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

Am I talking to myself ' roy '!
Back to your question. Can you swim like a dolphin? can you fly like an eagle? no , neither can I .The word superior is not a word I would use to describe ourselves, only in intellect. Every creature on this earth suited to its own little niche.
As for what it says in the bible? well, when people say "Every word in the bible is true" There is no other book written with so many contradictions, a lot of people only quote the bits they would like to believe. then ' conveniently' ignore the bits they don't want to believe . For example Luke 14: verse 26 says " If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children,and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." So to follow Jesus you have to hate your own family? I find the following link rather revealing.

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

"I shall give you power and authority over all living things" - means, "you have a duty as the good steward to ensure that this world is run efficiently and well, and in harmony with all other living things, so use that duty wisely."
The anthill parable means that we must respect that, like ants, we all need to work in co-operation with each other, and that there is a place for everyone when we work together harmoniously for the greater good of the whole (as ants do). In other words, there is none so wise that he/she cannot learn from the ways of the smallest of creatures. That's very humbling.

Answer 4

In the beginning creation was in a vegetarian state but due to sin the original intent had been destroyed and now we wear and eat the animals. One wonders if moving towards a vegetarian state is a STEP towards "original intent"??????

There are many lessons in the bible using animals from which we can learn. Perhaps our vision needs to be broaded.


Gen 3:21
The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them

Gen 9:1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth. 2 The fear and dread of you will fall upon all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air, upon every creature that moves along the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea; they are given into your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.

Answer 5

One of my favaorite hitch hikkers guide to the galaxy quotes:

"on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much - the wheel, New York, wars and so on - whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man - for precisely the same reasons"

The answer NO, we are naive to think we are anything special, yes we have technology but we are going to wipe are selves out with it in the end.

Answer 6

There is quite a bit of difference between having dominion over the earth and all that lives upon it, and abusing that dominion. Whenever we fail to exercise proper wisdom and ruin what has been given to us, we abuse our dominion. Air pollution, the extinction of entire species of animals, and deforestation without replanting are all examples of that abuse.

Proverbs 6:6-8 and Proverbs 30:25 explain that, although ants are tiny, they are wise, because they understand what is needed in order to sustain their lives.

Whenever we abuse our dominion over the earth, we fail to learn this basic, yet wise, concept from the ants: how can we sustain ourselves if we ruin what has been given to us?

Peace.

Answer 7

I think God is an invention of man, so whatever God, or the Bible, says is invented by man as well, according to me.
I'm not sure, but I think humans have greater power of prognosis and in that respect are superior.
But animals have faculties too, in which they are superior to humans, some because of their eyesight, others because of their hearing, or smelling faculties, others have organizational capacities that are stunning. So in general I would answer that it depends on what you are looking for.
I'm not a vegetarian, so that - for me - has nothing to do with it.

Answer 8

Animals are capable of perceiving a single effect from any given action and most species can't even do that much-humans are capable of perceiving a whole range of effects from multiple causes in a fraction of a second. The complexity of our reasoning and cognitive skills is far beyond that of even the most intelligent animal species.

Answer 9

Too much info in question. Why is it posted twice?

I think it depends on the human, and humans have to earn respect. In some case animals could teach us a thing or two, especially about loyalty.

Good Question.

Answer 10

Read the bible as it is, an old book containing many histories written between 2500 and 1000 years ago. Donýt take it literally and don't use it to justify your actions.

The general good advice is usually just common sense and common curtussy and I strongly suggest to make them your guide in life.

Because the bible was written in a culture so different from ours, it would be very stupid to think it still applies to modern day history.