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1. Justice, Part 9: Animals in the Realm of God
Isaiah declared that nonhumans will be members of the “peaceable kingdom,”
in which all creation lives in peace and harmony (11:6-9). His recognition
that humans have kinship with nonhumans has been supported by evolutionary
science, which has provided compelling evidence that we have common
ancestors. If Darwinian evolutionary theory is broadly correct, and I think
there is overwhelming evidence for this, then it makes no sense to claim
that the realm of God excludes animals. If it did, one might wonder, when
did this break occur? Evolution is a slow and gradual process, and it makes
no sense to assert a clear break between humans and nonhumans at some point
in time.
If the ideal world – the realm of God – should include nonhumans, then unnecessary violence toward nonhumans distances us from God’s ideal and thus from God. The supposed conveniences and pleasures of harmfully exploiting animals is not only tragic for the animals, it also carries a great spiritual price for humans. This spiritual price might have broad practical implications for humanity.
Next, I will start to consider the Malthusian dilemma. Will the “tragedy
of the commons” doom human civilization, or can we collectively find a way
to preserve the human civilization?
Stephen R. Kaufman, M.D.
2. All-Creatures.Org Ministry
Newsletter: Here are recent all-creatures newsletters, which we hope you
like and share with others to help end the exploitation and killing of
animals.
Recent Sermons: