Becoming Vegetarian Was a Spiritual Decision
In some ways, it felt inevitable.
I was raised as a Charismatic Christain. To those of you unfamiliar with it, Charismatic Christianity is a mystic offshoot of Evangelical Christianity emphasizing the Holy Spirit, and subsequently, the ‘gifts’ and ‘miracles’ that emerge from resting in that spirit.
Though in many ways I considered that upbringing to be very open to different ways of approaching religion, in others it was very closed off.
When I was 16, I became interested in Judaism. To a Charismatic Christian, the only way one can really reconcile such an interest in another faith is under the guise of evangelism. So I attended Synagogues, spoke to Rabbis, and read books with the goal of convincing others of ‘the truth.’
One question plagued my soul. I couldn’t explain it. How can Christians cherry-pick ‘Old Testament’ laws? If there are 613 mitzvot, why do we only consider a few ‘relevant’ to Christians?
Food, particularly, boggled my brain. How could a creator so infinite, so wise, so good tell one group of people to eat a unique, albeit seemingly strange, diet? There had to be some logical reason.
Perhaps it had to do with animal rights. Ancient societies obviously couldn’t go meat-free, but they could at least…
