by Eleisha C Newman (Show email address.)

'It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal himself and to make known the mystery of his will. His will was that men should have access to the Father, through Christ, the Word made flesh, in the Holy Spirit, and thus become sharers in the divine nature."
Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 50

Some revealing "Definitions"

Valid Evaluation and “Erroneous Judgement”

“A human being must always obey the certain judgement of his conscience. If he were deliberately to act against it, he would condemn himself. Yet it can happen that moral conscience remains in ignorance and makes erroneous judgements about acts to be performed or already committed.
“This ignorance can often be imputed to personal responsibility. This is the case when a man ‘takes little trouble to find out what is true and good, or when conscience is by degrees almost blinded through the habit of committing sin’. In such cases, the person is culpable for the evil he commits.
“Ignorance of Christ and his Gospel, bad example given by others, enslavement to one’s passions, assertion of a mistaken notion of autonomy of conscience, rejection of the Church’s authority and her teaching, lack of conversion and of charity: these can be at the source of errors of judgement in moral conduct.
“If – on the contrary – the ignorance is invincible, or the moral judgement is not responsible for his erroneous judgement, the evil committed by the person cannot be imputed to him. It remains no less an evil, a privation, a disorder. One must therefore work to correct errors of moral conscience.
“A good and pure conscience is enlightened by true faith, for charity proceeds at the same time ‘from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith’. “The more a correct conscience prevails, the more do persons and groups turn aside from blind choice and try to be guided by objective standards of moral conduct.”

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1790 to 1793.

Vegan

“A person who lives in a way which seeks to exclude, as far as possible and practical, all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose. In dietary terms it refers to the practice of dispensing with all animal produce – including meat (which includes fish and poultry), eggs, animal milks, honey and their derivatives. Abhorrence of the cruel practices inherent in an agricultural system based on the abuse of animals is probably the single most common reason for the adoption of ‘veganism’, but many people are drawn to it for health, ecological, resource, spiritual and other reasons.”

The Vegan Society

Vegan Christians

We are Christians who have been prompted by the Holy Spirit to consider the food that we eat in the light of God’s love. We have not closed our eyes to the sufferings of creatures, nor the discoveries of science. Through informing our consciences, the conclusion that we have reached is that adopting a Vegan diet and way of life is the only moral answer to many of the ills and problems that confront us today; not the least of which is the problem of evil and suffering. God our Creator obviously does not wish us to harm our own health, that of animals of other species, nor the environment (which routinely consuming products from the bodies of animals undeniably does). God has provided us with a wealth of plants which provide nutrition, healing and raw materials for almost every known need, making use of animals as raw materials unnecessary.

Believing Jesus to be both God the Creator and man without sin, we are open to interpretations of the Gospels (and other inspired writings) which portray Him as a chaste Nazirite who generously fulfilled the criteria of being Vegan. Anything else would not be Good News, but Bad News. We are content to believe that ‘Gospel’ also means ‘Truth’.

Eleisha C Newman, Vegan Society Contact for Vegan Christians

Vegetarian

“A person who eats no fish, flesh or fowl. Vegetarians also avoid the by-products of slaughter, such as gelatine or animal rennet in cheese.”

The Vegetarian Society

Veritable Christians

A succinct, authoritative definition of what “Christian” means is not provided by the Church. Catechisms and Creeds have been written to help initiate people ever more deeply into the beauty of life in the Church, and prevent souls going astray. The Church’s numerous writings serve the mysterious purpose of gradually transforming the minds and lives of people who regret their sinfulness (however small or great), and wish to become more like Jesus of Nazareth, whose name means “God saves”.
Nazareth is the place where he grew up around 2,000 years ago, and it takes its name from the Nazirite people who dedicated themselves to live simply (for example a Nazirite did not drink alcohol, may never have eaten flesh of any kind, and may have remained chastely unmarried) at least for an agreed duration of time.
Jesus is recognized as “The Christ” (meaning ‘God’s anointed one’), as foretold in the Religious writings of the Hebrew people, who had come to recognise that there is only one true God, and that he wanted them to know Him better, and that He loved them charitably. To be a Christian is to be a follower of Jesus. To follow Jesus is to believe that Jesus is a truly sinless man, and also truly God (part of a Trinity of Divine Persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit – who are inseparably “Love”).
Christians believe that Jesus was killed, but returned to life and now lives forever in Heaven. Together, Christians form the ‘Church’, which as a community is able to continue to serve as Christ’s body living amongst men on earth. Although, the perfection that is sought by Christians is only attainable in a future life that Jesus promises after our mortal existences on earth have ended. His rising to life again testifies to this truth (and is not an excuse for perpetuating any wickedness).
Jesus is also the “Word” expressed by God the Father to communicate all that He wishes to say to mankind about Himself and His entire Creation. There is no deceit in Him, and He has existed through all time. His Holy Spirit remains on earth amongst those of us who enter into the mystery which begins when we take Jesus as our positive example in life, and through choosing to live increasingly sinless lives. The Holy Spirit is the divine intention who mysteriously leads and binds us into a benign unity, and inspires our understanding of His intentions for ourselves, all creatures, and the entire Creation. We all find our beginning and end in Him.

Eleisha C Newman, Vegan Society Contact for Vegan Christians

Virtues

“Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
“A virtue is a habitual and firm disposition to do the good. It allows the person not only to perform good acts, but to give the best of himself. The virtuous person tends towards the good with all his sensory and spiritual powers; he pursues the good and chooses it in concrete actions. “The goal of a virtuous life is to become like God.”

Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1803.

Visible World

“God himself created the visible world in all its richness, diversity and order. Scripture presents the work of the Creator symbolically as a succession of six days of divine ‘work’, concluded by the ‘rest’ of the seventh day. On the subject of creation, the sacred text teaches the truths revealed by God for our salvation, permitting us to ‘recognise the inner nature, the value and the ordering of the whole of creation to the praise of God.’”

Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 337