Was Jesus a vegetarian?

Dave!

Hey folks,

Myself and couple of friends were (not entirely seriously) discussing this today

I would have assumed that he ate meat, but I can only recall him eating bread and fish, and drinking wine (a rather limited diet, I must say!)

Is there any Bible verses in which he is described as having eaten a hamburger or somethin?

Or does he give any indication that he doesn't like meat eaters?

Cheers

JimiTime

Dave! wrote: »

Hey folks,

Myself and couple of friends were (not entirely seriously) discussing this today

I would have assumed that he ate meat, but I can only recall him eating bread and fish, and drinking wine (a rather limited diet, I must say!)

Is there any Bible verses in which he is described as having eaten a hamburger or somethin?

Or does he give any indication that he doesn't like meat eaters?

Cheers

Find out what the diet for a person from a rather humble upbringing in Jeruselem was. That'll be your answer. (BTW, Jews celebrated Passover with Lamb)

Otherwise there's that line in Mark about the Big Macs and Chicken McNuggets.

Húrin

Fish is meat!

Thus Jesus was not a vegetarian. He probably ate a typical Israeli Mediterranean diet with bread, fish and olive oil. Beef consumption among his people would have been pretty low. He said (roughly) "what goes into a man does not make him unclean, but what comes out of him makes him unclean."

This was in contrast to the Jewish law on prohibiting the consumption of 'unclean' foods.

O'Coonassa

John the Baptist was for sure he only ate carobs and honey. I think there's a good case for arguing that Jesus was also. The theology behind John being vegi is 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."

[EDIT]Interesting article http://www.slate.com/id/91229/
http://everything2.com/title/Essene

robindch

Dave! wrote: »

Is there any Bible verses in which he is described as having eaten a hamburger or somethin?

Jesus was jewish.

Hamburgers? Nah.

Dave!

robindch wrote: »

Jesus was jewish.

Hamburgers? Nah.

Kosherburgers? :pac:

phelixoflaherty

Longhaired sandal wearing hippy in a kaftan?

Galvasean

Dave! wrote: »

Kosherburgers? :pac:

To paraphrase Patrick Bateman:
"Look, just give me a kosherburger with cheese"
Of course, he was missing the point entirely.

luckat

And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. (Matthew 9)

PDN

O'Coonassa wrote: »

John the Baptist was for sure he only ate carobs and honey. I think there's a good case for arguing that Jesus was also. The theology behind John being vegi is 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."

[EDIT]Interesting article http://www.slate.com/id/91229/
http://everything2.com/title/Essene

Nope, the majority of scholars believe that the traditional translation of 'locusts' is the correct one. The carobs thing is usually just propagated by veggies. As Jews it is also most probable that both John and Jesus would have eaten the Passover lamb each year.

My wife, having recently tried both locusts and scorpions on a recent overseas trip, assures me that locusts are quite tasty. I am content to take her word for it.

O'Coonassa

PDN wrote: »

Nope, the majority of scholars believe that the traditional translation of 'locusts' is the correct one. The carobs thing is usually just propagated by veggies. As Jews it is also most probable that both John and Jesus would have eaten the Passover lamb each year.

Well don't they call carobs St John's bread? I think the people doing the propagating were earlier Christians tbh. The vegetarians are latecomers I think.

Whatever, there's no denying that the first instruction from Genesis is an instruction to be vegetarian and that Jehovah only permitted meat to Noah and his descendents after the Flood and then only with many restrictions. Traditionally Judaism has advocated vegetarianism for ascetic reasons in order to more closely adhere to pre-Noahide Law.

JimiTime

O'Coonassa wrote: »

Whatever, there's no denying that the first instruction from Genesis is an instruction to be vegetarian and that Jehovah only permitted meat to Noah and his descendents after the Flood and then only with many restrictions. Traditionally Judaism has advocated vegetarianism for ascetic reasons in order to more closely adhere to pre-Noahide Law.

As silly as this whole question is. It really doesn't matter about the Genesis account does it? It seems to indicate that vegetarianism was the original design, but that is not how it remained is it. The fact that God 'commanded' the Israelites to eat the passover feast would really be the 100% certain answer to the question, 'Did Jesus eat meat?' or 'Dod Jesus hate meat eaters?'.

PDN

O'Coonassa wrote: »

Well don't they call carobs St John's bread?

If what 'they call' things is to determine our view of history then that could get very interesting. I'm thinking of St Vitus dance and St Elmo's fire!

O'Coonassa

PDN wrote: »

If what 'they call' things is to determine our view of history then that could get very interesting. I'm thinking of St Vitus dance and St Elmo's fire!

lol I was just saying that it wasn't all part of some vegetarian plot

PDN

O'Coonassa wrote: »

vegetarian plot

Allotment?

stevejazzx

O'Coonassa wrote: »

lol I was just saying that it wasn't all part of some vegetarian plot

Maybe it helps them (the Veggies!) psychologically in preparation for when they have to consume Jesus's body symbolically?

O'Coonassa

stevejazzx wrote: »

Maybe it helps them (the Veggies!) psychologically in preparation for when they have to consume Jesus's body symbolically?

lol according to the doctrine of the very holy Church I was reared in that isn't symbolism. Due to the hocus pocus of transubstantiation it's actual cannibalism :eek:

stevejazzx

O'Coonassa wrote: »

lol according to the doctrine of the very holy Church I was reared in that isn't symbolism. Due to the hocus pocus of transubstantiation it's actual cannibalism :eek:

Yeah I heard that but was afraid to suggest it lest provoking a 'well the majority of scholars actually believe...' type argument. Isn't cannabilsm quite a pagan ritual - seems like yet another hangover of a previously incarnated belief?

O'Coonassa

stevejazzx wrote: »

Yeah I heard that but was afraid to suggest it lest provoking a 'well the majority of scholars actually believe...' type argument. Isn't cannabilsm quite a pagan ritual - seems like yet another hangover of a previously incarnated belief?

Yes ritual cannibalism was certainly practiced by European pagans.

robindch

O'Coonassa wrote: »

Yes ritual cannibalism was certainly practiced by European pagans.

Variations are still practiced by certain well-known religions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophagy

Mickeroo

I used to listen to Moby(who is a vegan and a devout christian,if memory serves) years ago, he has a habit of putting his own essays in the album sleeves. I seem to remember one of them trying to say that he interpreted christ's teachings to promote being vegetarian. I think it was the Play album.

O'Coonassa

robindch wrote: »

Variations are still practiced by certain well-known religions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theophagy

Thanks I didn't know it was called that. The link references Dionysus who also has assosciations with wine. I've heard it argued that Jesus, as represented by the Pauline Christianity, is actually an analouge of Dionysus. There's certainly alot of paralells and even the names sound similar. I always wondered about the fact that Yeshuah is rendered as Joshua in Greek translations of the rest of the Bible.

PDN

O'Coonassa wrote: »

I always wondered about the fact that Yeshuah is rendered as Joshua in Greek translations of the rest of the Bible.

Neither Greek nor Hebrew have a letter J. I understand that Joshua and Jesus (and Hosea) are just different ways of saying the same name.