Does God Have a Diet For Men & Women?
By Dennis Pollock
Today we're going to have a little study about diet, and what God has to say about it. The question is this: is there a diet prescribed by God that will give us optimal health and longevity? The Bible is a big book. Is there something in there about what we ought to eat and not eat?
You do not have to read very long in the Bible before you come to a passage about diet. You find it in the very first chapter of the very first book in the Bible, the Book of Genesis. God tells the first two people He has created "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food." (Genesis 1:29). Without question the very first diet commanded by God for the people He created was vegetarian. "Every green herb" meant more than literal herbs; God was declaring that plants that grow from the ground were legitimate for eating, including the fruits that grew on the trees. And God made a whole lot of plants. Beans, corn, broccoli, cauliflower, apples, oranges, melons, wheat, and on and on. If it grew from the ground, it was fair game for the dietary needs and enjoyment of men and women.
Notice there was no mention of any kind of meat. In those days the killing of animals for food was not allowed. God had "given" the plants of the earth for man's food, and that was it. No hamburgers, no pork chops, no seafood dinners. People in those days were strictly to use a modern phrase, "whole foods, plant-based eaters." Not only was there no meat in their diets, but there were no Twinkies, no Little Debbie snack cakes, no chocolate cake and ice cream, no sodas or so-called energy drinks. Water, vegetables, fruits, and whole grains were what was available.
It Worked!
And people did exceedingly well on this diet. They did so well that most lived close to or beyond nine hundred years in those early days. Methuselah set the record when he celebrated his 969th birthday. Of course, it was not only what they ate. The earth was pristine in those days. Even the climate was different. There was no rain on the earth. The earth received its moisture from huge bursts of mist that billowed into the air and watered the ground. Many believe that this created a greenhouse effect all over the world, which blocked the harmful rays of the sun, and produced the ideal climate for longevity and health. Men and women were so healthy and lived so long, that their youth was greatly extended, and many did not marry and start having children until they were nearly one hundred years old or more. A seventy-year-old man at that time would have probably looked like a teenager today. The Bible says about one of those men:
Jared lived one hundred and sixty-two years, and begot Enoch. After he begot Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years, and had sons and daughters. So all the days of Jared were nine hundred and sixty-two years; and he died. (Genesis 5:18-20)
So, Jared did not have his first child until he reached the age of 162 and then went on to have many more children after that.
Revised Menu
But in their long lives men and women became more and more wicked and finally God determined to destroy them with a flood, saving godly Noah and his family by commanding them to build an enormous ark. After the floodwaters receded and everyone else was dead, God gave Noah some new instructions about his diet, saying "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs." (Genesis 9:3).
Now meat was on the menu. "Every living thing" was to be food for Noah and his family and the succeeding generations. Beef, fish, pork, shrimp… any and every kind of meat was now allowed. Later, Moses would come along and give special dietary commands to the Jews, but in those days all meat was allowed. It was not that God reluctantly permitted people to eat meat. He clearly instructed "Every moving thing that lives (in other words, all animals) shall be your food. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs." Meat was given to humans as food and fuel for their bodies, along with the plants. Notice this was not a dietary switch – God was not saying, "Stop eating plants and start eating meat." This was a menu addition. Now meat as well as plants could be eaten freely and without guilt. And men and women have been eating meat freely ever since, for many thousands of years. If only meat is available, as in the frozen north, then people eat meat. If only plants are available, where the game is scarce or the price of meat is beyond their ability to afford it, then people eat plants. And where both meat and plants are available and affordable, most people eat both meat and plants.
Some vegans would tell us that eating meat is both unhealthy for us, and cruel to animals, and they feel that eating meat is surely a great crime against animals. Many of them feel that humans are nothing more than animals themselves, and so when we eat meat, we are one animal cruelly killing and eating another animal. Shame on us. But our Creator doesn't see things this way, and I would rather trust God's ideas and commands rather than heed fanatical vegans who have turned their diet into a religion. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, ate fish after He was raised from the dead, and if the spotless Son of God could eat an animal, and last I checked fish count as animals, then I am not going to stop eating meat because some obsessed banana eater tells me I am cruel.
Meat Only
On the other hand, some people eat a carnivore diet, which is essentially a meat and eggs-only diet. No salads, no cucumbers, no green peppers, no peanuts – just hamburger patties, steaks, and eggs every day. Many of them will back their beliefs with the idea that a few million years ago people were exclusively meat eaters. But those of us who love the Bible know that the Bible does not speak of people living millions of years ago. The creation of Adam and Eve was thousands of years ago, not millions. Whatever may or may not have happened millions of years ago is far from proven. But one thing we do know, with the creation of Adam and Eve a vegetarian diet was given to man, and after the flood of Noah, meat was added to the menu. But things like soft drinks, snack cakes, pastries, cookies, and white flour – all these monstrosities have been created by man in the last few generations. And millions of cases, worldwide, of diabetes, obesity, heart attacks and strokes, high blood pressure, and cancer, indicate that there surely must be something about our modern lifestyle and diet that is decidedly unhealthy.
Best Diet of All
The ultimate diet for human beings has to do with a very special type of bread. Jesus declared "I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world." (John 6:51). We were made to "feed" upon Jesus. This means to love Him, to trust Him, to devote ourselves to Him, to praise Him, to read in the gospels about His life, His miracles, and His teachings, and to think deeply about His death on the cross for our sins and His resurrection from the dead. Jesus is our life. Even if we change our diet, eat healthier, and manage to live to be 120 years old, we will still die. We can extend our lives by healthy eating, but we cannot perpetuate our lives. We don't have it in us. But Jesus can do just this. Those who believe in Him will live forever. Jesus is the true "Bread of Life."
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