Serving Meat at Community Outreach Events

Serving meat at an outreach is not recommended because it contradicts the principles of health reform and the very message intended to enlighten the community7MR 420.2+1. While we must treat others with tenderness and avoid being abruptly condemnatory, our goal is to present the highest standard of physical and spiritual healthHFM 41.1+1.

The Influence of Precept and Practice

• A Unified Message: When we advocate for diet reform but continue to serve meat, the instruction loses its power and fails to make a deep impression7MR 420.2+1.

• Removing Prejudice: Demonstrating a wholesome, vegetarian diet in our institutions and gatherings actually helps to remove prejudice against our evangelical workEv 513.5+1.

• Spiritual Perception: Choosing to follow personal preferences for meat instead of the light given by God can lead to a loss of spiritual perception regarding the truthCH 130.2+1.

Health Risks of Meat Consumption

Providing meat to the community means offering food that is often diseased and poisonous to the systemCTBH 47.3+1.

• Disease Development: Meat-eating is a major cause of fevers, suffering, and acute diseases like gout, rheumatism, and Bright’s diseaseGCB February 13, 1895, page 138.8+1.

• Clogged Systems: Meat increases poisonous matter in the body, which the vital organs must then work four times as hard to eliminateGCB February 13, 1895, page 138.8.

• Animalized Nature: Consuming flesh has a tendency to animalize the human nature and allow lower passions to control the higher powers of the mindSUFF 5.8+1.

A Better Way to Outreach

The most effective way to reach people is to teach them the simplicity of living through fruits, grains, and nuts20LtMs, Ms 96, 1905, par. 3+1.

• Hygienic Cookery: Outreach efforts should include lessons on how to prepare healthful, palatable, and inexpensive food without using flesh meats20LtMs, Ms 96, 1905, par. 3+1.

• Wholesome Alternatives: By providing an abundance of well-prepared, nutritious food, we show the community that a vegetarian diet is not one of starvation but of superior healthMM 275.2+1.

• God's Original Plan: We are to point people back to the diet God provided in Eden, which consists of every herb bearing seed and the fruit of trees Genesis 1:293TT 138.3.

Balancing Tact with Principle

While we should never present a "starvation diet," we must remain firm in our principlesMM 275.2+1. For those newly coming to the faith who are in extreme poverty, we should show pity and encouragement rather than immediate reproof1888 1376.4+1. However, in our established missions and public gatherings, the table should be supplied with food of the best quality to illustrate the advantages of hygiene in the best lightCME 37.1+1. Ultimately, whether we eat or drink, we must do all to the glory of God 1 Corinthians 10:31TSDF 114.8.