Social Exercise

I rejoined the Ventura Vegan meet-up group and they are having a 5 year anniversary celebration this Saturday and I figured I'd sweeten the idea for Dana by saying that she can make vegan cupcakes to bring. I'll tell her she doesn't have to be vegan to go.

I prayed a lot about this and well, although I certainly don't presume to judge for anyone else, C.S. Lewis' words from that interview:

I cannot speak for the way God deals with others; I only know how he deals with me personally (http://good-report.com/5040/part-2-from-the-archives-c-s-lewis-the-final-interview-may-1963).

Basically, I feel guilty every time I eat meat and that's simply the way it is. I don't feel that Dana or you or anyone else, necessarily, is sinning by doing the same (unless you were eating duck liver pate or veal or one of those live fish dinners that the Chinese royalty loved or babies - some things, naturally and spiritually, are just flat out wrong). But, I guess I have what St. Paul called a "weak conscience" in 1 Corinthians 8:9-13 - so for me, if I feel like I'm sinning, I'm probably sinning.

9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? 11 So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. 12 When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.

I suspect there are a lot of things like this. I can, for instance, drink a glass of wine or a mug of beer without a qualm; yet, many people would feel strongly that they were sinning.

I do ask for your prayers - I know from past experience that it's very hard for me to keep away from eating meat - which I do feel is likely a sin for me. Otherwise, I doubt that I would feel guilty every time I bit into a steak.

I DID have a good time at the one gathering I attended and I talked to people. I know that it's SO easy for me to find excuses not to go to these things - I suppose socializing is a bit like exercise and I'm terribly out of practice. I am going to have to commit to going and if Dana gets to back and feed appreciative vegans yummy cupcakes - well, I think that will tempt her to not drag her feet too much. At any rate, I'd best stop using her as an excuse not to be social, I owe her an apology for doing that a bit too often.