Is God a savage to eat flesh?

Those sentences which are colored in orange are from Maharishi Dayananda Saraswati book Satyarth Prakash (The Light of Truth) and those which are colored in black are Jerry Thomas’s response.

"And the Lord, appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day. And he lift up his eyes and looked and , lo, three men stood by him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them form the tent door, and bowed himself towards the ground. And said, My Lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant . let a little water I pray you, be fetched, and washed your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on; for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, so do, as thou hast said., Make ready quickly there measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man and hasted to dress it. And he took butter and mild, and he calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat." (18:2 – 8.)

 C. Now why should they, whose God eats calf's flesh, spare cows, calves and other animals? He that has no compassion (on dumb animals) an enjoys flesh eating cannot be God. He an only be a man who feels no scruples in injuring other sentient creatures for his gratification. We are not told who the other two men (besides God) were. It appears that there was a party of savages whose leader is styled God in the Bible. It is such things (as flesh-eating, etc.) that prevent wise men from accepting this book as the word of God and its God as the true God.

Answer: There are three aspects to this question.

One – can God eat? As much as God uses space and time for His own glory, there is nothing that prevents God from using His creation. Though He does not require any food, we should also not say that He cannot eat. God of the Bible is omnipotent and holy. He can do anything and the only limits are from His own self- holy nature. He cannot lie or deceive etc.

Second- is eating non vegetarianism a sin? This I have answered in Genesis 9: 1-4 and will not repeat it here.

Third- is the God of the Bible a savage leader? Since this conclusion was based on the above objections and those have been answered, this conclusion itself is invalid.

Now let us turn to Vedas to see what food the Vedic deities eat.

Rig Veda 10:16:1-2 reads (translation by Wendy Doniger):

“Do not burn him entirely, Agni, or engulf him in your flames. Do not consume his skin or flesh. When you have cooked him perfectly, o knower of creatures, only then send him forth to the fathers. When you cook him perfectly, o knower of creatures, then give him over to the fathers. When he goes on to the path that leads away the breath of life, then he will be led by the will of the gods.”

Here we are. Agni, one of the deities, cooking dead bodies for consumption. Now you decide who should be called as the savage.