Sanctity of Life

CHAPTER 39

Yeshua teaches the Nubians the importance of valuing all lives, including those of the animal kingdom. He explains how God gave man the stewardship over the animals that they may thrive and populate the Earth and admonishes against eating them for food.

 1 And it came to pass that a time of celebration occurred among the communities of the first cataract and a great feast was held, and many were the animals that were slaughtered to provide succor for the feast.

 2 Yeshua and Miriam were invited to attend the festivities by the matriarch of the town in which they resided, and they did attend but ate no meat. This offended some of the men who had spent their efforts to gather the meat, and one of the warriors asked them, “How can you sit at our feast and dishonor us by not eating the food we have offered?”

 3 And Yeshua said unto them, “We respect and honor the good desires of your heart to provide abundance to your people and your guests. But the animals you eat are our friends, and we could no more eat of their flesh than we could eat the flesh of one of our children.

 4 And more than this is here, for these animals also had families and friends and children they loved, and when they died, their last moments were in pain and sorrow for those they love that were left behind, even their babies still suckling. No different than the sadness you would feel if an enemy killed you before your time. Would not your last thoughts also be of those you loved that you would be with no more and of the tragedy of leaving them all alone?

 5 Thus, the meat of the higher creatures that nurture their children and find happiness in their friends is tainted with the poison of unjust and untimely death, and any who eat of it take the poison of death into their body. And though they may be sustained that day, that which they eat takes away from the length of their days upon the Earth.

 6 And more than this, I say: Those who eat the flesh of the higher creatures take violence and killing into their heart and mind through the flesh and blood of the animals they eat; for the last thought of the animal was of pain and violence and death, which taints their very flesh; and for those who eat such as this, there can never be peace of long duration, for the very food they eat causes an unrighteous temper to simmer in their heart and mind and come quickly to anger and violence.

 7 But I will share with you now a great secret: If you desire peace that never ends, then among those who desire such, I say unto you, kill no creatures whatsoever. Eat only of the plants God has put onto the Earth to sustain you and foods made from the milk and eggs of the animals loved as friends and not caged and of the honey of the bees. Then a spirit of peace shall prevail over you always.”

 8 And one of the warriors was exceedingly wroth with Yeshua and said, “I do not desire a peaceful spirit, for of what good would that be when my town is attacked? And how can you dare say it is wrong for me to kill the beasts that I might feed my family?”

 9 Yeshua answered him calmly, saying, “Even the gentle will find a fire in their heart to defend their family. And when there is no enemy at the gate, a peaceful heart makes for a fruitful community.

 10 And I say unto you that God has put all the animals of the Earth and all the fishes of the sea and all the birds of the air and everything that lives upon the Earth to be used by man with thanksgiving, as man has vital need of them. And nothing is forbidden to you by God for food or clothing or shelter, even unto all creatures upon the Earth, if there is nothing else to give unto your family.

 11 But God has also made man a steward and a protector of all the lesser creatures of the Earth and is pleased if their lives are never taken save there is no other way to preserve your own.

 12 Verily, each time you take the life of a higher creature, those that nurture their young, you are not only killing them and taking them from their family, but you are also killing yourself and taking yourself from your family before your time.

 13 But each time you eat a meal of the fresh plants and nuts and seeds and the herbs that God has put upon the Earth to be food for man, you add days to your life.

 14 Instead of killing the animals and eating their flesh, look to them to be your friends and under your protection and concern, to be used to help you with your labors, to give you fibers for your clothing and food from their milk and new eggs.

 15 Look at the feast before you; see the great amounts of fresh food from your fields and your waters and your trees and the foods that you have made from the milk and eggs of the animals. This God has given you in great abundance, and it is life unto you and meat unto you, and it is ever renewed by God; therefore, what need is there to kill the higher creatures of the Earth, who bond to their family as you do to yours and who simply seek peace in their lives even as you do?”

 16 And Yeshua’s words strongly affected some of the people insomuch that they put down the meat that was at their lips and looked to one another with the light of a new understanding in their mind and heart. But others were still wroth, and some berated him, saying, “How can these animals be his friends? For we killed them a day to the south, and he knew them not.”

 17 And thus it was that some did marvel because of Yeshua and others did grumble.