Biblical Thoughts on the Life of Animals

I had a conversation regarding euthanasia of animals and people with my veterinarian, which prompted me to provide a biblical survey on the lives of plants, animals and people. I appreciated his candor regarding his point of view as a Native American and Christian. It is my belief that God intends our various cultural backgrounds to be a benefit to the body of Christ, as well as mankind in general. So what follows is a touch upon what the Bible actually says regarding these topics.

First of all, we should remember that all creation is sacred. When I say "sacred" I do not mean that we are to worship the creation, for God alone, through His Son, Jesus Christ, is to be worshiped. Instead, I mean that all creation has come from God, therefore is worthy of respect, for it all belongs to Him and has His touch upon it. The idea that anything is secular is a non biblical concept.

The first question that comes to mind, is what are the differences is living creatures? In other words, is the life within a plant the same as in animals and people? Or, has God created different kinds of life in these creations?

The second question that comes to mind is how are we to relate to these various life forms and what are the characteristics of those relationships?

The third question related to death and euthanasia, is what happens to these lives after they all die?

I. The Differences of Living Creatures

It is my opinion, that God did create different kinds of life within his living creations. There are many Scriptures that I will share. But, as always, let us start at the beginning. In Genesis 1 and 2 we have the 6 days of creation. The first chapter is characterized by this statement: "And God said, 'Let there be... '"(Gen 1:3 KJV). It is an orthodox belief in Christianity that all creatures were spoken into existence by God, with the exception of man, whom God personally fashioned from the clay by hand (Gen. 2:7 "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground"). In this opinion (and it is all opinion, for only God Himself actually knows, yet we can have educated guesses), the plants, sea creatures, fowl and land creatures were all spoken into existence. According to chapter 1 only, this is true.

Plants Day 3

And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. (Gen 1:11 KJV)

Fish and Fowl Day 5

And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. (Gen 1:20 KJV)

Land CreaturesDay 6

And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. (Gen 1:24 KJV)

Unique Man Day 6

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (Gen 1:26 KJV)

In chapter 1's comment on man, God no longer says "Let the..." which is His declarative statements of existence, but rather His statement is, "Let us.." which is a reflective statement on his thought, which shows that man was not spoken into existence. Chapter 2, then goes into the details of creation and at verse 7 we have the description of God creating man.

It is clear that man is unique in God's creation. All creatures are the product of God's imagination, but only man has the model of God Himself as the plan for creation.

But the orthodox opinion that God only spoke the fowl and land animals is challenged by the second chapter of Genesis when God is testing Adam's abilities of cognition in naming the creatures.

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. (Gen 2:19 KJV)

The verse plainly says that God formed the birds and animals from the dust of the Earth. Perhaps in the speaking of Genesis chapter 1 verses 20 & 24, the creatures came up out of the dirt. Personally, I don't think that is the case since the forming of man out of the dirt is clearly not a spoken act only. More than that, though it clear that the animals are more complicated than the plants in that the Bible says that they have spirits and souls (Ecc 3:21 & Gen 1:21, more on this later).

On Plants & Fish

Jesus, who is God in the flesh (John 1:14) said,

The spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. (John 6:63 NIV)

The living words of God in the Greek is rhma "rhema". This Greek word implies a sent word, unlike a simple word spoken which in Greek is logoV "logos". The word itself is life.[1] The word that is sent bears life. It is my opinion that the lives of the plants are only this kind of life, and possibly so, too, with the fish I include fish because there is no indication that God may have formed them directly from the soil as Adam was formed, although I am not sure on the matter.

[1] Hebrew has the same distinctions. A word sent by God bearing life is 9"$ "dabar". Ps. 33:6 "By the word of the LORD were the heavens made" and Ps 107:20 "He sent his word and healed them". Whereas a word merely spoken is 9/! "amar" as in Gen 1:29 "And God said, 'Behold I have given you".

On Birds, Animals and Man

Men

Because of the briefly referenced statements on birds, animals and humans, these bear a more complicated life form than plants and fish. If you look closely first at the formation of man then back track to the birds and animals you will see what I mean.

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Gen 2:7 KJV)

This verse illustrates the triune nature of man. In the first clause, the body is made from the dust of the ground. In the second clause, the human spirit is created in man by the breath of God. In the third clause, the combination of created spirit with created body of dust results in the creation of the living soul.

