(June 25, 2015 at 9:57 pm)Lek Wrote: It's fine to kill animals because one of the reasons God created animals was to provide food for us. Animals eat other animals for the same reason. God also gave mankind dominion over the animals, with the responsibility to care for his creation.
If mankind was designed to have dominion over the animals, why are there animals in the wild for which historically human flesh has been a part of their diet? Humans may have become the most dominant species on the planet but they certainly don't sit on top of the foodchain on a purely physical level. We can't really pounce upon and chew a great white shark, but they could do it to us.
I suppose it also begs the question why would something be designed explicitly to be eaten and suffer but that's a bit of a diverge.
Quote:I don't think animals have the ability to displease God. He didn't give them the ability to distinguish right from wrong and, therefore doesn't hold them accountable. I don't know if God loves animals or humans more, but he gave humans the opportunity to live for eternity with him. He didn't say whether there would be any animals there or not.
Protestants don't usually get onto this topic but as far as Catholic/Orthodox theology goes they're pretty certain animals won't be there because of their concept of a difference between a "material" and "immortal" soul.
Young children and some of the mentally handicapped also don't have the ability to discern right and wrong, but as I've noted in several evangelical and fundamentalist sects those who don't accept Jesus as their personal savior are going to hell regardless.
It just seems odd, there are some animals more intelligent than some humans and yet the humans going to burn, possibly in this case simply for being thick (I know Catholics do have a doctrinal exception for these guys but most denominations I've encountered don't).
