Note:
This article is part of a series of studies about animal liberation and the
Bible. We encourage you to go to see the other articles at
If men
and animals are fundamentally the same in nature, then we would expect animals
to have the same rights as men. But if men are fundamentally different from
animals, then we should expect different rules to apply.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Animal
Liberation sees little essential difference between men and animals. This, of
course, is a consequence of believing that men evolved from animals.
Note some quotations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*
Animal rights leader Peter Singer argued that differences between species are
as irrelevant morally as differences between races or sexes (Sherry, p4). So
the fact an animal is a different species should not affect how we treat them,
any more than the fact a person may be a different race or a different gender.
So to parallel racism and sexism, human dominance of animals is called
"speciesism"!
*
Singer objects to the term "animal," because it implies animals are
somehow different from humans (Sherry, p4). Just as the feminists revised our
language to remove distinctions between the sexes, Animal Liberators want to
revise our language to remove all distinctions between us and animals,.
*
"Helping animals is not any more or less important than helping human
beings..." - PETA FAQ.
*
Remember, Ingrid Newkirk, a founder of PETA, said:
"Animal
liberationists do not separate out the human animal, so there is no rational
basis for saying that a human being has special rights. A rat is a pig is a dog
is a boy. They are all mammals" - Vogue, 9/89 (via Sherry, p xiii).
* Alex
Pacheco, also a PETA founder, said: "We feel that animals have the same
rights as a retarded human child" - New York Times, 1/14/89 (via Sherry,
p. xiii).
Note
how they "answer" nearly every opposing argument by assuming animals
should be treated like humans.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*
"Would you allow an experiment that would sacrifice 10 animals to save
10,000 people?" Suppose the only way to save those 10,000 people was to
experiment on one mentally-challenged orphan... Most people will agree that it
is wrong to sacrifice one human for the "greater good" of others ...
Yet there is no logical reason to deny animals the same rights that protect
individual humans from being sacrificed for the common good - PETA FAQ.
*
"If you were starving on a boat at sea, and there were an animal on the
boat, would you eat the animal?" I don't know. Humans will go to extremes
to save their own lives, even if it means hurting someone innocent. (People
have even killed and eaten other people in such situations.) - PETA FAQ
*
"'If you were in a fire and could save only your child or your dog, whom
would you choose?' I would save my child, but that's just instinct. A dog would
save her pup" - PETA FAQ.
Note how they repeatedly make humans and animals equivalent.
How far does this go?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* They criticize
the Animal Welfare Act because it "does not include rats and mice... [or]
cold-blooded animals..." - PETA FAQ. So rats and mice, snakes and frogs
(cold-blooded animals) should all have rights.
*
"When asked whether his concept of animal rights included the protection
of insects or rodents, [Peter Singer] replied: 'I wouldn't kill a spider if I
can avoid killing a spider...'" - CultureFacts, 7/19/2002.
This
thinking appears over and over again and is fundamental to their whole
philosophy. This error is fundamentally the same as Oriental religions like
Hinduism, which honors cows, rats, and insects because of reincarnation. Like
animal liberation, they fail to see the distinction between people and animals.
II. The Bible Teaching
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
A.
Humans Have a Stewardship over Animals.
============================
The
Bible does not justify unnecessary cruelty to animals, not because animals have
rights, but because humans have responsibilities.
Both
men and animals were created by God and belong to God.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Genesis 1:20,21,24-27 - God created the fish, birds, land animals,
creeping things, and people.
Psalms 50:10,11 - The beasts, the cattle, and the birds all belong
to God, as do the people.
Jeremiah 27:5 - God said He made the earth and the men and beasts
upon it.
So men and animals share some things in common. One is that we
were all made by and belong to God.
God
cares and provides for the animals and the people.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Psalms 36:6 - God preserves man and beast.
Psalms 104:14 - He causes food to grow for men and cattle.
Matthew
6:26-30 - God feeds the birds and clothes the plants. Likewise, He will clothe
and feed people.
Matthew 10:29 - God knows if even a sparrow falls to the ground.
So God
cares and provides for both man and animals. Why? Because they belong to Him!
He cares for them for the same reasons that a man cares for and protects things
that he made and that belong to him. The owner has rights over that which he
owns.
