❇️WARNING: THIS IS A REALLY LONG POST❇️
I have been an animal lover my entire life. I love watching shows & documentaries about them (as long as there's a happy ending). I am not a vegan so I guess I talk out of both sides of my mouth. I do believe ALL animals should be treated humanely, from beginning to end, including those animals raised for slaughter. I hate seeing videos of one species killing & eating another, even though I know its just nature & they all have to eat. But I hate seeing that lions & leopards will steal each other's cubs to kill & eat them, or any apex predator will kill any animal, especially the young. What I really hate is humans who laugh at the an animal's pain or suffering, like in a recent video of tourists laughing at a dying antelope that wild dogs had chased into the water, where a hippo then tried to attack it because they are very territorial. I have no idea what became of it but I assume it did not make it very far. Again, I realize that is just nature, but the glee, laughter, etc. is inhumane in my opinion. My heart hurts for all animals.
As a fairly new Christian & a person who is fairly new at Bible reading & studying, this is one of the things I just don't understand. How God could make all the different kinds of animals & then, after making Man, allow the mistreatment of those same animals. Why do they kill & eat each other? Why did we have to have animal sacrifices to God? I've done alittle reading & alittle studying & even wrote a long post on being good stewards towards animals ((added at the end of this)). But here's what I have so far.....
GENESIS 1:29
Then God said, "I give you every seed {also herb}-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. (30) And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground - everything that has the breath of life in it - I give every green plant the food." And it was so.
>>>>>>The Jeremiah Study Bible says "In earth's perfect state, neither man nor beast was carnivorous; they were given every seed bearing plant as well as fruit.....for food.
GENESIS 2:9
The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground - trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
here>>>>>> https://answeringenesis.org/hu... mentions that 7th Day Adventists are vegetarian & that studies showed lower rates of heart disease & cancer & on average, longer lifespans than matched (i.e., non-smoking, etc.) control populations.
>>>>>God told Noah after the Great Flood in GENESIS 9:3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
Other translations say: "Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things."
THE FLOOD DESTROYED ALL (OR MOST) THE VEGETATION ON THE EARTH & ALL THAT WAS LEFT WERE THE ANIMALS NOAH SAVED IN THE ARK.
From the Mormon Book of Abraham 4:29
And the Gods said: Behold, we will give them every herb bearing seed that shall come upon the face of all the earth, and every tree which shall have fruit upon it; yea, the fruit of the tree yielding seed to them we will give it; it shall be for their meat.
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FYI here's the Old Testament Law that said what God allowed & didn't allow to be eaten by His chosen people:
LEVITICUS 11:1-47
DEUTERONOMY 14:3-21
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ISAIAH 11:6-9
(6) The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; a little child will lead them.
(7) The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
(8) The infant will play near the cobra's den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper's nest.
(9) They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
*****The coming King will not just transform the social order. Nature will be restored to paradise. This peace in the animal kingdom mirrors the relief from oppressive injustice within human society.*****
HOSEA 2:18
In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle will I abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety.
ISAIAH 65:25
The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent's food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain," says the Lord.
Here's a quote from https://creation.com/animal-ca... >>>>>>> "The carnivorous nature & suffering of animals before the Fall are two issues which old-earth creationists need to face. They believe that the earth is billions of years old, & this generally means believing that God's method of creation involved millions of years of animals tearing each other to pieces, millions of years of mass extinction of species, & millions of years of natural disasters. For a loving God, who created a perfect world which He declared to be 'very good' (GENESIS 1:31), it seems to be an amazingly cruel & wasteful method of creation.
Thus the early church understood that man & animals were originally created not to eat any other humans or animals.
If I'm understanding this article correctly, however, animals did eat other animals before the Great Flood. From the article......"when Cain was enraged that God rejected his sacrifice, God counseled him that "sin is crouching at the door" in Genesis 4:7. God pictures sin as 'crouching', but this means 'ready to spring forth'. The same imagery is used in Genesis 49:9, "he crouched as a lion".... So sin is like a lion waiting to pounce on Cain & consume him.
ROMANS 5:12-14
(12) Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned -
(13) To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone's account where there is no law.
(14) Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.
REVELATION 22:1-5
(1) Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb (2) down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. (3) No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. (4) They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. (5) There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
<<<<<<from the Jeremiah Study Bible>>>>>>
The new creation will be a return to the Garden of Eden (GENSESIS 1-2), Paradise regained! The original order will be restored, with the redeemed ruling over all creation with Christ.
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**BELOW IS THE FIRST POST I MADE ON FACEBOOK ON ANIMALS & THE BIBLE
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<<<<<<<WRITTEN IN 2019>>>>>>>
I wrote this after doing a little studying on animals & what the Bible says about how we should treat them. I don't care if anyone reads it or not but I cite Biblical passages where God's message is clear in how He expects animals to be treated. As a whole, according to God's will, we are not complying with our responsibility to His creations of earth & animals & each other. If we were, there would be no starving animals, no dumped animals, no need for shelters or rescues.
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Most of us, when asked are we a good person would most likely say yes. But are we? One of the hallmarks of being a good person is being a good steward. In fact, God asks this of us from the very beginning. In the book of Genesis, God made man & woman. But before He made us, He made all the animals in the water & the ones who fly in the sky & all the ones on land. From the very beginning of time, God asked us to be good stewards. The dictionary meaning for stewardship is: (1) the position & duties of a steward, a person who acts as the surrogate of another or others, especially by managing property, financial affairs, an estate, etc. (2) the responsible overseeing & protection of something considered worth caring for & preserving. Go back & read that second definition again….the responsible overseeing & protection of something considered worth caring for & preserving. There are many ways we are called to be good stewards: the caring of our children, elderly, sick & poor; the preserving of earth & our natural resources; the preserving of history & historical artifacts. All are important & require more study, but the purpose here is on animals & being good stewards to them. I will mainly be talking about pets but this goes for ALL animals.
