Purr

So, say there�s a god. Why did she make animals?

Do animals go to heaven when they die? Or are they simple here to serve us and then cease to exist? It seems like if there was a god, she would have known that animals would suffer. Why would she let a living creature suffer? I mean, lab animals, animals slaughtered for food and clothing, animals that are practically defenseless against cruel �owners,� etc. Bugs even. I mean, they do their little jobs and then they die. Do they go to heaven?

A god would have to know what would happen to them. So why wouldn�t she make beef grow from trees and wool grow on plants like cotton? We could survive w/o animals. We don�t need their flesh, skin or fur. I don�t want to get into a vegan argument. Even if it�s not possible, it seems like she would have made our bodies capable of surviving and being healthy w/o the nutrients we get from animal flesh and the warmth we get from their skin/fur. It seems like she would make the world where it didn�t need insects. It SEEMS like she would make wild animals really nice b/c she could make it where they didn�t need to kill each other. A god could make all living things herbivores and make the things they eat magically reappear every time it was eaten. Animals don�t need a free will b/c they�re not judged, right? Animals act on instinct, so why would she make killing other animals part of their survival? If it was an over-population issue, she could have made them die at certain intervals based on their DNA � or she could simply kill them when she wanted to. No one would even know.

It just doesn�t make sense. If a god had made the world w/o the need for animals, then what would be the purpose of having them here? There wouldn�t be a reason for them and it might have even made the world better. It�d be one less thing to worry about, a lot less suffering, and more room.

I don�t believe in a god, and I�m not a vegetarian. I just don�t think a god would have made a world with so much senseless suffering of innocent animals. Just a thought.

three4jump

My dog says that if he ever does meet god, he's gonna bite him (or her) on the ass for being so stupid.

CoffeeFiend

Not only that, but most probably many life forms on Earth will outlive our species. But the Christian religion is very human centered, so it really doesn't seem to bother them that by the looks of it, many other life forms are much more suited to endure stuff that the Earth and the universe can throw at us in the long run. Christianity even has an omnipotent and omniscient human-like man God ruling the universe that seems to have many characteristics of a typical alpha-male, he is the leader of the pack that is the human race so to speak.

My own metaphysical belief is that sentinence is simply the universe observing and interacting with itself. That is all the cosmical significance we have. So we are no worse or no better than other life forms.

Steven Carr

Do Christians count Neanderthal man as animals?

Are they going to Heaven, despite never having heard the Gospel?

Are they all in Hell now?

Or were they just animals, and so just decomposed?

Heathen Dawn

. . . the REAL rulers of the Earth. . .

-- "What have you learned about the Creator from your study of the creation, Dr Haldane?"

-- "That He has an inordinate fondness for beetles."

jfryejr

A non-fundie xtian might say something that appears compassionate...maybe, that would depend on whether they have souls or not. I'm sure a fundie xstian would hedge quite a bit on whether they even existed, though.

Ahh, this one I can answer. The gospel was preached even to the dead.
1Peter 4:6 (NRSV) For this is the reason the gospel was proclaimed even to the dead, so that, though they had been judged in the flesh as everyone is judged, they might live in the spirit as God does.

What kind of question is that? Hell won't be here until jr raptures all of his blessed disciples, which is right before the antichrist comes, and all of the tribulations. Have you seen any tribulations or horsemen spreading pestulance around the globe? Hmm, come to think of it, I think we elected a horseman as president...

No, they might have been eaten.

excreationist

Unless they are familiar with creationist writings like this one:
Answers in Genesis article:
(I think they're supposed to be a subspecies and could interbreed with normal people)

Jobar

Purr, the predator/prey relationships among living things is neither the invention nor the fault of human beings. It's another one of the jaw-droppingly stupid aspects of creationism, to try to accuse humanity of ruining a world where the lion lay down with the lamb; such a world never existed, and never can exist. If we tried to make such a world, there would be no lions, and no lambs either.

Sometimes posts like yours forcibly remind me just how idiotic religions which cling to the ancient myths and dogmas from the days when they were first taught, can be, and so often are. I am astonished, and angry, and ashamed, that supposedly thinking human beings actually believe such rot. Such blindness does not bode well for the long-term survival of our race, if we can't grow out of it.

This is not an EoG topic, really; it has facets of several of our forums- MF&P, E/C, even BC&A. But I'm going to put it in General Religion, with a note to the mods there that it may well go off in directions which call for moving it to some other forum.

Insomniac Dreams

By 'normal' people I assume you mean archaic forms of Homo sapiens sapiens? Neanderthals are a subspecies of Homo sapiens (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis). Current research into Neanderthal derived MtDNA suggets that there was little if no interbreeding between the subspecies of Homo sapiens, despite their coexistance for some time before Neanderthals became extinct hominids about 30,000 years ago.

Purr

I didn't know creationists believed that. I can understand the need to believe everything they believe, but I didn't think they had an answer for animals. I didn't know they think the world used to be perfect and animals didn't suffer until people ruined it.

If they think that, then why do they continue to ruin it by letting animals suffer? It seems like they'd all be vegan animal rights activists. I mean, if they think it's our fault that animals are the way they are.