The title of the original article (“"People say, 'Oh, he was just a dog.' No. He was a person who loved me.") is what spurred my original post (#5). Equating animals to humans or saying they are persons is morally and Biblically in error. Christians should know better by a study of the Bible. The section below is from a larger paper I wrote in 1994. It goes into detail on the differences between animals and man from a Biblical perspective.
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Man: The Crown of Creation
God fully intended for us to be the crown of His creation, not subordinated to plants, animals or inanimate objects. In fact, we were made just a little lower than God himself! Psalm 8 states this clearly and it is repeated in the New Testament in Hebrews 2:6–8.
Psalm 8:4–8
What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels [the word translated “angels” is the Hebrew word elohim, or God], and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
God created Adam with a superior intellect that enabled him to name all the animals.
Genesis 2:19, 20a
And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field;
God says that man is “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). Nowhere is this description applied to animals.
In Matthew chapter 12 Christ is speaking to the Pharisees, a religious/political group, regarding the healing of a man on the Sabbath. The Pharisees considered it more important to observe manmade rules and regulations than improve the health and welfare of a fellow human being.
Matthew 12:11–12
And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out?
How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well on the sabbath days.
Christ then healed the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath, an action that so infuriated the Pharisees that they immediately plotted how to kill him.
What else does God’s Word say about animals in relation to us?
Luke 12:6–7
Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?
But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.
These verses in Matthew and Luke indicate that God is mindful of animals. Yet Christ makes it clear that humans are of “more value than many sparrows” and “a man better than a sheep.” This same priority of humans over animals is stated in Matthew 6:26.
Matthew 6:26
Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
This verse ends with a rhetorical question. The answer is not supplied because it is self–evident. God is concerned about animals and has designed them in unique ways so that they may be fed (by eating other animals or plants) and protected from predators. However, they are not equal to us in any moral sense. A human life is of incomparably greater value than an animal or plant. A just government will incorporate this fundamental precept in its laws.
Leviticus 24:21 clearly states the consequences of killing a man versus killing a beast, “And he that killeth a beast, he shall restore it: and he that killeth a man, he shall be put to death.” Under the Mosaic law God required you to replace the beast of another person if you killed it. Murdering a human however, resulted in capital punishment. The greater punishment shows the greater value placed on human life.
The blessings to humans by exercising dominion over animals are evident from the shoes on our feet to the food we eat. The skin of animals has been used for clothing since Genesis 3:21: “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.” John the Baptist “was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins” (Mark 1:6a).
Another purpose for animals is food, as stated in I Timothy 4:3 and 4.
I Timothy 4:1–4
Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;
Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving:
Animals serve mankind
E.W. Kenyon describes God’s magnificent wisdom in creating animals that serve and bless mankind:
The dog was created by God Almighty to be the faithful servant and companion and lover of man.
Our common house-cat was created to be the household friend and chum of children and childhood, and pet of the aged.
When the wise Master Builder made the horse He designed him purposely to meet the needs of His Man as servant and beast of burden.
He left a place in its mouth where no teeth grow that a bit might be held without inconvenience, that the horse might be able to eat its food with the bit still in its mouth.
Had the cow been given the fierce disposition of a hyena or lion, she would have been totally unfit for domestic purposes.
Had the dog been given the disposition of the wolf or fox, or had our cat been given the disposition of the tiger, they would have been unsafe for our house.
Had the horse been given the disposition of the zebra, it never would have been man’s beast of burden and inseparable friend.
No, He who created man knew that man would need domestic animals that would respond to the touch of love, animals that would pine and yearn for human companionship and that would gladly obey the human voice.
The excellent health care available in the United States results, in part, from experiments performed on animals before they were tried on humans. These experiments have saved or lengthened many human (and animal) lives. For example:
1879: Robert Koch demonstrated the relationship between bacteria and disease by studying anthrax in sheep and cattle;
1922: Frederick Banting and Charles Best, working with dogs, discovered a method of extracting insulin from the pancreas of an animal to treat diabetes in humans;
1954: Jonas Salk used monkeys to develop the polio vaccine;
1967: Christian Barnaard tested heart transplant techniques on dogs and other animals before using humans.
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