Does
God's care and provision for animals prove they have rights like men do? He
also cares and provides for the plants (see Matt. 6). Do plants have rights?
Instead of comparing animals to men, why not compare them to plants, since God
also cares for plants?
Neither
men nor animals nor plants have rights except as given them by God, who created
and owns them. We will see that the Bible clearly teaches that God has given
men certain rights. Where does the Bible say He has given rights to animals?
[Genesis
1:30; Psalms 147:9]
God commands people to properly care for animals
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Genesis
1:26-28; 2:15 - Having created all things, God put man in charge over the
animals and the earth. Specifically, man was to take care of the plants in the
garden. [Psalms 8:4-8]
Deuteronomy
25:4 - An ox that treads grain should be allowed to eat. The New Testament
explains that this was his pay for his work (1 Tim. 5:17,18). [Isaiah 30:24]
Deuteronomy 5:14 - Working animals should rest on the Sabbath as
surely as the people do.
Proverbs 12:10 - A righteous man regards the life of his beast.
Luke 14:5 - When an animal is endangered, its owner should help
and protect it.
Psalms
23:1-4; John 10:1-15; Luke 15:3-7 - Probably the best example of men caring for
animals would be shepherds. They knew each sheep individually, led them to food
and water, protected them from enemies, and sought for them if they went
astray. [Psalms 78:52; Isaiah 40:11; Ezek. 34:11,12]
Does
the fact we are responsible to care for animals prove they have rights like we
do? Again, we are responsible to care for plants and for the whole earth. Do
plants have rights? Do the rocks and the dirt have rights? We are stewards over
them too!
We
should care for animals and plants, not because they have rights but because we
have responsibilities. It is a stewardship. Both they and we belong to God, and
He commands us to take care of them.
We
should care for animals, not because of the nature of the animals, but because
of the will of God who created and rules over all! If the animals belong to God
and we are stewards over them, then we are responsible to use and care for them
however God says we should.
Question:
Why doesn't God command the animals to take care of the people? If animals are
as important as we are and have the same rights we have, then why shouldn't
they take care of us as much as the other way around? Questions like this one
demonstrate that animal liberation involves a fundamentally wrong view of the
nature of animals, which leads them to false conclusions about how animals
should be treated.
B.
Humans Are Distinct from and Superior to Animals.
================================
Men are
created in the image of God; animals are not.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Genesis 1:26-28
After
He created all the animals (vv 21-25), God then created man. Man was made in
God's image and likeness. This is never said of the animals. This teaching is
based entirely on the concept of God as Creator and Ruler. It completely
contradicts all evolutionary thinking, including animal liberation. [5:1; James
3:9]
This is
the most basic issue in this study! If people were created fundamentally
different from animals - if we partake of the character of God in ways that
animals do not - then all the animal liberation arguments paralleling treatment
of animals to treatment of men are false!
Genesis 9:2-6
God
distinguishes between killing a man and killing an animal. Killing a man is
basically wrong and should be punished, but this is not true of killing an
animal. And the reason for this is that men are in the image of God. Killing or
harming a man is different from killing or harming an animal, because the
nature of man is fundamentally different from the nature of animals.
This
demonstrates the error in comparing man's treatment of animals to treatment of
other human races or genders. People of other races or the opposite sex are
still people in the image of God. They deserve full treatment as humans. But
that is not true of animals. The basic error of animal rights is that it fails
to recognize that man is fundamentally different in nature from animals: men
are in the image of God, but animals are not! All other arguments relate back
to this one.
Men
have intelligence incomparably beyond that of animals.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Job
35:10,11 - We know more than the beasts and are wiser than the birds, because
God so created us.
Psalms
32:9 - Horses and mules have no understanding. So foolish are they that, in
order to be useful, they must be controlled by bit and bridle.
Psalms 73:22 - The Bible uses the conduct of brute beasts to
illustrate foolishness and ignorance.
Hosea 7:11 - To express the ultimate of senseless ignorance, God
compares Ephraim to a silly dove.
God
uses animals as the ultimate examples of foolishness. This is not to say
animals have no intelligence at all. We are sometimes amazed by what they
understand, but only in comparison to other animals. When men use the good
sense God gave them, animals cannot compare.
