Animal Slavery

[John V]

Not the christian god certainly. He's directly responsible for our existence and made us in his image supposedly. As humans we just take advantage of and try to control the animals we are stuck with.

You're saying that the deciding factor is whether one party is directly responsible for the existence of the other. If not, it's acceptable to control and take advantage of the other. Why then is human slavery unacceptable?

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We can go one further with a being like god, using the 'might makes right' principle. He can justify his actions by pointing out that no one can force him to answer for them. He is supreme, and therefore the issue is not about right and wrong or good and evil, but whether or not we can do anything other than criticize him or try to reason with him.

This was brought up some time ago by sven: "In the end one of the panelists expressed the view that we have the right to exploit animals, because we have assumed the right to do this."

I think that this is why the story of Job should be unsettling for Christians. If god is above human justice in the most literal sense, and if god's actions are good/moral/just by definition, then nothing stops him from making completely arbitrary decisions. We have the option, for example, of making Michael Vick pay for his horrific mistreatment of animals (putting aside the question of whether the price he paid was sufficient). Not only do we not have the option of making god pay for his treatment of humankind, we are told that we cannot even label his actions as evil or wicked.

I have no qualms about swatting a gnat. I feel no shame or remorse over it, it's something that usually doesn't even register. If we are as gnats to god, then we have no cause to judge him for his actions. But we should be utterly terrified of him.

The gnats should be terrified, and the Bible does say that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. However, some are more akin to the pet cats, and no longer have need for fear.