Main Street Vegan

Vegan Coach Certification, Podcast & Info

  • Home
  • Academy
  • Podcast
  • Blog
  • Books
  • Contact

Food and the Narrow Path: A Vegan Perspective on Celebrating Christmas

by Vince Tucker, VLCE, MVE

posted Dec 15, 2020

Share
Tweet
Share
Pin

I was raised as a fundamentalist Christian. I was also raised to eat animals. Our family typically celebrated Christmas with either a turkey or a ham as the centerpiece of our meal. It was a happy way to end the Christmas season, a time to promote good will and to celebrate the birth of our proclaimed Prince of Peace. As a dedicated vegan, however, I can no longer reconcile celebrating the birth of Jesus by dining on exploited animals. Isn’t this truly a contradiction in values?

Woody. Photo credit: Vince Tucker

In the Genesis creation accounts, Adam is surrounded by animals. They were his companions. He named his animals in the same way that we name our pets. God created humans and non-humans to live in peace.

Just like Adam, Jesus was also surrounded by animals during his birth. This beautiful parallel gets almost no attention from Christian apologists, authors, and pulpits across America and around the world. If the savior of the world spent his first days surrounded by animals, and the first human was also surrounded by animals, then perhaps God is trying to tell us something.

Photo credit: Vince Tucker

In the Genesis creation accounts, God created seed-bearing plants and saw that they were good (Genesis 1:11-12). With scientific enlightenment, we have discovered many comprehensive benefits to eating a plant-based diet, especially one made up of primarily whole plant foods with minimal processing. This is the essence of eating from the Garden of Eden. This Edenic diet provides optimal nutrition to fuel our bodies, prevent disease, and promote healthy body weight. By contrast, while we can receive some nutrients from animal-based foods, consuming meat, eggs, and dairy products present myriad obstacles to maintaining health. God designed our bodies to extract maximum health benefits from plant-based foods. Science provides strong evidence validating the Genesis account of the original Divine blueprint for eating. 

Helen. Photo credit: Vince Tucker

I was taught to be a disciple of Christ by giving up my life for others. I was also taught the doctrine of the Trinity, proclaiming that Jesus was the Incarnate Deity. If Jesus lived a life of self-sacrifice, and God the Father is the Giver of Life, then why do most Christians fail to examine our cultural acceptance of taking the lives of animals for food?

The short answer to this question is because we eat almost subconsciously. We were introduced to solid food before we were able to speak or reason. Our choices were made for us before we had significant cognitive ability to make a conscious choice. By the time we were able to understand where our food came from (and who our food was), our style of eating had already been normalized in our minds and hearts. At that point, our ability to objectively comprehend our food choices from a spiritual perspective had been severely hindered.

Photo credit: Vince Tucker

There are other aspects of Jesus’ life that are worthy of examination within the context of food and animals. For example, there is strong evidence that Jesus was an Essene, a branch of Judaism that ate a plant-based diet and opposed animal sacrifices in the Temple. Would this add an animal rights component to the story of Jesus driving the money changers out of the Temple for selling animals for sacrifice? 

Few expressions of faith bring me greater intimacy with God than my vegan lifestyle. Eating whole plant foods brings me to my Edenic roots. Volunteering at my local animal sanctuary resonates with the Gospel accounts of the birth of Jesus.

Photo credit: Vince Tucker

Animal agriculture promotes unconscionable violence, environmental degradation, and chronic disease. Plant agriculture provides healthy food that is better for the earth and does not promote systemic animal violence. Jesus stated that many will find the wide path of destruction and few will find the narrow path to life (Matthew 7: 13-14). We cannot find that narrow path without first examining our choices for food. This Christmas, may we celebrate the Prince of Peace by leaving animals off our plates. And for the new year, may we resolve to take the narrow path that leads us back to the Garden. 

 

Photo credit: Vince Tucker

Vince Tucker is a Main Street Vegan Academy Master Vegan Lifestyle Coach and Educator and holds a Certificate in Plant-Based Nutrition from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies at eCornell. He works for the Educated Choices Program, teaching middle and high school students in Kansas City and surrounding area counties about how their food choices impact personal health, the environment, food scarcity, and animal welfare. Vince earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Broadcasting and a Minor in Speech Communication from Northwest Missouri State University and is currently studying Lifestyle Medicine for Coaches through the American College of Lifestyle Medicine and Health and Wellness Coaching through the Mayo Clinic. He is also studying for his personal trainer certification through the American Council on Exercise. Vince enjoys volunteering at Shy 38 Inc. animal sanctuary near Kansas City. He is also an on-call writer and editor for the Agricultural Fairness Alliance, the lobbying arm of the Vegan Justice League.

