Have you ever been an animal (biologically speaking we are animals but I'm asking the majority that believe we are not), and have you ever seen God?
2007-06-02 04:40:51 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Why do you believe anything that you believe?
Actually the Bible says quite plainly that an animal has a soul and that the soul is in the blood. That is why the blood is drained from a slaughtered animal. What the Bible does say quite plainly is that when God created Mankind, He created Him "After His image and after His likeness"
(Genesis 1:26), and at that time he gave him dominion over all the animals.
I don't think it takes a genius to see that man is far superior in intelligence to any other creature. Look at the world he has constructed. The Bible also teaches that Man is a fallen creature, alienated from his Creator, and in rebellion against God's good purposes and intentions for him. The image and likeness have been perverted and twisted, like a caricature on the editorial page of the newspaper. It is only in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ that we see the image of God, what God fully intended man to be, perfectly displayed.
2007-06-02 05:05:58 · answer #1 · answered by wefmeister 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you read the book of Genesis, the opening book of the Bible where creation is given, it says that animals have souls. The soul is where the mind, will and emotions reside. Anyone who has ever had a pet knows that they have minds, wills (especially my wife's cat) and emotions (just watch your dog's tail).
What makes man unique, according to Genesis 2:7, is that God also breathed into him a spirit. That is the part of man that makes him religious, and able to make moral choices. No animal practices any kind of "religion" or shows any belief in God, nor any ability to have such a belief. That is unique to man. And it is that which separates him from the animals.
It is that ability to sense the spiritual which makes man "in the image of God", because he also can sense and move in the spiritual realm.
Have I ever seen God? If you mean in a physical form, no. That would be impossible as he has not physical form. Just as I have never seen electricity, magnetic waves, gravity, or many other things which have no physical form. I have, however seen the affect of electricity (or lack thereof when my PC gets accidentally unplugged), or magnetism when I get one near my floppy disk, or gravity when I drop an object. So I have seen the presences and the manifestation of God daily in my life, in answered prayer (have yet to have one that was NOT answered), in miracles, in the lives of those around me, and in his regularly commune and fellowship with me.
That is enough to show me that humans have a spirit that makes them unique from the animals.
2007-06-02 05:12:27 · answer #2 · answered by dewcoons 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Animals are living soul as are humans - until they die. Then they are dead souls. But that's not the end of the matter! An ancient Hebrew referred to the possibility of the spirit of animals going downwards, but the spirit of man ascending upwards (after death). He also said "the spirit returns to God who gave it" (Ecclesiastes 3:21 & 12:7). Jesus, on the verge of dying, cried out to God, "Into your hands I commend my spirit" (Luke 23:46 quoting from Psalm 31:6, also John 19:30).
As for being created in God's image, that's what God said in Genesis 1:26. Genesis makes a clear distinction between plants and animals, and between animals and mankind. Of course I've never been an animal, and I have never seen God, but please reflect on Jesus' astonishing statement, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father" (John 14:9).
2007-06-02 05:02:16 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
We believe that we were created in God's image because God said so -Genesis 1:26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image.
God made us rulers of the animal kingdom. (which is true, as you can see in practice)
Our intelligence is higher than that of animals, so we are not quite like them. They don't have ability to speak and to use language like we do. They cannot write. They cannot listen to a sermon and repent of their bad behavior.
We have "seen" God just like we have "seen" the wind. We can't see with our physical eyes, but we feel the effects. We have seen miracles of God. We have received answers from God (direct answers to a prayer that couldn't be mistaken with coincidence). The heavens declare the glory of God - honest scientists believe in intelligent design because of the fact that so many coincidences of human life coudn't have happened all on their own. There was somebody who is controlling things. (Take DNA for example, could it have happened on its own?).
2007-06-02 04:57:41 · answer #4 · answered by SeekingAnswers 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Only fundamentalist Christians believe we are created in God's physical image.
The old testament says this is blasphemy.
Asssss for animals - I don't know. My mum and I were talking abt this just the other day. We think that animals have souls, but then again, who knows. I guess that's just a matter of faith...
2007-06-02 04:52:37 · answer #5 · answered by ? 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I agree with the first answerer, living creatures have souls!
As for being created in God's image, I think that applies to our free will. The fact that we can choose, and don't run on instinct makes us like God.
2007-06-02 04:48:04 · answer #6 · answered by mury902 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If it breathes it has a soul, in my opinion.
2007-06-02 04:43:44 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