What Are My Feelings About Eating Meat?

Today’s word-prompt handed me a topic I actually have strong feelings about: eating meat. And unlike some prompts that take me a minute to warm up to, this one hits right at the crossroads of faith, biology, and plain old common sense.

I’ve always believed that God gave humans free will, not just as a spiritual concept but as a practical one. We were given the ability to raise, guide, and domesticate animals — not by accident, but because it supports human life. If you believe (as I do) that God designed this world with purpose, then it’s hard to argue that animals weren’t meant to be part of the human food chain. They supply the essential amino acids and nutrients our bodies require — the ones we cannot produce on our own. That’s not coincidence. That’s design.

When you step back and look at human history, meat isn’t some modern invention. It’s woven into the fabric of who we are. Long before supermarkets and nutrition labels, humans thrived because animal protein fueled our brains and bodies with exactly what they needed.

Now, let me pause here and address something important — the readers who choose veganism because of concerns about cruelty to animals. I understand that viewpoint. In fact, anyone who has ever raised a family pet or worked around animals knows the natural instinct humans have to protect them. That compassion is a good thing. But there is a major difference between cruelty and responsible stewardship.

Raising animals humanely, caring for them, giving them a good life, and using them for food is not cruelty — it’s the oldest relationship humans have had with another species. God didn’t put humans on this earth to be passive witnesses; He put us here to be caretakers. And caretaking sometimes includes hard things, including the reality that animals sustain human life. Every creature on this planet exists within a cycle of life that involves predators and prey. Humans didn’t invent that system. We were born into it.

Now, back to the nutritional side of things.

I’m not on the carnivore diet — not even close — but the research around it is fascinating. People following it strictly report improvements in inflammation, gut issues, skin clarity, energy, and even mental focus. And it makes sense: meat is nutrient-dense, complete, and immediately usable by the body. There’s a reason elite athletes, military personnel, and many long-lived cultures rely heavily on animal protein.

Compare that to strict veganism, which often requires supplements just to fill the gaps — B12, D3, omega-3s, iron, iodine, taurine… the list goes on. If a diet needs a medicine cabinet to function, maybe it isn’t as “natural” as advertised.

Everyone is free to choose the lifestyle that aligns with their values. Truly — free will is exactly that. But I will always come back to a few simple truths:

• Our bodies were built to thrive on animal protein.
• Meat provides complete nutrition in a form plants cannot.
• Human civilization was built on the backs of animals — not just for food, but survival.
• Ethical, humane animal stewardship is absolutely possible and has existed for thousands of years.

To deny that humans were meant to eat meat ignores both biology and history.

So yes, I feel strongly about this. I believe meat is part of the natural order God put in place, and part of what keeps us healthy as we age. You don’t have to be a carnivore… but it’s a far better path than pretending soy is a moral substitute for a food source humans were designed to depend on.

And let’s be honest — nobody ever built a civilization on tofu.