Vince is a member of the Interfaith Vegan Coalition. As a member of the IVC, Vince supports the producer and director of the interfaith vegan documentary, A Prayer for Compassion, in the development of the Compassionate Living Circles (CLCs). The CLCs are structured to support faith communities in adopting a vegan lifestyle. Vince coordinated the first ever screening of A Prayer for Compassion in Kansas City. (Email for more information about the Compassionate Living Circles.)

Share
Tweet
Share
Pin

Filed Under: Blog

« MSV Podcast & Show Notes, December 9, 2020 T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., on COVID-19, Nutrition, and Science
MSV Podcast & Show Notes, December 16, 2020 Celebrating Being a Fabulous Vegan with a Host of Luminaries! »

Comments

  1. Willis Alford says

    December 15, 2020 at 1:40 pm

    For Vince Tucker:
    I too was brought up a fundamentalist Christian. Your article could have been written by me. I had ham or turkey on the dining table in my youth. It took a lifetime for me to become a vegan.I am a senior citizen and will be celebrating 4 years as a vegan in March 2021. I want to thank you for your article. Keep up the good work!!!!!

    • Vince Tucker says

      December 24, 2020 at 11:40 am

      Willis, it is so inspiring to hear that you made the connection in your later years. It is never too late. You are challenging me to find ways to “vegangelize” people of ALL ages. I was already considering a secondary career in healthy aging based on six pillars of healthy living, which include moderate exercise and a plant-based diet. Your comment has deepened that resolve, so I want to thank you. I have no doubt that you are reaping both physical and spiritual benefits from your lifestyle change.

  2. Diana Goldman says

    December 15, 2020 at 4:50 pm

    Great post Vince! Beautifully written. I didn’t know that about the Essenes, and am now curious to learn more.

    • Vince Tucker says

      December 24, 2020 at 11:49 am

      Diana, may I recommend the book The Lost Religion of Jesus by Keith Akers. He examines modern Christianity broadly, within the context of ethics rather than theology. Akers asserts that which Jesus’ taught pacifism, simple living, and a vegan lifestyle, which is consistent with his Essene origins.

  3. suzette says

    December 22, 2020 at 6:05 pm

    Hi Vince – well written and researched article. Violence is never good and violence against living creatures cannot equate spirituality that in any way resonates with what I believe is of the truth. People argue with me about animals in the Bible, giving examples of all the huge numbers of herds, animal sacrifices, the sacrificial lamb…who ultimately was Jesus. I think that people try to justify their position so they can keep eating animals without feeling any sense of wrong-ness. You talk of the narrow path being into the garden…and I think, yes, it’s narrow – but then it’s the widest, most spectacular place in which to thrive. Merry Christmas!

  4. Vince Tucker says

    December 24, 2020 at 12:02 pm

    Hi, Suzette. Fundamentalism teaches us to examine life through a Biblical filter. What many Christians do not realize is that we all read the Bible through our own filter. I love your final metaphor. Yes, the garden is wide. And to be certain, the Narrow Path can be made wider as well. There are many like us who are willing to do that work needed to make that path accessible for all.

    Merry Christmas to you, too!

  5. ParentingNerd says

    December 31, 2020 at 4:47 am

    Great article! Happy holidays! 🙂

  6. ROBERTA says

    February 21, 2021 at 9:24 pm

    JUST READING THIS BLOG NOW, 210221. THANK YOU. I’M DEFINITELY GOING TO CHECK OUT AKERS’S BOOK. JULY WILL BE 6 YEARS EATING VEGAN. WAS VEGETARIAN FOR AGES, BUT I ALWAYS FELT THIS DEEP, SUBCONSCIOUS SENSE OF COGNITIVE DISSONANCE WITH MY DEEPLY HELD VALUES. WHEN I MADE THE COMMITMENT TO EAT VEGAN, I FINALLY FELT AUTHENTIC. SO, I’M AN “ETHICAL VEGAN” THAT HAS REAPED UNTOLD HEALTH BENEFITS & MADE A HUGE POSITIVE IMPACT ON MY ADULT SON & ON SEVERAL CLOSE FRIENDS. ALTHOUGH I AM NOT ‘RELIGIOUS’ IN THE USUAL SENSE, I’M DEEPLY SPIRITUAL & TRULY APPRECIATE YOUR ARTICLE & ITS RESEARCH & CONTENT. THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH, VINCE. MANY BLESSINGS, ROBERTA IN SOFL

top vegan blogs
​ ​

Recent Posts

  • Main Street Vegan: Entering Our 2nd Decade
  • A tale of two podcasts . . .
  • Support the FDA Modernization Act to End Drug Tests on Animals, Guest Post by Tamara Drake
  • 15 Years Later, the Cow That Shattered My Carnism and Veganized My Soul, by Nivi Jaswal, MVLCE
  • Beyond Salads and Smoothies: 12 Surprising Ways to Eat Your Leafy Greens, by Carol Ray, MVLCE

