Sorry if this was asked already. Why are SDA's vegetarian when Jesus wasn't?
TDLR : Jesus explained that we may not have exactly his lifestyle, and that it is best to come back to the lifestyle he had given Adam and Eve, which was plants. Therefore, SDA promote plant based diet, but do not enforce it on believers.
Longer version :
But I will try to make things simple (there is MUCH more to say, but I'm just scratching the surface, here).
1) Jesus did NOT preach that we should only do what he did. Jesus was single, Jesus was circumcised, etc. Jesus is our exemple because of his heart and spirit, not for every detail of his life.
The following text is quite meaningful ;
Luc 5:33-35
33 And they said to Him, Why do John's disciples fast often and make prayers, and also [the disciples] of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink? 34 But He said to them, Can you make the sons of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then they shall fast in those days.
This is interesting, since Jesus is not literally the bridegroom, but only in a symbolic and prophetic way.
Therefore, we can say that Jesus taught that the believers' lifestyle is dependant on symbols and prophecies, and that it may not be the same that the one he had.
2) why are Adventists vegetarian?
Well, not all Adventists are vegetarian, it is not mandatory in our Church. We officially promote a plant based diet because of health and because we believe that the original diet that God gave is the best. We believe that, in his mercy for everyone, God allowed to eat meat, but that the ideal he gave us in the beginning is the best diet to promote.
The original diet is described in Genesis 1.29
Gen 1:29
And God said, Behold! I have given you every herb seeding seed which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in which [is the] fruit of a tree seeding seed; to you it shall be for food.
I believe it is certain that meat was not allowed, even after the fall, since God makes a special authorization to eat meat in Genesis 9 only after the flood.
Gen 9:1-3
1 And God blessed Noah and his sons. And He said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon the animals of the earth, and upon every bird of the air, upon all that moves on the earth, and upon all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herb.
Jesus taught that it is best to come back to what God has given in the beginning, to Adam and Eve (while speaking about marriage) :
Mat 19:4-8
And He answered and said to them, Have you not read that He who made [them] at the beginning made them male and female,
5 and said, For this cause a man shall leave father and mother and shall cling to his wife, and the two of them shall be one flesh? 6 Therefore they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.
7 They said to Him, Why did Moses then command to give a bill of divorce and to put her away?
8 He said to them, Because of your hard-heartedness Moses allowed you to put away your wives; but from the beginning it was not so.
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