Hello! I have a friend who is both vegan and Christian, and I recently got interested in the idea of how we need to treat animals. Clearly eating meat isn't a sin, but her reasons are more based on the fact that the meat and dairy industries maltreat animals. Is there scripture that deals with animal abuse? -- Jon Armstrong

Proverbs 12:10 comes immediately to mind, though abuse is also a violation of the principle of Genesis 1:28. Dominion, not domination! There is no justification for cruelty.

And yet of course when Jesus declared all foods clean (Mark 7), this opened up the door to non-kosher foods. Before this time, the Jews ate meat; now all restrictions are removed. Hebrews 13, Colossians 2, and other passages warn us not to fall for man-made rules, even if they appear to be wise.

This is an area of freedom (and opinion).