RSS Main Street Vegan

  • A tale of two podcasts . . .
    The Main Street Vegan Show was a weekly weekly program on Unity Online Radio from June 2012 to April 2022. Guests included Neal Barnard, MD, Gene Baur, T. Colin Campbell, PhD, Seane Corn, Earthling Ed, Joel Fuhrman, MD, Marilu Henner, Chef Matthew Kenney, Evanna Lynch, Milton Mills, MD, Moby, Ingrid Newkirk, Dean Ornish, MD, John Salley, and hundreds more.... […]
  • Support the FDA Modernization Act to End Drug Tests on Animals, Guest Post by Tamara Drake
    posted June 28, 2022 Ethical vegans care deeply about animals and strive to live a cruelty-free life. In addition to following a vegan diet, we don’t buy leather or wool, and we carefully choose our cosmetics. When it comes to medicines, though, we don’t have the option of following our ethics. An antiquated law requires... […]
  • 15 Years Later, the Cow That Shattered My Carnism and Veganized My Soul, by Nivi Jaswal, MVLCE
    posted June 21, 2022 August 2020, I sat numb in a Main Street Vegan Academy class, secretly hoping that I’d get by without much participation when Jasmin Singer declared she was going to speak about Veganism and the power of personal stories. I was numb because my father had just passed away, and my mother... […]
  • Beyond Salads and Smoothies: 12 Surprising Ways to Eat Your Leafy Greens, by Carol Ray, MVLCE
    posted June 14, 2022 Summer is upon us, my favorite time of year for frosty, frothy, bright green smoothies or juices, and colorful, crunchy, mixed green salads. Yum! There’s no shortage of different options: kale, spinach, collard greens, watercress, beet greens, turnip greens, and chard, just to name a few. But sometimes you want to... […]
  • Towards a Religion of Compassion, by Victoria Moran
    “My religion is based on truth and non-violence. Truth is my God. Non-violence is the means of realising Him” ~ Mahatma Gandhi I was in the lunch line at Kripalu, my first time at this yoga retreat in the Berkshires that I’d heard about since the 1970s. I knew they’d gone through a major restructuring... […]
  • Let Food Be Thy Medicine, by Laura Leal, VLCE
    posted May 24, 2022 Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food. ~ Hippocrates We’ve all likely encountered this quote more than once and considered them wise words. In fact, they are. I’ve been studying human creation and find it very interesting how the world and human life were created. Both secular science... […]
  • “The Plant-Based for Life Cookbook: Deliciously Simple Recipes to Nourish, Comfort, Energize and Renew,” by Vicki Brett-Gach, MVLCE
    posted May 17, 2022 My new cookbook, The Plant-Based for Life Cookbook: Deliciously Simple Recipes to Nourish, Comfort, Energize and Renew, was just released, and I’m so excited to share it with you after working on this project for so long! Getting nutrition from plant-based foods is one of the best decisions you will ever make,... […]
  • 7 Perks from Attending Main Street Vegan Academy, by Cherie Hans, VLCE
    posted May 10, 2022 I was reading my favorite magazine, VegNews, when I saw an advertisement for the Main Street Vegan Academy (MSVA) a few years ago when it was offered only in person. Sadly, the hours and days didn’t work with my schedule. But imagine my thrill when last year I discovered the MSVA... […]
  • The Taboo Topic: Sickness and Vegans, by Victoria Moran, CHHC, RYT-200
    I went vegetarian in 1969 and starting my observations of the vegan/vegetarian world started soon after. Over these decades I’ve come to know hundreds and ultimately thousands of people who changed their diet for reasons of ethics, health, or both. And I’ve long noted the incredible discomfort we different-drummer diners have with those among us... […]
  • A Vegan Smoothie for Your Dosha, by Lisa V. Gotte, VLCE
    posted April 26, 2022 Vegan smoothies are delicious and healthy, and great for a quick breakfast or snack. Being blended fruits and greens, they’re basically a salad in a blender. As nutritious as they are, smoothies are tasty and feel like a decadent treat. But can you take it even further to create a perfect... […]

Main Street Vegan Book Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK5e-DTLWSk
Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterFollow Us on YouTubeFollow Us on InstagramFollow Us on B&NFollow Us on Amazon

Buy Online



WANNA BE A MAIN STREET VEGAN?

Sign up here to receive the Main Street Vegan blog, newsy letter, and other perks, and get the fun and informative e-guide: 3 Steps to Rocking a Vegan Lifestyle

© 2022 · VICTORIA MORAN · Privacy Policy · Terms of Service · Site by Vegan Web Design