This is
part of what it means to be in the image of God. While we can never be as
intelligent as God, yet we share with God a kind of intelligence that animals
can simply never achieve.
[Daniel
4:16; 5:21; Proverbs 26:11; 2 Peter 2:22; Num. 27:17; 1 Kings 22:17; Matt.
9:36]
Men
have the power to choose right from wrong and so are morally accountable to be
judged for their choices.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Men are morally accountable and will be judged.
Genesis
2:16,17; 1 Corinthians 15:21 - God gave instructions to man (not animals) about
eating of the trees in the garden. Man's disobedience brought death into the
world. What animal could understand such a choice, or bring such a consequence
on itself or on the world by a wrong choice? [3:1-7]
Ecclesiastes
12:13,14 - The whole duty of man is to fear God and keep His commands, for God
will judge every work, good or bad. Man is capable of understanding and obeying
God's commands. This is the purpose of our existence, and we will be judged
accordingly.
Matthew
12:36 - Every word that men speak they will give account for in the judgment.
Will animals give account for the words they speak?
Acts
17:30,31 - God commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed
a day to judge them. Repentance is a choice. Man can be commanded to make that
choice and will be judged for it.
Hebrews
9:27 - It is appointed to man once to die and after this the judgment. Where
does the Bible say animals will be judged for their lives?
[Matthew
25:31-46; 2 Cor. 5:10; Joshua 24:15; Hebrews 11:25; 1 Kings 18:21; Psalm
119:30]
Animals
are not morally accountable. Men who degrade themselves to practice evil are
compared to animals.
Matthew
7:6 - Dogs and pigs are used as examples of those who have no sense of
spiritual values. [Phil. 3:2; 2 Kings 8:12,13]
Proverbs
26:3 - When men act as foolishly as animals act, they deserve to be punished
and treated like animals.
Matthew
23:33; 12:34 - Men who speak and practice evil are compared to a brood of
snakes. [Matthew 3:7]
Acts
20:29,30 - False teachers are compared to wolves that destroy a flock of sheep.
[Matt. 7:15; 10:16; 1 Peter 5:8]
Titus
1:12,13 - Men who are lazy liars are compared to evil beasts. Beasts will not
be judged for their lives, but they often may do things that would be evil if
men did them.
Jude 10 - When people act like brute beasts, they corrupt
themselves. [2 Peter 2:12]
Some
people use the conduct of animals as justification for certain human conduct,
as though animals are the standard of right and wrong! (One actress justified
Bill Clinton's womanizing by saying that's how gorilla leaders act.) It used to
be that comparing people to "brute beasts" was an insult to describe
disgusting, uncivilized conduct, and that's how the Bible still views it.
Men by
nature are in the image of God and therefore above animals. But when men
corrupt themselves, they lower themselves to the level of animals. Animals
cannot help themselves; they are not morally accountable. But men are
accountable; so when they act like animals, they deserve to be punished. And
clearly animal conduct does not constitute a standard of good conduct for
humans!
Rights
and responsibilities go together. Men are granted rights by God, because He
made us capable of exercising moral judgment and accepting moral
responsibilities. Specifically, we have the right or freedom to choose to be
good or evil, but we will be held accountable for the choice. Animals do not
have these responsibilities, therefore they do not have the rights and will not
be judged for their choices. Until animals are able to accept human
responsibilities, they cannot have human rights!
God
requires men, not animals, to be taught His laws.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Because
man is morally accountable and capable of understanding written commands, God
requires that all people be taught His laws. He has written them in the Bible
for men to study. This is not true of animals.
Nehemiah
8:1-8 - Ezra and others read the law of God and explained it so people could
understand. They taught all who could hear with understanding (vv 2,3). But
this included only people, men and women - vv 1,2,3,7.
Psalms
94:12 - Blessed is the man whom You instruct, O Lord, and teach out of Your
law. Where are such things said about teaching God's law to animals?
Luke 20:1; John 8:2 - Jesus taught people.
Acts 11:26 - The church assembled and taught a great many people,
not animals.
Colossians
1:28 - Paul's goal was to preach about Christ, warning every man and teaching
every man to present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.
2
Timothy 3:16,17 - The Scriptures are profitable for teaching and instruction to
equip the man of God to every good work.
