Chapter 23—Flesh Meats (Proteins Continued)
Flesh Diet—An Aftermath of Sin
639. God gave our first parents the food He designed that the race
should eat. It was contrary to His plan to have the life of any creature
taken. There was to be no death in Eden. The fruit of the trees in
the garden, was the food man’s wants required. God gave man no
permission to eat animal food until after the flood. Everything had
been destroyed upon which man could subsist, and therefore the Lord
in their necessity gave Noah permission to eat of the clean animals
which he had taken with him into the ark. But animal food was not the
most healthful article of food for man.
The people who lived before the flood ate animal food and grati-
fied their lusts until their cup of iniquity was full, and God cleansed
the earth of its moral pollution by a flood. Then the third dreadful
curse rested upon the earth. The first curse was pronounced upon the
posterity of Adam and upon the earth, because of disobedience. The
second curse came upon the ground after Cain slew his brother Abel.
The third most dreadful curse from God came upon the earth at the
flood.
After the flood the people ate largely of animal food. God saw
that the ways of man were corrupt, and that he was disposed to exalt
himself proudly against his Creator and to follow the inclinations of
his own heart. And He permitted that long-lived race to eat animal
food to shorten their sinful lives. Soon after the flood the race began
to rapidly decrease in size, and in length of years.—
Spiritual Gifts
4a:120, 121, 1864
Antediluvian Depravity
640. The inhabitants of the Old World were intemperate in eating
and drinking. They would have flesh meats, although God had given
them no permission to eat animal food. They ate and drank to excess,
and their depraved appetites knew no bounds. They gave themselves
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up to abominable idolatry. They became violent and ferocious, and
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