A healthy alternative to no meat or factory-farm meat
Re: “What would Jesus eat?” June 11, page 30.
I read this article with great interest and agree with John Borger that factory farming is not ideal, but he makes it sound like the only options we have are to eat factory-farm meat or not eat any meat at all.
There are still small family farms like my Roesacres Organic Farm that do our best to allow our animals to live in conditions where they can do what they were created to do. My cattle spend most summer days outside having access to fresh pasture. My chickens are also allowed outside to eat grass and scratch around in the dirt.
God created cattle to eat the things that people don’t. Unlike me, cows can take grass and turn it into milk and meat for us to eat, and at the same time fertilize the ground so more grass grows. It’s a pretty efficient system.
Borger also makes the comment that meat is the cause of many diseases. In reality, meat has very little to do with these diseases. We live in a culture where fat-free is thought to be healthy. While many people try to cut out the fats in their diets, our society is only getting heavier. The main problem is actually the carbohydrates.
Meat can be, and should be, part of a healthy diet. While fruits and vegetables should make up at least half of what we eat, meat raised in a healthy way can also be beneficial to our health. The meat and eggs in my diet do not have a negative effect on my health; in fact, they only make me healthier
There are many other farms like mine that are doing their best to raise healthy animals to produce healthy food for us all to eat. Meat does not need to be cut out of our diets, but we do need to know where it comes from and how it was raised.
Scott Roes, Milverton, Ont.
Magazine ‘contributes significantly’ to spiritual formation
The “Article brings back fond memories of German ministry
Re: “Migrant church grows new roots,” June 11, page 12.
Reading about the new roots and traditions of the German church, a blessed experience came back. Hildur and I served the now thriving Umseidler Mennonite congregation in Wolfsburg, Germany, from 1978 till 1982. Here, we found ourselves in the midst of different Mennonite traditions—Russian, German and North American—and we of the original West Prussian/Lutheran tradition. We tried to understand and appreciate all with the attitude and love of Jesus Christ.
We also found meaningful relationships with rather large independent Russian Mennonite/Baptist congregations there. We observed strong new roots nourished by a serious commitment to Jesus Christ often under a repressive non-Christian society, where a Halloween fun night certainly was out of question.
Erwin Cornelsen, Vancouver
Snake handling has something to say about giftedness
Re: “Snake passages are optional” column, June 25, page 11.
For several years I lived in eastern Kentucky and got to know a number of people connected to the branch of holiness churches that sometimes use snakes in their worship services. I renovated a home for one of those families and got to talking to them about church. The man explained to me that they very rarely took the snakes out of their boxes during the service out of concern that the ability to handle the snakes could make one member feel more prideful than others, and lead the group into divisiveness and sin. It was an insightful comment that many of us could apply to more mundane issues of giftedness in the church.
He also explained to me that, although his congregation rarely handled the snakes during worship, they did believe that a believer who is “in good with the Lord and with his Christian brothers” should need not fear any creature God has made. It was a very powerful claim of holistic faith.
Later during that renovation project, I disturbed a large poisonous copperhead snake under the house and the snake crawled out into the yard. True to his word, the homeowner casually walked over, picked it up and gently placed it in a plastic bucket nearby. Neither the man nor the snake was agitated or afraid of the other. It was amazing to see.
That man and I disagreed about a number of things theologically and politically. He read his Bible carefully and with great faith and confidence that what is written there is the inerrant, infallible word of God for him and others for all time and in all places. He and his family did what they could to follow what is written in the New Testament in every way, even when those models seemed difficult to understand or apply, and put them at odds with society and even the church around them.
Troy Watson uses the snake-handling example to critique Christians who claim to believe in a literal inerrant reading of Scripture and yet clearly do not. That’s a fair criticism. However, both conservative evangelicals and those who see themselves on the progressive postmodern end of the theological spectrum would do well to give occasional credit to those sometimes odd groups of very conservative Christian believers who do what they can to live out and apply everything they read in the Bible as literally as they can. They follow a path that few of us feel called to, but all of us should be aware of with a certain respect.
What became of the snake in the pail? Why, he took it to church, of course!
Jeff Thiessen, Austin, Man.
Is unity at any cost worth the price?
Re: “Listen to the prophetic young voices
Thank you so much for beginning the Young Voices section in Canadian Mennonite. It is refreshing to hear the opinions of the younger generation.
I especially appreciated the prophetic voice of Daniel Eggert (“Young adults pursue walk with God in other Christian traditions,” May 28, page 35) when he said, “I think right now the [Mennonite church] has to make a decision on whether it wants to clothe the naked and feed the poor, or whether it wants to be a community of followers of Christ.”
He eloquently states what I have felt for some time: “By focusing continually on social justice and motivating people to take action in that regard, it’s a little bit like harvesting all the crops and not re-planting the seeds—like owning a stock and taking all the dividends and never reinvesting. We can focus on the outcomes of faith . . . but if we don’t continue to focus on faith and growing the number of believers, then it minimizes the future fruits.”
In how many Mennonite congregations do we already see the results of what Eggert is talking about? There are many aging congregations where younger people haven’t been schoolled and mentored in their faith, and therefore find the church irrelevant to their social justice and action. How soon will the vision for social justice disappear, too, because the roots of faith haven’t been nourished?
Yes, I believe the Mennonite church does face an important decision, and we need to go back further than our Anabaptist heritage to focus on inspiring people in their faith to be followers of Christ. We had better listen to those prophetic young voices.
Ruth Smith Meyer, Ailsa Craig, Ont.
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