Are Human beings superiour than any other living things ?

Question

I ask because two things seemingly contrasting buffles me . " i shall give you power and Authority over all living things " God said . What power , what Authority . Is it wise then to kill and subject animals to different levels of pain in an attempt to control our living .

But again we are advised in the Bible " You the wiseman visit the Ant hill and learn from them "

This verse is the ultimate Biggie . the ways of Ants is unbelievable , there are workers , engineers , architects , plumbers , soldiers etc amoung the group . The work differentiation is a marvel and the efficency is 100% .Why was the wiseman not advised to kill the Ants inorder to to learn their ways , how they function inorder to acquire knowledge .

Was it just a question of parables ? which we respect not . Help

Answer 1

I would say that question indicates a lack of understanding of life in that there is no link to species and superiority. Each species can do something that others cannot, fish can live in water, birds can fly, worms can exist in zero conditions. To use the Bible or any other scripture to try to interpet science is odd since most religions do not wish for people to think, just to obey without question but it is natural for a person who adheres to slavish, rigid social organizations called religions to wonder "who is superior?" Religious leaders and teachers control by convincing followers that they are the chosen ones and others are the enemy. God created the world but did not create the system of social controls that men use religion to enforce, nor does God require that we have people between us and Him. You can see God's work in all creatures, you can see the evil in the hearts of those who use God's name for control, power and wealth.

Answer 2

We were given superiority over the animals by God but we weren't to abuse that position. God is a loving God and doesn't want anything to suffer (1 JOHN 4:8)

In fact, we weren't even meant to eat animals at first - have a look at GENESIS 1:30. God only allowed man to start eating meat when Noah & his family came out of the ark after the flood.
So, while we are in supriority over the animals, we shouldn't inflict any suffering upon them

What God is saying in the case of the ant is - that we can learn so much from this one part of his wonderful creation. The ants work so hard and reap the benefits of their work. We don't need to kill them to observe them. He is directing our attention to how marvelous his creation is & how we can learn so much from such a tiny thing.

We can learn so much from ALL of his creation. In fact, mankind has copied a lot from nature because they have found that it is the best DESIGN (one example is certain aircraft have been copied from the same design as seagulls wings because it makes them highly maneuverable) There are many other examples

Answer 3

Parables and metaphors are useful only so long as they can help us to see the truth behind them. The Bible is full of them - and also full of many other kinds of stories, many written from a human perpective by honest but short-sighted and less 'globally aware' people than many of us today. I don't believe that invalidates the Bible as a source of much wisdom but it is wise not to fall into the trap of being more blinkered about what it says than the people were who wrote it.

My view is that humans are a special part of creation but essentially no better or worse than the rest of it. We vaunt ourselves too much by believing that we have power and authority over all living things which gives us the right to destroy and use things to our advantage without considering the consequences.

Answer 4

I'm not religious but think that there is a bountiful supply of wisdom in the bible (as well as self-contradiction and the dubious). We are more intelligent and thus hold dominion over other living things. This does not mean that we have to subjugate them, but, possibly, to tend and monitor instead. Since mankind has gone seriously astray, learning from the NATURAL (at one with the planet and its ways) behaviours of animals must be a good thing.

Answer 5

I bleieve that humans were created to be the brains of the planet. It is our job to take care of the planet and to do it for the good of all living beings. We are the managers, and we are doing a piss poor job. We have much that we could learn from the other species, but we don't see it that way. Primitive people knew this and operated within the natural way to take care of the environment, but somehow we started operating on the premise that it was man against nature, so we are winning the battle, but we will lose the war.

Answer 6

I think this is a question of what you believe. If you believe in what the Bible says, I can see where you are confused.

But if you stay objective, you will see that human are not superior.

If I would take your example of the ant, you would see that ants are far more efficient than man. Besides that they are proportially much much stronger than any man could ever be.

And that's just one example. There are a lot of animals who have certain skills/abilities that would make a human almost like a superhero.

Answer 7

Answer : "YES, human beings have been made superior than all living creatures on earth"

Even in the holy Quran, Allah clearly calles Adam Ashraf-ul-Makhlooqaat which means "Best of all creations". Reason: man has been given a brain that can think, decide and choose.

All creatures have brains, but man's is superior. I agree with you on the fact that animals have their systematic ways but Allah made them that way to give man ideas how to go about things.

Animals teach us many things like punctuality, hygiene, parental care, etc.

But today, man has become worse than animals, tht's a different case....heheh

Answer 8

In my opinion the whole "primitive people and animals live in harmony with nature" thing is exaggerated. Yes, they do so. But they don't live in harmony on purpose, they live in harmony because they are forced to.

People will tell you that animals only kill when they are hungry. Yes, but that's because they have to actually run after the other animal and catch it and/or fight it. And that's hard to do and takes much effort and energy (and you can get killed). So if hunting is a lot of hard work and it can get you killed you of course only hunt when you are hungry.

But humans invented guns. With guns you don't need to run after an animal. You can just stand there, point it and shoot. Your prey is dead before it really gets a chance to fight your or run away. Hunting with a gun is much easier and safer than hunting with claws and teeth of predatory animals or the early weapons of prehistoric humans. So humans can now actually hunt for fun instead of out of need.

The only reason we are ruining the environment and animals aren't is because we are capable of doing it and they aren't. In fact, as far as living in harmony with nature is concerned we humans are slowly becoming better at it. Because we are no longer forced to, we can make a conscious decision to do so. And that is much better than being forced into it.

Answer 9

wow the ant thing is profound, BTW you will be more fascinated by bees if ants got u so big time. I was going to say 'no' to your question, we are not superior we only think so but then u brought up God and you quoted from a religion that denounces the theory of evolution (way more believable and plausible than the big bang theory etc.) so I can't answer your question, you think we were made in God's own image while I think we evolved from simians.

Answer 10

Human Beings are lesser than living things, as they live above the world they exist on, and not in harmony. Animals, generally, take only what they need. In this way, they don't do irrepairable damage to the world. We do.