This morning, I came across this pro-animal internet meme that broke my heart. Years ago, I would not have found pity in the mouse or lizard, but my time as a Christian has dramatically changed my perspective on the world around me; that’s the goal, isn’t it? The meme here shows a mouse and a lizard stranded onto a glue trap, which is a popular method of removing pests in American homes. Just reading the thoughts of the creatures, it becomes hard not to sympathize with them. Imagine this was, instead of a mouse or lizard, a dog or cat stuck on the trap dying a slow and terrifying death; you may feel a little different if so. And this naturally raises the question: How are Christians to treat animals? We claim to be the light in the darkness of the world, so how does that light need to extend to creatures outside of our own species?
Let us first examine the role of animals established by God. In Genesis 1 & 2, we see that God included animals in the creation of the Earth prior to the creation of man. The animals were all uniquely designed and created by God and then were there when Adam was created on day 6, after which God brought the animals to Adam for him to name.
“19 Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. 20 The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field.”
Genesis 2:19-20a (ESV)
We can see a couple of things here already. First, man was given dominion over all other creatures in the garden. However, we must also acknowledge that man is the caretaker of the animals – their leader – because he was tasked with naming them, and that is personal. Man was given the privilege of choosing what to name each creature and God honored his choices; that’s pretty awesome. And with that understanding, we can safely assume that there is an intended relationship between man and the other creatures established by God.
Now some may say, “Yes, man rules over the animals, but that means he can choose to do whatever he wants to them.” But that is simply not the case. Jesus spoke of the “least of the commandments” in his sermon recorded in Matthew 5-7, and most scholars have agreed that the “least” of the commandments in the Bible is the command to not take a mother bird’s young from her while she is protecting them in her nest.
“6 If you come across a bird’s nest in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young. 7 You shall let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself, that it may go well with you, and that you may live long.”
Deuteronomy 22:6-7 (ESV)
This commandment aims to have us practice mercy towards the lesser creature. It would pain the mother bird to see her young being taken from her, so by driving away the mother bird before taking the young, we are reducing her suffering. God, in this commandment, expresses his care for the emotional state of just a small bird, a creature that many would consider beneath us and not worthy of compassion. That is simply not how God wants us to act; God wants us to be merciful to even the least of us, speaking in regards to all inhabitants of the Earth. And if you think about it, this command then would not be the “least” of the commands and should be considered part of what Jesus calls the “weightier matters of the Law” in Matthew 23:23 – the commandments which concern how we express justice, mercy, and faithfulness.
But obviously the taking of the young confirms that humans are allowed to use animals for our benefits. It is clear in the Bible that man has the permission to slaughter and eat of the clean creatures of the Earth (Leviticus 11), but then how do we reconcile that with the commandment to be merciful to the mother bird? Simply, we are to act as merciful and faithful to animals as we can. This means that we should not kill for sport; this means that we should not abuse livestock; this means that we should care for and treat animals as best we can.
But you may still be thinking to yourself that animals are much less important than humans and that just because we should not take a young bird from her mother when the mother is present that we can still cause suffering and pain in creatures if it benefits us. This is probably because you may believe that animals do not possess souls or have the same kind of spirit that we have. I would argue against that based upon something God mentions in Genesis during the flood narrative. Speaking in regards to his choice to destroy the inhabitants of the Earth aside from Noah’s family, God says this:
“17 For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.”
Genesis 6:17 (ESV)
God explains that he wants to start over; he wants to rid the world of the corruption that has leaked in through sin and start afresh and to do this means that he will destroy everything which has the “breath of life” within it. We know that man has the breath of life from Genesis 2:7, but what about animals? Does Genesis 6:17 intend for God to be speaking of animals and man or just man himself? If we read just a little further down, we find our answer.
“15 They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life.”
Genesis 7:15-16 (ESV)
God has given the animals of the world the same breath of life that he has given us. To say that animals have no purpose other than to supply man with his needs is foolish and disrespectful to both the animals and the God that created them. Animals have purposes other than for our benefit; some creatures of this earth are still unknown to us, so they cannot be here, then, simply for our benefit. They are a part of God’s created order – his created order that was established from the chaos of the cosmos in his first acts of creation (Genesis 1:1).
How do we apply this? It is simple really: we should treat the Earth and its inhabitants, both man and animal, with mercy, justice, and faithfulness. We can remove pests from our homes, but the means by which we do that should be merciful; we can use humane traps and relocate them somewhere they can serve their purpose. If we choose to eat animals, we should be as merciful as we can with them in slaughter to ease their suffering; you can even choose to eat less meat to further alleviate that suffering if you choose. If we choose to use animals for farming purposes, we should give them adequate food and water and provide them with plenty of rest.
In short, we are commanded by our creator to respect and honor the fellow creatures with whom we share this Earth. I hope you consider these words the next time you are engaging with one of God’s good creatures.
