HONEST REVIEW of the Sacred Cow Documentary: the Nutritional, Environmental, and Ethical Case for Better Meat
I watched the Sacred Cow Documentary last night, just hours before the free viewing opportunity ended. The Sacred Cow Documentary labels itself “the Nutritional, Environmental, and Ethical Case for Better Meat”. This documentary was produced by Diana Rodgers and is a companion to the book that she authored alongside Robb Wolf: “Sacred Cow: The Case for Better Meat”.
Sacred Cow documentary interested me because Regenerative Farming has been my intensive focus for the past year. I have been awakened to the need for a radical de-centralization of the US food system. If we cannot ignite a large set of small-scale farmers to grow food in a way that promotes soil health, US agriculture is doomed.
Unfortunately, as I watched the Sacred Cow Documentary, it left me feeling empty. It moderately addressed life-threatening issues in modern agriculture, lightly touched on the disaster that is centralized slaughter housing, tip-toed around the dangers of PETA’s confused agenda, and left with a few shots of regenerative farmers as they rotationally grazed their cows.
But why was I left with such a shallow feeling after watching such a highly praised documentary as the Sacred Cow?
The answer hit me hard: the modern regenerative agricultural movement is ignoring the elephant in the room. The real problem is this:
We have denied our Creator.
“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools…” Romans 1:21-22
Much of modern agriculture is denying Creator-God. Unfortunately, much of the regenerative movement is doing the same thing, then making documentaries that address the symptoms and not the disease. Any (good) physician will tell you that it is bad practice to treat the symptoms and ignore the disease.
Modern Agriculture is behaving like a disrespectful teenager. It is shoving off the Creator’s wisdom and going about to reinvent the wheel.
Modern agriculture has shoved off of God’s design. It is actively denying the existence of the Creator and claiming that this marvelous world chaotically erupted out of nothing.
Modern agriculture has removed animals from the ecologies they were designed to promote. It is taking animals off the field, and transferring them to factories; it is promoting the growth of food via chemical baths and pesticides.
Less than century later we are seeing some alarming fruit.
Mono cropping, factory farming, and a highly centralized food systems are imploding, leaving us with the question: “who will feed our children?”.
As a nation we rely on billions of bushels of crops that cannot grow without genetic modification, chemical fertilization, and cancer-causing pesticides.
We have factory farms that are riddled with coli food poisoning, mad cow, MRSA, and salmonella.
We have mismanaged soil that is being aggressively stripped of its independent ability to produce the food our nation needs to avoid starvation.
We have a problem, and it needs a solution.
But if, as regenerative agriculturalists, we try to heal the cancerous wound that is modern agriculture, without removing the cancer… without addressing the heart issue that got us here… there is no healing.
There is no power in regenerative agriculture to heal humanity. That power is Christ’s.
“For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.” Colossians 1:16-17
To begin this land-healing resuscitation of agriculture, we must acknowledge Christ, the Creator.
I am seeing a disturbing trend in Regenerative Agriculture: the leaders in this movement are capitalizing on intelligent design and symbiotic blueprints from the Creator, without giving Him glory or thanks.
“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.” Romans 1:21
Regenerative Agriculturalists credit nature, animals, permaculture, sustainability, anything at all to avoid mentioning the One by whom all things consist.
In today’s world this is called plagiarism and it is, in many cases, punishable by law.
To be truly successful in Regenerative Agricultural we cannot serve the creature more than the Creator.
“Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools…. Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever.” Romans 1:22-24
I believe that if we, the Christian farmers and agriculturalists of the world, take a stand and acknowledge Christ as Lord and creator; if we observe, respect, and steward the ecological patterns that He has authored, giving Him glory for it, we will see radical changes in our communities, our states and our nations. Changes for the good and changes far more powerful than that which could be produced by any political leader, religious organization, or court of human law.
-The Shepherdess // Harmony Farms