Genesis 1:24-26: (24) And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, & the wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. (25) God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, & all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. (26) Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea & the birds in the sky, over the livestock & all the wild animals, & over all the creatures that move along the ground." In the study Bible that I have, The Jeremiah Study Bible, the explanation of these verses is this: As God's image-bearers, humans are symbols of Himself in the world. This is evidenced when people put their faith in Jesus: their spiritual nature changes so that it mirrors His. The Lord also affirms it here by allowing humans to rule over nature & delegating them as earth's stewards.
Genesis 9: (1) Then God blessed Noah & his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful & increase in number & fill the earth. (2) The fear & dread of you will fall on all the beasts of the earth, & on all the birds in the sky, on every creature that moves along the ground, & on all the fish in the sea; they are given into your hands. (3) Everything that lives & moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. *Here, God is allowing humans to eat "everything that lives & moves" instead of just plants. (4) "But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it….
Here is a quote from a 2017 article at newsadvance.com/archives/striving-tobe-god-stewards-of-the-animals-in-our/article_fo83b8fe-4262-11e7-966d-eb4cde7a21bb.html
"The United Kingdom developed a set of principles in 1965 to cover the welfare of livestock. These Five Freedoms, since adopted by some animal welfare groups, mandate:
*Freedom from hunger & thirst
*Freedom from discomfort
*Freedom from pain, injury or disease
*Freedom to express normal behavior
*Freedom from fear & distress
"The law falls short in serving animals well when compared to the Five Freedoms. All of us should care about this because a society that treats animals humanely historically treats its most vulnerable human citizens better too. The first recorded case of child abuse in the United States had a happy ending because of laws meant to protect animals from mistreatment. The promises of the Five Freedoms should be the guiding light for anyone who takes in companion animals. The challenge is nudging guardians to do the right thing if they aren't already. It comes down to the Golden Rule. People should treat animals the way they want to be treated. Food & shelter are just the beginning of a good life."
Job 12:7-10 (7) "But ask the animals, & they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, & they will tell you; (8) or speak to the earth, & it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you. (9) Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? (10) In his hand is the life of every creature & the breath of all mankind.
http//drmichele.org/biblical-stewardship-includes-caring-for-animals/
has this explanation for Job 12: The animals know God, & are known by God. The love of an animal is unconditional, something that reflects God. God treats people, created lower than Himself, with amazing love & tender compassion. Mankind is created higher than the animals. Your tender loving kindness toward people & animals is a reflection of how God has treated you. You are reflecting His image when you care for people & animals, thus displaying His qualities. God is very clear you are to reflect him in all of your ways.
The definition of stewardship is: the activity of protecting & being responsible for something. Biblical stewardship teaches that human beings are created by the same God who created the entire universe & everything in it. When you look after the earth you are caring for God's creations, & God charged the Christian steward with this responsibility. In obedience to this calling we are worshiping our Creator. You were created to be stewards of everything on the earth. Stewardship isn't just simply for you to serve others; it is to righteously rule over the things God created. He is letting you borrow & rule over the earth, animals…….
From an August 1998 article at https://www.sciencedirect.com/...
"Since animals can neither obtain nor sustain rights for themselves they depend upon humans for their welfare. Stewardship involves responsibility FOR something & also responsibility TO someone. This can mean responsibility to God, or for those without religious beliefs, responsibility to future generations. Veterinarians act as stewards, responsible for treating animals & responsible to the owners. They also have responsibilities to society. Different societies have different expectations of their veterinarians but veterinarians are well placed to support human stewardship for animal welfare."
Here is a really good article everyone should read:
https://erlc.com/resource-libr...
Jesus said in Luke 12:6,7 (6) "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. (7) Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." God cares for us & knows everything about us, even things we don't know ourselves, like the number of hairs on our heads. Yet God also cares for His creations, right down to the most ordinary of birds.
Exodus 23:4,5 (4) "If you come across your enemy's ox or donkey wandering off, be sure to return it. (5) If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen down under its load, do not leave it there; be sure you help them with it."
Deuteronomy 22:1-4 (1) If you see your fellow Israelite's ox or sheep straying, do not ignore it but be sure to take it back to its owner. (2) If they do not live near you or if you do not know who owns it, take it home with you & keep it until they come looking for it. Then, give it back. (3) Do the same if you find their donkey or cloak or anything else they have lost. Do not ignore it. (4) If you see your fellow Israelite's donkey or ox fallen on the road, do not ignore it. Help the owner get it to its feet.
Proverbs 12:10 The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.
Proverbs 12:1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid.
Proverbs 12:14 From the fruit of their lips people are filled with good things, & the work of their hands brings them reward.
Proverbs 27:23 Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herds,…..
Being a good steward towards animals means being a responsible pet owner. It means thinking about the animal & it's needs BEFORE you ever get it. It means spaying & neutering. It means being kind. It means not dumping your dog or cat because of any & every excuse. We don't dump our kids or our elderly parents so why would you think its ok to just dump a dog or cat? If we were the good stewards we purport to be on Sunday morning in the church pew, we would not have shelters & rescues overcrowded & underfunded. We wouldn't have abandoned animals, dumped animals, unwanted litters, dog fighting rings, the list is almost endless. Shame on each & every one of us because, as a whole, we are not good stewards.
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