Calling All Carnivores- Tell Us Why It’s Ethical to Eat Meat: An Essay Contest

            For me, it started with these three simple words…In the beginning. In the Book of Genesis, mankind was commanded to “rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all creatures that move along the ground.”  With the early fall of man in the Garden of Eden, the killing and consumption of animal flesh became a necessity to survive.  That’s a good enough reason for me to eat meat; plus the fact that nothing goes better with pancakes than of a pound of bacon while on my annual hunting trip.

            Isaac, an irreplaceable founding father of the people of God, said in Genesis 27:3…“Now then, get your weapons—your quiver and bow—and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for me.  Prepare me the kind of tasty food I like…bring it to me to eat so that I may give you my blessing before I die.” 

            Mankind would never have survived to evolve without the consumption of meat.  Early man didn’t spend their days on hands and knees tending a garden.  They slaughtered animals to prevent becoming prey.  They hunted game to eat, used the hides for protection against the harsh elements and harvested bone for tools.  One could argue that in today’s world we no longer need those things to survive.  But without the consumption of meat, domesticated stock would be virtually useless and overpopulate, affecting the survival of plants and organisms and seriously altering the earth’s natural balance which would affect the survival of mankind.  It’s a vicious circle, a process that human’s are constantly interfering with, tipping the scale.

            I strongly disagree with the common practices of unhealthy, cruel and inhuman methods of raising meat for higher profits, but I would also argue about the use of chemicals to raise fruits and vegetables. The human body requires a balanced diet with complete proteins to thrive in addition to quality vitamins and minerals.  If humans hadn’t messed up the natural system by contaminating the Earth, we wouldn’t have to support the human body with synthetic additives to our food.  We would actually get the vital nutrients naturally through our food.

            Adam and Eve may have been created to live blissfully on fruits and vegetables in harmony with all the animals of the earth, but the second Eve convinced Adam to take a bite of the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, we instantly became carnivores by nature.

            I find it more ethical to eat natural meat then I do to eat genetically engineered grains and foods that have been altered from their natural state.  We live in such an immoral society today who’s actually qualified to judge what ethical even means?