The Amazing Benefits of the Whole Foods Plant-based Diet part V

Hello everyone. 🙂

Today, I will be concluding the series that I have been doing on the Whole Foods Plant-based Diet. Today, I will be sharing some reasons for switching to this diet that are based on love. True love, as defined by God, is a powerful and pure motivator. It leads people to do right things for the right reasons. How beautiful!

There are many reasons why people make positive choices in their lives. Sadly, many times these reasons are really based in selfishness-not in love. There are people who both can and do live very respectable and upright lives for the following reasons and possibly for more reasons than the ones listed below:

1. They love having a lot of influence.

2. They love being well thought of.

3. Although their hearts are not pure, they do have a sense of self respect, which is good. This sense of self-respect causes them to be careful to avoid the appearance of evil.

4. They sometimes behave as if they are kind, humble and tender-hearted when this is not always what they are really feeling deep down inside. These behaviors are sometimes not really motivated by true love. They probably behave in these ways so that other people will think well of them and/or so that people will not detect their true motives.

For example: My grandparents, uncle and I once met a corrupt car saleswoman. She seemed very nice and friendly and she struck up quite a conversation with a couple of us. However, later on, when my grandmother was reading the fine print on the document that she had received after buying her car, she realize that the lady had flat-out lied to her about something. Very sad.

So, someone might be asking; what does all of this have to do with the Whole Food Plant-based diet? If you are motivated to change your diet for selfish reasons, you will receive benefits for sure, but I am confident that if you ask God to give you unselfish motives for changing your diet, not only will you benefit, but you will also benefit other people, you will be a better steward of the earth that God has created and you may help many animals to be spared from tremendous suffering.

You see, we really do not live isolated lives. In fact, we can’t live entirely isolated lives even when we want to. So much of what we do affects somebody or something else- somewhere in the world. Case in point: the sad reality is that the commercial meat industry and likely the dairy industry as well, is causing a lot of harm both to the earth that God has commanded us to take care of and to the animals that live in it.

As far as the earth itself is concerned: when God created human beings, He said that He intended for us to dress it and keep it. (Genesis 2:15) However, we use a lot of land to grow food for cows that we then kill and eat. From things that I have gathered from various sources, I really do not believe that the commercial cattle industry’s practices are good for the earth. I believe that the commonly used practices are largely wasteful and inefficient. I feel that it is far better for us to grow food for ourselves and for the animals, but not in order to fuel an industry that produces large numbers of cows that are destined to be killed and eaten.

I want to say right now that I understand that some people have food scarcity issues that make it so that they must eat meat and/or dairy in order to be well nourished. I have no intent to condemn these people. I also know of a girl who was once so allergic to so many foods that she needed to eat meat in order to be nourished. I also have no intent to condemn people who are also in her position. However, I do think that for those who are able, it is best to stay away from all meat and dairy products.

My heart goes out to the meat and dairy industry workers who will probably find what I am saying very threatening, if they read this. I love you all and I will be praying that God will help you all to eventually find better ways of supporting yourselves. Back to my main train of thought…

While I respect their love and ardor, I don’t fully resonate with the beliefs of at least some full blown animal right’s activists I have come into contact with. I love animals very much, but a candid, sincere study of the Bible reveals that humans were made in the image of God and were given dominion over animals (Genesis 1:26-27). The Bible also reveals that the level of value placed upon animals is not equal to the level of value that humans have in God’s eyes (Matthew 10:31). It’s important to remember that animals are not people and that people are not animals; however, a true Christian will not be cruel and inattentive towards his or her animals.(Proverbs 12:10; ). There are some cruel practices in the meat and dairy industries today. It is good for people to know about these practices.

The sources I am citing below are sources which reveal the horrible conditions that many animals in the meat and dairy industries are living in. I’m sorry to be exposing my readers to upsetting realities, yet I hope that your hearts will be wrenched as you come to terms with the sad lives these creatures are forced to live . 

1. https://www.peta.org/issues/animals-used-for-food/factory-farming/cows/dairy-industry

2. https://www.aspca.org/animal-cruelty/farm-animal-welfare/animals-factory-farms#Cattle (the conditions that several kinds of commercially raised, meat destined animals face are discussed in this article)

Going back to more a positive note: love is a beautiful thing. When we have God’s love in our hearts, we do right things for the right reasons. I beg you all: if you do not care about how you treat the earth that God has always intended for us to be good stewards of, pray to Him and ask Him to help you to care, and then choose to care. Furthermore, if you do not care about animals, please do pray that God will help you to care, and then choose to care.

Love is such a beautiful thing! God wants to make us thoughtful and courteous people in every sense of these words. It is such a beautiful thing to live our lives-not merely in a way in which we are always trying to make ourselves happy, but in a way in which we consider how all of our actions affect someone or something else…. somewhere. God’s love is a beautiful thing.

“Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?” Luke 12:6

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In conclusion: I hope that the series “The Amazing Benefits of the Whole Foods Plant-based Diet” has been informative, thought provoking, sobering, encouraging and motivating. Changing one’s diet is no easy matter, but I trust that God will help everyone who wants to glorify Him in all areas of life to make the changes that He leads each one to make. God is full of common sense, wisdom and love. Courage!

Note: I welcome you to stay tuned for the next series that I will be doing on this blog: “Jesus: Who He Is and How to Know Him”. The first post will be up by late next week!

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Photo credit: https://www.pexels.com/photo/abundance-agriculture-bananas-batch-264537/