Whose Life Is More Important?

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Whose Life Is More Important?
Comments by Dana - 3 Jul 2009

I do not understand what you mean when you say, 'scientifically I don't see it' (about an order to creation). I would agree that wild animals are not meant to be domesticated and that bred animals need care. However, bred animals do not necessarily have to be abused animals.

Going back to what God intended, the Bible seems quite clear that when creation happened, animals both domesticated and wild, were made. "God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. and God saw that it was good.' Genesis 1:25.  This seems to indicate that there was some care, work that was to be involved on the behalf of some animals by human beings. (by definition livestock are animals who are kept or raised.)

In addition, the following verse 26 seems explicit in the directive that God originally had planned for the human-animal relationship - '...let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the wild animals of the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.' finally, after God blessed the humans, He told them to be fruitful and multiply and again, to 'rule over...' the animals and creatures. Genesis 2 says that God was the one who brought the animals of all kinds to Adam to be named, that was part of Adam's work. He made the humans to be in charge.

This is what I meant by 'order of creation'. everything that God created was wonderful and perfect, there was an order and plan of things that included the proper place for humans and animals. and over and over again during the creation account, it says that 'God saw it was good'. the fact that the human sin messed up all of paradise, including the animals, seems to indicate a deeper responsibility on the humans' part. Before that, there was peaceful co-existence between man and beast, whether they were wild or domesticated. there was no death - the shedding of blood only came after the sin of disobedience and rebellion.

Back to humans messing things up with sin - this is the path that we all, in one way or another, go down in our willfulness. It is basically rebellion toward God and His divine plan, that affects not just us but all of creation.

My final thought - in respecting our animal friends we must be careful to not go to the other extreme. if we try and put animals in a place where they do not belong, then I respectfully submit that we are toying with the concept that we know better than God. This attitude, to me, puts animals even more at risk because it can create animosity, hostility and misunderstanding.

Thank you for hearing me, and I am interested and challenged to think by all of the discussion here. :-)

Dana

Go on to: Comments by Gary - 4 Jul 2009
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