I wonder if you are like me and wonder what all these labels mean and which ones are just marketing gimmicks used to make the consumer feel guilty so they will buy their products.
Not only that but every few weeks a new health professional comes out and says that we should eat only meat, or no meat at all, or no dairy, no gluten, or eat some awful tasting super food that I can't even pronounce. Each week it is a new fad or diet claiming to be bringing the breakthrough for a long healthy life. Basically if you eat their product you will live forever.
How is one supposed to sort through all this and find out what are we supposed to do? In fact as a Christians should I even be caught up in all this hype?
I think the answer is yes and no. I think that we should not allow this hype to control us, and keep us living in fear that if we eat a chicken nugget we are going to die but on the other hand we need to look at what commercial farming is doing to us and the land and look at what God had commanded us to do.
God knows your days
We as believers need not fear that everything we eat is going to kill us. God has our days numbered already and we can't change that. The truth is that we are all going to die one day and God knows that day so we need not fear.
Does God care about Farming?
Did you know that God was the first farmer? He walked in the garden He created; in fact He made two people to be his garden helpers. He told them to take dominion over the land, over the animals. He called them to be stewards of the garden.
To me a steward is someone who is holding something for someone else, knowing that what they are holding is not theirs but they need to take great care of it to pass it on. Would someone who is called to steward land pour harmful toxic chemicals into the land so that the future generations have to deal with it? Or would I take pride in the land, trying to pass down the land in better shape than I got it?
One only has to look at the rates of cancer, dementia, and diabetes and wonder how much of this is caused by what we are doing to the foods we are eating. We are spraying truckloads of poisonous chemicals on our fields to kill the weeds and, in fact, they are genetically modifying seeds so they can withstand all the chemicals and/or the plants produce their own weed killer. Doesn't it sound weird to spray our fields with poison then rinse the vegetables and call them fit for consumption?
In fact in the Old Testament you find God giving people instructions on how to take care of their land, to rest the land every so many years, not to glean the land completely. God is very much into how we take care of the earth. He cares about all aspects of our lives.
What are your thoughts on farming?
Are you into ethical farming or is your response 'I have no idea how an egg gets into a grocery store and I don't care type of person'? Educate yourself slowly, you can't change everything overnight. Experts say to start with the so called "dirty dozen." They are 12 popular fruits and vegetables that are most susceptible to their chemical environment. Start by buying these products straight from chemical free farmers or certified organic stores. Pick a few things to change and don't feel guilty about not buying everything organic or commercially farmed free.
Learn what some of the labels really mean
Some of the labels are done to attract you to think you are buying one thing when you are in reality buying the opposite. Stay away from things that say "natural, as it is a great word that is not all it is hyped up to be. There are key words that marketers know grab people's attention and people will buy if they think it is that, find out what is really 'natural' about your chips. A site to help you sort through the labels is www.foodwise.com.au/organic-labelling
What would Jesus Do?
So we are back to the 90's, with what would Jesus have done? No seriously, what would Jesus do if he had to eat today's food. Jesus would have blessed the food and then ate it. Wherever he went when he broke bread he blessed it. He didn't ask if it was vegetarian or GMO free. He blessed the meal than ate it. I think that is how we should act when we go to other places.
When we are served a meal, thank God for it then eat it gratefully. I remember when on a mission trip in Asia, you didn't want to ask what the food was because it might have shocked you, you were just grateful to have something to eat.
We cannot live in fear of what is in our food, but we need to be proactive in changing farming for tomorrows youngsters into something that is much more sustainable and respectful of the land and animals that God has made.
Genevieve Wilson is a happily married stay at home, home-schooling mum of 3, whose passion is to see people come to know Jesus. She worked 8 years as a missionary with Youth with a Mission(YWAM). She has a heart for justice and to see the abolition of the modern day slave trade.
Genevieve Wilson's previous articles may be viewed at www.pressserviceinternational.org/genevieve-wilson.html