If animals were really put here just for our enjoyment for eating, then why were there animals for so long....

Question

before there were humans?

(note: I don't believe animals are here for us to use however we wish. I just hear a lot of people saying this).

No guys. I do NOT believe that animals were put here just for our enjoyment for eating! I'm a vegetarian! This is a question for those who DO believe that.

Answer 1

When GOD created the heavens and the earth, it was a self sustaining environment. It did not rain, nor storm. The ground was watered through a mist that came up from the ground.

You can read this in Genisis, it may help you understand a bit more about your own question. If nothing else it will give you a new view of the earth to think about.

After the sin of Man, it still did not rain or storm, but the ground was made more diffucult to work with, along with thorns and thistles that did not arise before.

After the Flood, also in Genisis, the earth was harmed, GOD stated this directly, and storms and rain and such became the norm.

Now to the animals, before the flood animals were not afraid of humans or vise versa, they lived in harmony, although they were killed in some numbers for clothing only, they were not yet used as food.

After the flood waters subsided, and the occupants and animals left the ark, the rules were changed. Now certain animals were now allowed to be eaten.

Now skip ahead to the new Testament book of Acts. Animals that were declared unclean , were now declared as allowed.

An interesting note, when the new heaven and the new earth come to pass, we will once again go back to not eating the animals and will live in peace with them. They will also not eat each other and will live in harmony. We will have come full circle to the wonderful creation we were intended to have all along.

Answer 2

Well, it depends upon your view. If you believe as I do, then animals, humans, it doesn't matter. We're all insignificant; no different than cells on the human body. We're small, not noticed by the whole, and die off rather quickly.

However, many people don't accept that. So, let's go with what those people believe, and work with it from their perspective. Let's say God created everything. Wouldn't he need to start from the bottom and build up? How does a carpenter build a house? How does a scientist make a chemical? You start with the basics. So, if God were creating humans, he'd have to start with individual cells, bring them together to form the most basic forms of life, then like a chemist making a new chemical, slowly bring the basics together to form more complicated life, slowly mixing the ingredients together until everything was perfect... until humans were created.

I have a feeling a lot of people who believe in God won't buy that either, but whatever. God would have to make humans somehow, He wouldn't just snap His fingers, I don't think. All we can do is see the finished product, like a man who buys a house, thinking how beautiful it is. The only difference is that we know for a fact that long hours went into the house, and we don't know how God (or nature) created us, or the universe, so a lot of people just don't buy anything other than "poof" he snapped his fingers. If you found a house in the desert, and you'd never seen a house before, or heard of a house before, you'd be amazed, and probably attribute it to some higher life-form, and decide that it's too complicated to make, so it must have been someone who created it by snapping his fingers.

Okay, I'll stop there.

Answer 3

Different animals were created on different days, not just one, and were not put here for us to eat. It was never meant for man to eat any flesh but after the flood it was introduced as there was no vegetation to eat. Then only the clean animals were to be eaten, not the unclean ones. You see the life expectancy was dramatically reduced beginning when the flesh was introduced too. No more 900 year olds were to be out there. Actually there were not animals that were here for the millions of years some say before man showed up or how could the creation be valid? I think we will learn what all happened and when and how when we get to Heaven but until then, it is not that important. Any scientist worth his salt can tell you that the carbon dating they use is not that accurate when it comes to dating anything that was under water so what does that tell you about the assumptions that are made about the time period before the flood? Only God knows what happened as He was there and He gave us an account if we but look at it of what happened and how it happened.

Answer 4

You're right. Animals were put here because God wanted them here. And before the flood, animals were not eaten. The death of an animal even among themsellves is a type of Christ, for he became a sacriifice for all, and Christ's cross means He paid the cost for animals too, remember, an animal was involved in Adam and Eve's fall. There is a wealth of understanding in the scriptures about animals and any thing else you need to hear.
It is not possible that humans can love an animal more than their own personal creator!