The breath of God used to create the spirit of man in Hebrew is %/:1"neshamah".[2] No one knows what the breath of God is, since God exists outside the creation. It is not God Himself dwelling in man, for the word in Hebrew that refers to His Spirit is (&9 "ruwach". But this life is different from His word, for it suggests being some part of his being. This is the spark of divinity in all mankind and I believe in animals as well.

[2] Likewise the Greek corresponding word to the human spirit is pnema "pneuma". The Greek does not make the distinction between created spirit and the Holy Spirit, as both use the same word.

The living soul that Adam became are the two Hebrew words *("chay" and :51 "nephesh". Living is the familiar expression, "to life", or le chaim. The corresponding Greek word to the Hebrew "nephesh" is yuch"psuche" which is the root in our English word "psychology". It is universally agreed that this refers to the personality aspect of our beings, that is, the mind, will and emotions.

Beasts

As for the life of animals I believe that they have the same triune structure that man has. The uniqueness of man in is not in the triune structure, but solely in our being in the image of God. No other creatures bear that honor. But to make my point that animals have the same structure as people I refer you to these verses.

First, their bodies are made from the dirt as already seen in Genesis 2:19. Second that they have created spirits. This is found in numerous biblical passages.

Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth? (Eccl 3:21 KJV)

Both uses of the word "spirit" are the Hebrew word "ruwach", which shows an inconsistency of word usage. Nonetheless, the passage clearly shows that animals have spirits.

Third, animals have souls. I base this on the Hebrew word "nephesh" which is translated soul many times. It is also translated as "life", as "the life is in the blood" (Lev. 11:17 nephesh) and "creatures".

And God created great whales, and every living creature [soul]that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. (Gen 1:21 KJV)

This verse suggests that fish have souls and spirits too, and are not like the plants. It is a natural observation to anyone who has worked with any kind of animal that they all have personalities, which is the manifestation of a soul.

Variety of Life

So far I have made a distinction between two kinds of life. That which comes from God's word (dabar & rhema), and that which comes from his breath (neshamah), which adds a soul (nephesh & psuche). But the apostle Paul declared the further uniqueness of life in creation while trying to explain to the Corinthians the nature of the resurrection.

All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. (1 Cor 15:39 KJV)

Anyone who eats knows that they all taste different and have different qualities. I once tried making hamburgers with half ground beef and half ground turkey thinking that I would enjoy that beef taste with the healthier turkey meat. What resulted was a rubbery texture that was repugnant to eat. If the flesh is different for each species of creatures, it makes sense then that their spirits would be different, too. In fact, I believe this is what Paul means in his next two verses.

There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. (1 Cor 15:40-41 KJV)

"Celestial bodies" and "bodies terrestrial" of the heavens are metaphorical for spirits. The spirits of today are different in every species. This is why interspecies mating is impossible for breeding. As a speculative opinion, I would also say that since the type of spirit forms the type of flesh and soul, the nature of the spirit has its expression in the DNA of the flesh. Paul's point, of course, is that the resurrection will be unlike that which exists today. My point is that all living species are unique in their lives. The life of the plant is nothing like the life of animals. And the lives of all plants are different and the lives of all animals are different.

II. The Relationships of Living Creatures and Man

The answer to the first question is that all life is different in the creation. The second question relates the lives of creatures together with man. If all creation is sacred, even more sacred are all living creatures which are not to be casually regarded. Man was given dominion over the Earth

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Gen 1:28 KJV)

This dominion is not the callous disregard for life that selfish people have. Proverbs says:

A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: (Prov 12:10 KJV)

It is the orthodox understanding of stewardship. Stewards are caretakers of another person's property. All creation belongs to God and we are the caretakers of His property. Indeed the task of caring for the garden was given to Adam (Gen. 2:28).

It was not the Lord's original intention that we eat the animals. The next two verses in Genesis declares that plants were made to be food for all living creatures.

And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food: and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, (I have given) every green herb for food: and it was so. (Gen 1:29-30 ASV)

Up until the Flood, it is unlikely that people ate any animals nor any animals ate any other animal. This is one reason why it would be easy for Noah to gather the animals to the Ark. They were not scattered in the wild. They probably had a close contact with people. Permission to eat the animals was given after the Flood (Gen 9:3) because of the necessity for plant life needing time to regrow, and Noah had brought 7 of the clean animals and only 2 of the unclean (Gen 7:2) which was food for when his supply of vegetables ran out from the Ark.