Animals
may accomplish God's will for them by means of inborn instincts, and they may
be trained by men to do work or tricks, etc. In that sense plants, rocks, and
lakes also accomplish God's will, but should they have rights? Man is the only
creature to whom God has written a book of instructions. Why? Because only
people are in the image of God. Only people have the intelligence to understand
the law of God, and only people are morally accountable to obey it.
[2
Chron. 17:9; Ezek. 44:23; Isaiah 2:3; 1 Kings 8:36; Deut. 4:10; Acts 4:2; 5:25;
18:25]
Men
have eternal spirits and eternal destinies; animals do not.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Job 32:8 - There is a spirit in man.
Ecclesiastes
3:21 - The spirit of man goes upward, but the spirit of a beast goes down to
the earth. Animals have a spirit in the sense of animal life, but it does not
continue past death.
Isaiah 31:3 - Just as men are not God, so horses are flesh and not
spirit.
Zechariah 12:1 - God forms the spirit of man within him. [1 Cor.
2:11; Heb. 12:23]
Romans
2:6-10 - Speaking to men (vv 1,3), God promises to render to each according to
His deeds, good or evil. Punishment is for "every soul of man" who
does evil, Jew or Greek. Eternal life is for those who do good. The judgment of
men will lead to eternal destinies.
2
Corinthians 4:16-5:1 - We have an inner man that can receive eternal glory,
even though the outer man decays. Can this be said of animals?
Hebrews
4:9 - There remains a rest for the people of God. What passage promises such a
rest for animals?
We
already learned that only people will be judged for their lives, but that
judgment is where eternal destinies will be decreed (see also Matt. 25:31-45).
Animals will not be judged, therefore they have no eternal rewards or
punishments.
All
this follows from the fact man is in the image of God. Like God we have the
power to make moral choices, and we are responsible for those choices. We have
spirits that will exist forever, and our destiny will be determined by our
choices. None of this is true of animals. We are fundamentally different from
animals because God chose to create us so.
Men
have much greater value to God than do animals.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Because
God created men in His image, we are more important and valuable to Him than
any animals. This is not a human invention or choice; it is the decree of the
Creator.
Matthew 6:26 - God feeds the birds, but of people He says,
"Are you not of more value than they?"
Matthew
10:29-31 - God cares for sparrows, even though they are of relatively little
value. Yet one human is of greater value than many sparrows.
Matthew
15:26 - Jesus said it is not good to throw the children's bread to the dogs.
Why not? If animals have equal rights with people, why do they not have equal
right to be fed? Animals are not as valuable as people, and this should be
reflected in how we distribute food.
Matthew
12:11,12 - Jesus said that, if a sheep falls into a pit, his owner would lift
him out. "Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep?" We
should care for the animals that belong to us. But both God and man should
treat people much better than they do animals.
Animal
Rights activists often condemn forms of treatment of animals, because it would
be wrong to treat people that way. In contrast, God says that man deserves much
better treatment than animals, because man is of much greater value than
animals.
Those
who equate animals to men may think they are increasing the importance of
animals, but instead they are degrading the value of man. Animals can be
incredibly cruel, violent, and vicious - just watch the nature shows on TV! If
men become convinced they are no better than animals, they will soon treat one
another like animals!
[1
Samuel 24:14; Job 30:1,29; Psalms 22:16]
Men have dominion over animals
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Genesis
1:26-28 - Because man is in God's image, man has dominion over all animals and
over all the earth. This includes the right to subdue the earth - to control it
for man's purposes.
Genesis
9:2-6 - Because man is in God's image, no one has the right to murder man. But
man does have the right to kill animals for food. "They are given into
your hand" (v2). [Lev. 24:18,21]
Psalms
8:4-7 - Man is crowned with glory and honor, placed just a little below the
angels. He has dominion over all animals. All things are under man's feet. Man
has the right to control the animals.
Psalms
32:9 - Man's dominion over animals includes the right to harness them by bit
and bridle. Man has the right to use and control animals for the benefit of
man.
James
3:3,7 - Again, we put bits in horse's mouth so that they obey us. We tame every
kind of beast. Man is in control. Animals should obey us.
Note
that God says man has dominion over animals. Does the Bible say that animals
have dominion over men? If not, then how can anyone truthfully claim that
animals have rights like men have? Here is one right they definitely do not
have: we have the right to control them, but they do not have the right to
control us!
