms.  During a memorable church service at our county fair, the preacher shared a story that used an illustration that anyone involved in animal production would understand.  He shared a story with us from Isaiah 53, (which is later  repeated in Acts 8).  In the story, a man is compared to how ”…a sheep before her shearers is slient, so he did not open his mouth.”  Isaiah 53:7 NIV.  Now, anyone who has tried to clip pigs, knows just how loud and uncooperative they can be in comparison to sheep, which remain calm, still, and silent.  This is just one example of how we can relate to our Creator, who, because of our involvement in agriculture,is able to create a world of imagery and description that we can understand.

The Bible is filled with orders and laws that God wants us to follow.  He has given us the responsibility of taking care of the animals on his world.  He states this in Genesis 1:29-30.  And speaking of orders that He has given us, in Leviticus 11:3, when declaring which food is “clean” and “unclean” to eat, he includes in his orders “…that chews the cud.”  (Later, in Acts10:9-16, Jesus declares that all food is clean to eat). 

In the New Testament, Jesus shares many parables with his followers and believers.  Jesus’ parables use typical, everyday ordinary ideas that we can all associate with.  Many of these parables include animals.  In the Parable of the Lost Son, a father celebrates the return of his by clothing him in a robe and feasting on a fattened calf.  Clearly, Jesus is able to relate to people through agricultural products.  Among my favorite parables, the Parable of the Lost Sheep describes the extremes that a shepherd will go through to find just one lost sheep out of one hundred.  This provides an example to us as farmers and ranchers how we should take care of our animals.

Most people are familiar with Psalm 23.  “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not be in want…”  I believe that it is no coincidence that so many references, and some of the most recognized scriptures, are made to animal husbandry in the Bible.  When PETA and the HSUS say that farmers and ranchers can not be Christians because they fail in their commitment to the environment, the land, and people, I urge you to take a look around at the community of farmers and ranchers.  I stress the word community because recently at a New Mexico Cattle Growers meeting, someone pointed out all to often we see ourselves as an industry, when in fact, we are a community of producers, transporters, proccessors, and everything in between working to raise our cattle in the right way.  This community is dedicated to animal welfare and the environment.  Growing up, I have learned that it takes more than know-how to run a ranch.  Whether it’s surving a drought, or waiting for the weather to be just right to harvest the hay, being involved directly in production agriculture has, as my brother puts it, “tested our religion at one point or another.”  I also know that sometimes it takes a lot faith and prayer to make it through the year.  We have relied and embraced a faith that has led us to be better stewards of our land and our animals.

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