Vegetarianism?

 Just so you know, I am no natural tofu-slurper. I love eating meat.

I am also no pacifist. If a human were attacking me, I would have no issue with popping a cap in their asses. If a feral hog was charging me, same thing. If a feral hog were not charging me but wrecking my food crops, I would do whatever is necessary to make him stop, up to and including killing him. If a human being were wrecking my food crops, I would probably call 911 but if that were not possible, like in a breakdown of society, I would let him no in no uncertain terms that the consequences of his continuing could be fatal to him.

And then I'd eat him. Just kidding. ;)

If an animal were an uninvited guest in my house, like a rat or a stinging insect, I would have no qualms about killing them. I am very territorial about my space and not having unwanted critters invade it.

This is also not about the truly heinous commercial production of meat. That is probably worth a post in itself, but I'm probably not going to do it. Suffice to say that commercial meat production is a Dachau for animals.

Also, probably even most vegans would eat meat if the alternative was starvation.

This is not even a question of whether meat eating is biblically permissible, which under kosher conditions it clearly is. However, commercial meat production as it now exists was not something that was anticipated for in the Torah, and it is quite possible that most meat production now would be considered inhumane.

This is a personal question: assuming that I have adequately nutritive alternatives, and assuming also that it is not industrially-produced meat (it is hunted or raised myself,) and assuming that I don't need to kill the animal to protect self, home or food supplies, should I kill animals for meat?

Indulge me in a bit of a story. I am here on the Farm, but my food production capacities at present are limited. Many days, I basically eat gruel, a grim combination of Malt-O-Meal, oatmeal, wheat germ and peanut butter. I am operating out of a refrigerator slightly larger than a suitcase. So if anyone is in need of a change of pace food-wise, it's surely me. No doubt I would benefit nutritionally too from better quality food. I would certainly enjoy to eat something tasty for a change. Most days I just force something down. That situation is unlikely to change until I get a proper refrigerator and a proper stove, which I am holding off on that until the house in Dallas gets sold. Then I can get to a decent grocery store in Sulphur Springs or Paris and stock up.

Anyway, I wanted to determine for survival purposes whether my pond had fish in it and if so, what kind. If SHTF and grocery stores and/or money becomes inaccessible, I wanted to know whether the pond was my ace in the hole or just a wet hole. So I went fishing.

After a great deal of struggle with casting (it's been a long time since I fished,) I finally placed the hook right in the middle of the pond. And immediately got a strike. And I pulled up a nice sized fish.

It was a beautiful bass. I mean, a really nice looking fish. I got a good look at it as I tried to get the hook out of his mouth. It would have made a really nice meal.

And then I let the fish go.

One reason among many why I am here in the sticks on 3 acres instead of the city is that I want to be mostly self-sufficient in food. And there are many reasons why I want that. But being self-sufficient in food for an omnivore means raising and killing animals. And I don't feel that I am okay with that. Sure, if I HAD to kill animals to eat, I would, but I don't have to. People survive on vegetarian and vegan diets all the time.

In Genesis, in the beginning, every living thing was supposedly vegetarian. Then after Noah landed the Ark, G-d told him he (and his descendants) could eat anything they wanted. Then again, in Isaiah, in the Kingdom of G-d, everything will be vegetarian again and there will be no more death.

So killing animals for food permitted = yes. It is permitted. It is also a sign of our sin. Before the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam did not eat meat. In the Kingdom, no one will eat meat.

All I know is that short of true need, premeditated killing of animals for food is not something I am personally very okay with. 

The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling a together;
and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.

They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

~Isaiah 11:6-9

Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves.
So be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves.

~Matthew 10:16