None of
this justifies harming animals simply for the sake of man's cruel or vicious
whims. We earlier learned that animals belong to God, so we must use them as He
says. But God says that He has given us dominion over animals, so we can use
them to meet our needs. This includes the right to control them, make them obey
us, tame them, and eat them for food.
To
compare man's use of animals to slavery of humans is to pervert God's order.
Other men are our equals, but animals are below us in authority, value,
intelligence, spiritual nature, and moral responsibility. Above all, we are in
God's image and they are not.
It
follows that, to seek to "liberate" animals from men, is to rebel
against God. God Himself placed the animals under our dominion. Animal
Liberation inherently constitutes open defiance of God's order in creation!
[Prov.
26:3; Luke 10:19; 1 Sam. 16:11; Gen. 4:2]
Jesus
died to save men, not animals.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is the ultimate proof that animals are not equal in nature or
in worth to men.
Isaiah 53:5,8 - Jesus bore our punishment. He was stricken
"for the transgressions of my people."
Romans
5:6-9 - One is not likely to give his life for another man (v7). Yet Christ
died for us (people), while we were sinners.
Romans
5:12,18,19 - Through the sin of one man (Adam), sin and condemnation came on
all men. So through the righteous act of one Man (Jesus), the free gift of
justification came to all men.
1
Timothy 2:4-6 - God wants all men to be saved. Jesus is our ransom, who came as
a man (not an animal), so He could serve as mediator between God and man (not
between God and animals).
Titus 2:11,12 - The grace of God that brings salvation has
appeared to all men - not animals.
Titus
3:3-7 - We once were disobedient living in sin. But the kindness of God toward
man appeared, so He saved us through Jesus and made us heirs according to the
hope of eternal life.
Hebrews
2:14-17 - In order to release us from the power of sin and Satan, Jesus had to
be made like us in all things - He had to come to earth in our form. He was
made like us, so that he could make propitiation for the sins of the people -
v17.
Note
that He did not come to aid angels (v16), so He did not come as an angel. It
follows that He did not take the form of an animal, because He did not come to
save animals!
Do
animals have the right to be saved by the blood of Jesus? Should animals be
taught the gospel of Christ, so they can believe it, repent of sins, confess
Christ, and be baptized for remission of sins? If animals do not have the right
to obey the gospel and be saved by Jesus' blood, then no one can truthfully
argue that animals have the same rights as man!
Here is
the fundamental proof that animals do not have the same rights as man, and it
is based on the fundamental differences that God established between men and
animals. Each person has an eternal spirit, because we are made in God's image.
We have intelligence to understand God's will and be accountable to live
according to His standard of right and wrong. As a result, we are so important
God sent His only Son to die for us. All of this distinguishes us from animals.
[1 Cor.
1:23,24; Rom. 6:5-7; Gal. 1:28; Philippians 2:5-8; Hebrews 2:14-17; Revelation
5:9]
Conclusion to Part I
============
Only
God inherently has rights. As Creator and Ruler of the Universe, He is in
charge. People have rights, not because we earned them or inherently deserve
them, but because God the Creator chose to give them to us! We would have no
rights, except for His decree. Indeed, "we are endowed by our Creator with
certain inalienable rights." Where does the Bible say God gave rights to
animals?
God
gave us power to use everything on earth for our benefit according to His will.
Air, sunshine, water, soil, plants, and animals all have great value to man,
because they are useful to meet our needs.
In
accord with God's command, men protect many animals, raise, feed, and provide
for them, because they are valuable to us for food, clothing, etc. If man has
no right to own or use animals, then animals would be of less value to us than
plants that we can raise and eat, and less value than a plot of dirt on which
we can build a house or grow food.
The
result of the animal rights movement would be to make all animals into pests
like rats, flies, mosquitoes, roaches, and other vermin. They would eat our
food, invade our property, and endanger our livelihood, but would have no value
to us whatever. We could not use them in any way for our good, and we could not
even kill them, unless they threatened our lives. The result would make every
animal worthless to us at best and an enemy at worst. This does not increase
the value of animals; it degrades them and perverts God's purpose for them.
This is
the conclusion of this portion of our study about animal liberation. To see the
other parts, please go to
