Does it offend you?

Question

If and when someone has ever pointed out the fact that humans are animals, too, does it offend you? I've found that some people are loath to be put into that category, although it's the scientific truth. Just because we happen to be animals of the highest intelligence, does not mean that we are not animals. And why would that be offensive anyway??

Well, just because the Bible says that we have dominion over the OTHER animals does not escape us from BEING animals.

I didn't expect such excellent answers. As to evolution, it personally cements my belief in God. Only he could create all species in such a way that we would change form to adapt to the ever-changingn earth he put us in. I wish other Christians could understand the same.

Answer 1

Ha! Great subject! I totally support the fact that we are just an animal. Yes, we are a very complex species, but we are still animals. We still need the same necessary elements as other animals, we procreate like animals, we die like animals. We just happen to be a more sohpisticated and organized animal. Well, it didn't just "happen", it took a lot of work to get where we are, but there was surely a time when we were more "animal-like" than we are now. But, it doesn't change the fact that we are animals :)

Answer 2

I think for Christians it is the whole "evolution" subject. They become very irate at the fact that anyone dare suggest that God did not create this world. The very suggestion that we evolved from apes just scares people I guess. I once had a conversation with a friend in which I suggested the fact that Adam and Eve may not have been in human form maybe they were more anamilistic. And they evolved as time went on. He went ballistic and told me I was going to hell for my thinking. I do believe in God and I don't think any of us have all the answers as to how this all started. But I try to be open minded and not insulting to other peoples beliefs.

Answer 3

Doesn't bother me at all, but it bothers many people because the Bible draws a distinction. According to Genesis, people were created in God's image and have dominion over the animals. To say we're just another animal upsets people because it seems to deny our divine origin.

Answer 4

i think that even though we are at higher intelligence it does not mean that we should be put on a pedistal compared to all of the animals. Like how you should not abuse a dog just because they are dogs, I think it's like the same pain that we feel. Don't they feel pain when hurt? just think about it

Answer 5

Humans are very much animals, so it definitely does not offend me. The human race, or Homo Sapien, is in the "Animalia" kingdom in the classification of living things on Earth.

Answer 6

Your question regarding mankind being loathe to admit its membership in the animal kingdom carries with it a lot of repercussions.

To answer your question, it does not offend me, but I am not religious. I can understand why the believer might take offense though. Mankind is in a constant struggle between his primitive, animalistic urges and emotions and his potential to become more perfect, emulating God and the divine. The greater the association with our furry and feathered friends, the farther away from the Almighty we get.

The concept conflicts with the very foundation of religious belief - that mankind was created in the very image of God, that man is unique creature on this earth and carries vestiges of God. Believers have been told that only man has the secret to immortality and an afterlife. Nobody talks about our pets going to heaven. This is reserved for 'humble' man, God's chosen species.

"The chimpanzee and the human share about 99.5% of their evolutionary history, yet most human thinkers regard the chimp as a malformed, irrelevant oddity, while seeing themselves as stepping stones to the Almighty."
— Robert L. Trivers

"Humanity sees its reflection in the mirrors that surround it, and thus gratified, calls this image perfect, good, merciful, omniscient, omnipresent, holy, just, and above all, love. So enchanted are these hairless apes with this, that they invent a special word for it: 'God'."
— Unknown

When man comes to the realization that he is not the "favorite" of God; that he was not specifically created, that the universe was not made for his benefit, and that he is subject to the same laws of nature as all other forms of life, then, and not until then, will he understand that he must rely upon himself, and himself alone, for whatever benefits he is to enjoy; and devote his time and energies to helping himself and his fellow men to meet the exigencies of life and to set about to solve the difficult and intricate problems of living."
— Joseph Lewis

The view that the sun stands motionless at the center of the universe is foolish, philosophically false, utterly heretical, because contrary to Holy Scripture. The view that the earth is not the center of the universe and even has a daily rotation is philosophically false, and at least an erroneous belief.
— Holy Office, Roman Catholic Church, edict of March 5, 1616.

If we long to believe that the stars rise and set for us, that we are the reason there is a Universe, does science do us a disservice in deflating our conceits?....For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
— Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark

The cosmos is a gigantic fly wheel making 10,000 revolutions a minute. Man is a sick fly taking a dizzy ride on it. Religion is the theory that the wheel was designed and set spinning to give him the ride.
— H.L. Mencken

Religion is a monumental chapter in the history of human egotism.
— William James (1842-1910)

I once heard the survivors of a colony of ants that had been partially obliterated by a cow's foot seriously debating the intention of the gods towards their civilization
— Don Marquis

The idea of an incarnation of God is absurd: why should the human race think itself so superior to bees, ants, and elephants as to be put in this unique relation to its maker? Christians are like a council of frogs in a marsh or a synod of worms on a dung-hill croaking and squeaking “for our sakes was the world created.”
— Julian The Apostate

Men have had the vanity to pretend that the whole creation was made for them, while in reality the whole creation does not suspect their existence.
— Camille Flammarion

Oh senseless man, who cannot possibly make a worm, and yet will make Gods by the dozens.
— Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, (1533-1592)

Answer 7

But what differentiates us from other creatures? Is there something essential to one's human nature than makes us unique among all the other "animals"-- is it perhaps our capacity for reason? Aristotle postulated as much...

Answer 8

No! "Are we as Intelligent or not?" We are what we are & capable of doing horrendense things...:C People "can't handle the truth!" I think the movie MiB covers it best, people would panic if they knew as much as it covered. 4 now we're happy with are niche in life.

Answer 9

It's not offensive for me, it's offensive for animals when we name each other in bad sense with their names. They don't deserve it.

Answer 10

No, not offended. We are at the top of the food chain so to speak, but we are still part of the chain, not outside it.