What Was God Thinking?

It makes sense that over the centuries mistakes were made when translating and transcribing the Holy Bible. You try copying the entire Bible by hand without making a mistake. Even Benjamin Franklin noted that his own printing company used the wrong words on more than one occasion when publishing an edition of the Bible. So, when Joseph Smith Jr. came along one can understand why God inspired him to correct some errors in the King James Version of the Bible.

I was reading one of these corrections recently and couldn't help but wonder why God inspired Joseph to correct this particular verse, it seemed odd, out of place, especially in our modern culture. The KJV verse reads:

Genesis 9:5 "And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man."

Obviously this is a little confusing. But it sounds like God is going to require our blood in regards to every beast. Joseph Smith was inspired to correct this verse which was not only out of place numerically but written wrong. It now reads:

Genesis 9:10 "And surely, blood shall not be shed, only for meat, to save your lives; and the blood of every beast will I require at your hands."

So, why on earth did God want Joseph to correct this verse? Well, to me it sounds like we are only permitted to kill His creatures in order to survive (Go to a supermarket, is their an alternative option?), but still, why emphasize it? I have two theories.

First, he knew what we would eventually do to His creatures in pursuit of economic glory. He knew that we would alter, humiliate, neglect, and exploit these creations transforming them into monstrous commodities, not beautiful intricately designed animals, but economic units.

Second, he knew our gluttonous nature would eventually result in Americans consuming far more animal products than necessary causing irreparable damage to these God given bodies. He knew that one day there would be a headline that read: "Eating a lot of red meat may up mortality risk."

That was a headline on March 23, which highlighted an ambitious study that followed over half a million Americans for more than 10 years. What did they find? Those who "eat large amounts of red meat and processed meats face a greater risk of death from heart disease and cancer," furthermore the study supported "evidence of the health risks of diets laden with red meat like hamburger and processed meats like hot dogs, bacon and cold cuts." In other words, avoiding these foods is not only being kind to God's exploited domesticated farm animals but it can actually prevent one from getting cancer or heart disease. It's a win-win situation!

But back to the original question, why did God inspire Joseph to fix this particular verse? Was He concerned about His animals that would be trashed in pursuit of money? Or was he worried about us and our health, His greatest creations? After all, good health equals happiness and God wants us to be happy. Either way it is sad to see how this particular commandment is overlooked, not followed, and rationalized. Regardless, I have a bad feeling that were going to have some major explaining to do when we each take our turn at the Pearly Gate.