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Romans 14:10 Good News Translation
10 You then, who eat only vegetables—why do you pass judgment on
others? And you who eat anything—why do you despise other believers? All of us
will stand before God to be judged by him.
Mom hated meat of any form. She had grown up a vegetarian,
and by default she brought her family up as vegetarians. She and Dad had a
prenuptial contract: Dad would never ask her to cook meat for him, and Dad
could bring home guests anytime he wanted to.
Over their early married years Mom started to grow warts on
her hands. She would show them to doctors and they would joke about her playing
with frogs—but nothing they did cured her. She became very self-conscious about
shaking hands with people. No one knew what might have caused them on her. Eventually
she had well over twenty warts on one hand some fifteen on the other. Many of
them were very big.
Several people suggested to her that if she ate meat, the
warts might go away. Mom didn’t believe them. She knew that there are plenty or
meat eaters who also have warts, so she poopooed the idea.
Our family were missionaries in Africa and we had our first
furlough back to the States in 1946 and 1947. On our way back to Africa we took
the SS Vink, a Norwegian cargo ship from New York to Lobito Bay, Angola. There
were only four families, all returning missionaries to Africa that were
passengers on board. Being a cargo ship there was a limited range of food
available.
“I think I’ll try eating meat, since our diet is so limited
on board here.” Mom said. And for three weeks she ate a heavy meat diet—and
hated every meal. However, by the time she got to Africa, the warts had begun
to shrink. So for the next six weeks after reaching home in Africa, she
continued to eat meat. The warts all shrank and disappeared, and never returned. Mom switched back
to a vegetarian diet for the rest of her life. The warts never returned.
Good Adventists in most countries are also vegetarians. Mom
got a lot of criticism from her fellow Adventists for eating meat. She would
explain that 1. She hates meat; and 2. She ate it only to take away the warts.
They would reply, with a superior look in their self-righteous eyes, “Yes,
people will find any excuse to eat meat!”
As a matter of interest, Mom died when she was 66 years old.
Dad married again. His second wife also cooked vegetarian meals. Dad died at
almost 101 years of age. Both of his wives predeceased him.
Lord, preserve us from judging others by our own
perceived standards of righteousness.
[1] https://www.abelandcole.co.uk/veggie-christmas-feast-box-organic
