Was Jesus a Vegetarian?

[Waterfall]

Most of us are saying, yes to this.
@Waterfall is trying to use an unproven hypothesis that Jesus was a Nazorean/Essene to suggest he was a vegetarian and therefore could not have.

Mathew 2:23 says so.

I know you do not believe everything in the Bible Mendella, but for those who do, what do you do with that

 

[Waterfall]

Yes, Jesus was the Passover lamb. He was also like a mother hen who wanted to gather Israel under his wings. That's why us Baptists have chocolate lambs, chocolate hens, and chocolate eggs as a tradition. Oh yeah, and peeps.

Maybe Jesus would prefer that.

 

[crazyheart]

Why would Jesus tell folk to kill the fatted calf. I think if he was a vegetarian

he would tell them to chop up a large zucchini.

 

[Waterfall]

Being a Jew, would Jesus not have eaten a traditional Seder meal?

Not if he was a member of the Nazoroens.

 

[blackbelt1961]

Yes, Jesus was the Passover lamb. He was also like a mother hen who wanted to gather Israel under his wings. That's why us Baptists have chocolate lambs, chocolate hens, and chocolate eggs as a tradition. Oh yeah, and peeps.

what ! no wine?

and thats why im not a Baptist !

 

[Jaebius]

what ! no wine?

and thats why im not a Baptist !

It's also one reason why

 

[revjohn]

Do you offer lamb with communion?

I do not.

Primarily because Holy Communion and the Passover Seder are not the same thing and apart from that I am a Christian minister serving a Christian congregation not a Jewish Rabbi serving a Jewish congregation.

 

[Mendalla]

Mathew 2:23 says so.

I know you do not believe everything in the Bible Mendella, but for those who do, what do you do with that

I do know about that passage and the controversy around it. To be honest, it proves nothing. "Nazorean" is not a synonym for Essene in any source that I have found and there is considerable discussion about what it actually means in religious terms (assuming, of course, it does not just refer to his being from Nazareth as a literal reading of that passage suggests and, to be honest, Occam's razor would lean one to that explanation). It is by no means solid proof of his being involved in any kind of vegetarian movement, which is pure conjecture.

 

[revsdd]

We are drawing close to Easter....the death and the resurrection of Christ.

Well, the death really belongs to Good Friday, the resurrection to Easter, but why split hairs. We'll call it Easter weekend.

Have you wondered if Jesus was a vegetarian?

Nope.

Would that change the meaning of Easter?

Nope.

After all Jesus was a Nazorean (Essene)

Quite speculative. There's much more suggestion that I know of that John the Baptist might have been an Essene. I tend to agree with N.T. Wright, who speculates that the Essenes might have heard of John the Baptist, been intrigued by him, wondered if he might have been the Messiah, and then had their gaze forwarded on to Jesus.

The Essenes followed scripture and devoted themselves to a loving and merciful God that valued the sanctity of ALL living creatures. They believed in reincarnation and were vegetarians. They were non violent and did not believe in war.

They opposed slavery too.

What if Jesus didn't die for our sins, but to end sacrifice?

Why couldn't it be both? In fact, the very existence of sacrifice was for the purpose of atoning for sin. So ending sacrifice has something to do with atonement for sin.

 

[revjohn]

There is some disagreement about what the term Nazarene/Nazorean means.

Regrettably the "prophecy" referred to in Matthew 2: 23 has not been identified as a text in the Hebrew Scriptures so we cannot know the context and comprehend the meaning.

Three possibilities exist.
1) Nazarene/Nazorean refers to Nazareth and becomes less of a title and more of an identifier. If this is so there was probably a handful of kids name Jesus in the Nazareth area. Jesus being a transliteration of the Greek whereas Yeshua (Joshua) is a transliteration of the Hebrew/Aramaic. 2) Nazarene/Nazorean is a Greek rendition of the Hebrew ne-tser meaning branch which is a Messianic title or,
3) Nazarene/Nazorean is a Greek rendition of Nazirite like Samson. If this holds true Jesus would not be prohibited from eating meat but there would be additional criteria defining how the meat must be prepared before it could be eaten.

 

[Waterfall]

Looks like the animals will eventually become vegetarians too:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah 11:6

Certainly a lot of animal references in the bible.

It would be more peaceful if we stopped killing everything.

 

[Pontifex Geronimo 13]

 

[revsdd]

Show me the passage in Genesis that say that A&E did not eat meat prior to the fall. Preferably explicitly, not implicitly. It may be there but I do not recall it and I suspect you're reading into the text here.

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.

That is the only food offered by God to Adam and Eve. No mention of animals being food prior to the fall.

 

[revjohn]

It would be more peaceful if we stopped killing everything.

I'm sure folk with cancerous cells would agree.

 

[Waterfall]

There is some disagreement about what the term Nazarene/Nazorean means.

Regrettably the "prophecy" referred to in Matthew 2: 23 has not been identified as a text in the Hebrew Scriptures so we cannot know the context and comprehend the meaning.

Three possibilities exist.
1) Nazarene/Nazorean refers to Nazareth and becomes less of a title and more of an identifier. If this is so there was probably a handful of kids name Jesus in the Nazareth area. Jesus being a transliteration of the Greek whereas Yeshua (Joshua) is a transliteration of the Hebrew/Aramaic. 2) Nazarene/Nazorean is a Greek rendition of the Hebrew ne-tser meaning branch which is a Messianic title or,
3) Nazarene/Nazorean is a Greek rendition of Nazirite like Samson. If this holds true Jesus would not be prohibited from eating meat but there would be additional criteria defining how the meat must be prepared before it could be eaten.

Did any or all believe in reincarnation?

 

[Waterfall]

I'm sure folk with cancerous cells would agree.

Good one....but maybe yes, for other reasons.

 

[Luce NDs]

Just look what pops up from the dirt with the adequate situations!

If there is grass there people will use it for primitive roles ...

 

[revsdd]

Mathew 2:23 says so.

I know you do not believe everything in the Bible Mendella, but for those who do, what do you do with that

and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

I agree with Mendalla that a literal reading of the text simply suggests that Jesus was a Nazarene because he was from Nazareth. I don't see any suggestion that Jesus was an Essene.

As John points out, the most significant problem with Matthew 2:23 it that there's no Old Testament prophecy that says the Messiah would be a Nazarene. So what or who Matthew is referring to by "the prophets" is unknown.

 

[Waterfall]

Looks like the animals will eventually become vegetarians too:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah 11:6

Certainly a lot of animal references in the bible.

It would be more peaceful if we stopped killing everything.

Whoops left out some: Isaiah 11:6-11

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+11:6-11&version=AMP

 

[Waterfall]

I agree with Mendalla that a literal reading of the text simply suggests that Jesus was a Nazarene because he was from Nazareth. I don't see any suggestion that Jesus was an Essene.

As John points out, the most significant problem with Matthew 2:23 it that there's no Old Testament prophecy that says the Messiah would be a Nazarene. So what or who Matthew is referring to by "the prophets" is unknown.

Well I'm sure if the Christians look hard enough, they will find something that matches up with it in the OT....after all the Jews also prophecy the Messiah will be a mortal and not God, but we got around that one too.