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Mors Rattus posted:Occasionally, you will run into someone who tells you that God fights a dragon in Genesis. This is what they're referring to, and 'fight' is really, really not the word I'd use. God creates Leviathan, the greatest of all fishes, and his wife. And then God decides, actually, if we let this thing breed, it'll take over everything because it's a terrifying fish monster all by itself. So God kills the female Leviathan. It's not really a fight. Bava Batra is Talmud, and it says... Dumb question, but what does that Talmudic passage mean by "sea oryx?" I googled it, and almost every result I got was a reference to a boat or to a naval missile system, with one general reference to the oryx as the "Biblical unicorn." Thank you for this thread, by the way! It's a really interesting read, and I'm looking forward to more.
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Mar 11, 2020 11:44
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Mors Rattus posted:So, open question: based on the arguments presented, do you believe Adam was prohibited from eating meat? This is a really interesting question! I don't feel confident offering an answer, but I feel like it hinges on a couple of other questions: 1. In Genesis 1:29-30, God appears to specify that both humans and animals will eat plants. If we assume this to mean that only plants are permitted (i.e., that eating meat is prohibited), how are omnivorous and carnivorous animals explained? Is the expectation that any prohibition would lie only on humans, with their status as rational beings? (Obviously, there's also the broader question here of "if God permits something, are we to assume He prohibits other options?") 2. Do the Genesis stories between Adam and Noah talk about diet? The only example I can think of is Abel as a shepherd and sacrificing a lamb; while I suppose one could assume that sheep could be raised as a fiber flock alone, it seems like the implication of the sacrifices of Cain and Abel is that livestock is a food product there. Are there any other examples of antediluvian stories that provide evidence of people eating meat before God specifically permits it for Noah? I think there's another interesting question in relation to this one, and it's how precisely we are to interpret the dominion that God gives Adam over animals. It strikes me as really interesting that the arguments presented in this thread all involve the concept of dominion indicating that Adam should be able to use the animals somehow, and therefore arguments against God permitting Adam to eat meat require arguments for animals being useful for labor. From the modern perspective, where I feel like I see the verse interpreted more as humans being stewards of the natural world without assuming that every animal must provide utility, these arguments are pretty interesting. I'm not sure either side really supports meat-eating being permitted more than the other (although I think the "animals must be useful" side would support it more, given how threadbare the arguments about labor are), but I think it's an intriguing topic.
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Mar 12, 2020 12:17
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