C.S. Lewis is a famous 20th century theologian who wrote a book called. "The Problem of Pain". In it he grapples with the issue of animal suffering.[3] He understands the need to punish man for rebellion, but why should animals suffer who are innocent of the fall of man? His answer goes back to the relationship that man was given with animals. Animals were not made by God to be wild as they are today. Animals were to be cared for by man. Lewis points out that the natural state of animals is what we call pets today. Wild animals are un-natural and are the result of sin in the Earth.

[3]It is not my intention to explain why animals suffer because of our fall in this letter. That is another complex topic, and I think Lewis did a poor job in answering that question as well.

The Bible shows that this relationship will be restored at Christ's second coming as in this example from Isaiah:

The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. (Isa 11:7-8 NIV)

Incidentally, the Lord has no pleasure in the death of animals. He tolerated the animal sacrifices because of His great love for man.

To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. (Isa 1:11 KJV)

Jesus said that God feeds the animals.

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? (Matt 6:26 KJV)

In fact, the psalmist indicates that the animals are also aware of God. All of Psalm 104 is an exaltation of God's creation and its creatures. The psalmist addresses the feeding of the animals and their awareness that God feeds them.

Ps 104:24-29

24 O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.

25 So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts.

26 There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.

27 These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season.

28 That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good.

29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. (KJV)

We are to be the hand that feeds the animals. When we do not, as in the wild, then God feeds them. How animals are sensitive to God, I do not know, but these verses suggest that they are. This last verse also brings us to the final question. What happens to the animals when they die?

III. Life After Death

If the life of plants are merely existence of the Word of the Lord, there lives are the least in importance. The scriptures have many references to the ephemeral nature of plants.

The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. (Isa 40:6-8 KJV)

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? (Matt 6:30 KJV)

For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. (James 1:11 KJV)

While vegetation is a living substance, it was created for consumption. It is reasonable on that basis to assume that the cognition of plants is rudimentary for the purpose of life. There is nothing to indicate that plants continue after they die, except, of course through the seeds or roots if they remain.

Animals, however, are more complex since they clearly have souls and spirits. In Ecclesiastes we have the mysterious statement that the spirits of animals goes downward to the Earth.

Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth? (Eccl 3:21 KJV)

But the best verses in my mind is in Psalms 104.

Ps 104:28-30

28 That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good.

29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.

30 Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth. (KJV)

The implication of these verses is that the personal lives of the animals do not continue after death. In verse 29 it shows that God takes their breath (ruwach: spirits) while the substance of their bodies returns to the dust. Verse 30 says that God sends His Spirit (whether Holy Spirit or breath is uncertain, but I believe it is the former) to create new animals and renew the face of the Earth. The Hebrew word for "create" is !9" "bara" which is the same word used in Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created", and the Hebrew word for "renew" is :$( "chadash" which means to rebuild. Unlike reincarnation, which suggests the same spirit goes through transformation with each new life, the animal spirits is more like clay from which God reuses to create more animals. So, dogs do not go to heaven, nor any other animal. Euthanizing animals is a judgment call given to man by God. The animal life is sacred, but in our dominion of the Earth as stewards we are to regard the life of the beast. Mercy and compassion towards the suffering of God's creatures is called for. Extinguishing a sickly animal's life is to end its misery if it is in misery. Comfort and care for animals that are weak is the better course, if it is practical.

Euthanasia for people is a completely different matter. The scriptures indicate that all people continue to live after death, unlike the animals. The question is where do they live? With God, who created us all to be His children (all are not His children, only Jesus is His child, and all who believe in Jesus are grafted by adoption into His family). If not with God, then that means in the Lake of Fire where they will be tormented for ever with the "worm that never dies, and the fire that is never quenched" (Mark 9:46).

The point of this paper is to examine the lives of plants and animals. The discussion of man is a complex topic that is a paper unto itself. Sufficient to say that the biblical stand on man is the above mentioned paragraph. People suffering in a hospital or dying at home are not to be killed. The issue that matters as a Christian, is, do they know Christ? Without the new birth, to kill someone suffering in this life is to plunge them into eternal suffering which is far worse than the pain they endure now. That is lacking compassion in the ultimate sense, if one knows the truth of life after death. Even Christians who know that they will go to Heaven after they die, are not to be hastily extinguished. Men without regeneration have a created spirit, but men who are born again have the Holy Spirit in their hearts. Those people belong to Jesus for He bought them with His own blood. His life is in them. And only God knows when a person's life is completed on Earth. That decision still belongs to God, not man. To kill a true Christian, even if they are suffering, is to usurp the Lord's prerogative. So euthanasia for humans is forbidden by God. For He said in the 6th Commandment: Thou shalt not kill. (Ex. 20:13).