They Don't Realize They're Future Meat

Dr. Russell Moore is the Dean of the School of Theology at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, where I am headed in a few short weeks. This comes from his excellent book Tempted and Tried. 

“The first question the devil asked [Jesus] was a hidden one, wrapped in the first clause of an offer: ‘If you are the Son of God…’ This is precisely the opening salvo the demonic powers launch to this very day. The factory farm wants the cows to see themselves as pets or as companions, or simply as ‘free’ and alone. What they don’t want the cattle to recognize is that they are future meat. Identity confusion is the reason people are able to affirm one thing and do another. And it’s the reason more worldview training on how to think like a Christian doesn’t stop people from wrecking their lives. 

Most people don’t ‘choose’ fiery tempers of alcoholic binges or torturing prisoners of war or exploiting Third World workers or dumping toxic chemicals into their community’s water supply. Most people don’t first conclude that adultery is right and then start fantasizing about their neighbor swinging from a stripper pole. Most people don’t first learn to praise gluttony and then start drizzling bacon grease over their second helping of chicken-fried steak. It happens in reverse. First, you do what you want to do, even though you ‘know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die’ and only then do you ‘give approval to those who practice them’ (Romans 1:32). You start to see yourself as either special or as hopeless, and thus the normal boundaries don’t seem to apply.” 

Russell Moore, “Tempted and Tried” (p. 36)  

http://www.amazon.com/Tempted-Tried-Temptation-Triumph-Christ/dp/1433515806/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321620822&sr=1-1