Answer 5

When you read Genesis, read it carefully. When God created animals and man on the "sixth day" he created animals first. Since the Hebrew does NOT say that the creative days were literal 24 hour periods, the animals may have been on the planet for thousands of years before he created mankind. A creative day to God may be a millennium to us.

There are two creation accounts, also. Read it carefully and forget what you learned in Sunday school. Get a Hebrew concordance (Strong's is great) and a KJV and read it word for word in the original language.

Adam (mankind) and Adam ('that man Adam') have two separate creations. During the first, God created the vegetation of the 'wild' earth, then the sea creatures, then the wild beasts of the earth, in that order. Then he placed mankind, both male and female, together at the same time (they are all of the races of paleolithic man) and gave them dominion over the 'wild' earth. These are the hunter gatherer tribes, God gave them wild beasts and herbs to eat.

Adam, the one placed in the Garden or orchard, was created on the 8th day and was created as a 'tiller of soil' or farmer, and if you look closely you'll notice that he was created before the vegetation of the 'field' and given the animals of the 'field' and was set in the garden to farm - this second 'Adam' is neolithic man, and was human kind's first FARMER. Only after the 'farm animals' were given to him was a wife created for him.

Two very different accounts, pay attention and don't rely on a preacher to teach it to you, they just want your money!

Answer 6

I dont know if they were put here for our enjoyment or not, but we are at the top of the food chain and man being basically an animal eats whats available to him. Although I do not believe this gives license for cruelty. Many animals serve an important service of transforming things which man could not digest into a source of calories.

Answer 7

For starter, there's a problem with your question. There is no 'if' animals were here to only provide nourishment for us, human. That's a mighty arrogant view. Animals are part for the ecosystem of the planet. They consume plants and or other animals for energy to survive in this planet. And when they died their bodies get broken to basic elements by insect, bacteria, fungi, and other animals (remember vultures). And these elements get process back to soil where they get absurd as food by plants and fungi. Next, the plants and fungi get eaten by other animal. The cycle of life and death. And when we die, we also become food for something else. It how world exists. We are not superior to animals, sometimes we can learn some things from them. Purpose and existence are things many people have questioned and will continued to do because no one has a definitive answer. Each person should well inform themselves about things they question and use their brains and come to their conclusion.

Answer 8

lol. I have little doubt that in your mind the bible is true. That being said: The animals are not separate from humans. I don't think that the animals were put here; as much as evolved here, and we (humans) are only doing what animals must do to survive...EAT. Do you separate animals from plants in that they are not (in your mind) a living thing? So, my question to you is: If you see life as being so valuable, and precious; that you rant about killing living things in order for you to live, then how do you propose that you will survive without this 'ever so evil' act?
Okay, that was a little mean of me, but it is the way of animals, and indeed life. Humans are animals, and if you don't believe me then you can just dissect a pig, or rat, and then tell me the difference in basic anatomy.

Answer 9

If you are referring to larger animals like dinosaurs, etc., I believe that period of time was very carefully planned out by God so that fossil fuels would become a major part of the world's history to fulfill prophecy later on (consider the prophecy "chariots without end" anyone?). There are still many events coming up which have direct and indirect links to fossil fuels. If you believe in a Creationist viewpoint, as I do, the animals were created before man and woman, so naturally they were here longer. From a Mormon point of view, we believe animals were also meant to fulfill their purpose of having offspring and experiencing joy and the experiences of life. There is so much people can learn from watching animal behavior it is amazing. There are also qualities of consideration we can learn from caring for them.

Answer 10

Well, the idea that animals were here *long* before us is based on evolutionist theories, not on creation according to Genesis. While I don't know if the days in Genesis were literal *days*, as in from sun up until the next, God can do as he pleases and his own time. By "put here just for our enjoyment and eating", I assume you mean put here by God, as is described in the Bible. This contradicts the aforementioned theory of evolution.