Animal Rights?

By Dwight Schuh

Reprinted by permission from Bowhunter Magazine Oct/Nov 1999 issue

In this issue Pat Lefemine reports on politics versus hunting, Pat bases his essay on the Ontario spring-bear debacle, and that subject, along with the growing animal-rights anti-hunting movement in general, started me thinking. We hunters constantly defend ourselves. We quote facts to show that we’re the true conservationists. We show how, through license fees, donations, and Pitman-Robertson funds, hunters have preserved millions of acres for critical wildlife habitat. We explain how hunting is an inherent, natural drive built into mankind.

Further, on the issue of cruelty, we demonstrate that a broadhead kills swiftly and cleanly. And we conduct studies to show that wounding loss is minimal, only a fraction of what the anti-hunters claim.

All of this is logical and true. It’s irrefutable. Yet people continue to attack hunting and hunters as wrong and evil. Why? Why can’t we convince or sway people with the facts, truth, and reality? Why can’t we sit down with our detractors and compromise?

I think it’s because this issue goes far deeper than cruelty, emotions, politics, social concerns, feelings, logic, or facts. It goes to the most fundamental level of our existence, to our value system, our world view. This is an angle you rarely, if ever, hear discussed, yet it is, in my opinion, the core issue. I maintain that animal rights versus animal use is a spiritual war revolving around the fundamental question: What is our view of God, man, and animals?

A BIBLICAL VIEW

Essentially the animal rights/anti-hunting movement asserts that killing animals is wrong, based on at least two concepts: 1) Killing animals is cruel and causes unacceptable suffering. 2) Man and animals are created equal, giving animals the same rights as human beings, including the right to life. Surely other variations come into play, all animal-rights philosophies lead to the same conclusion - killing animals is wrong, and those of us who do kill animals are "sinners."

To judge whether that really is true, we have to answer some questions: How do we determine whether killing animals is right or wrong? Is the whole issue relative, something each individual must decide for him or herself? Or is there an absolute, a written manifesto, a higher power, that dictates whether killing animals is right or wrong?

I believe, indeed, there is a written manifesto. It’s the Bible, and it describes a Higher Power, God, Who laid down an absolute relationship between Himself, man, and animals. Most of us who believe in hunting and the use of animals by man subscribe to a Judeo/Christian world view, which is to say, a biblical view of the relationship between God, man, and animals, In light of that fact, we must seriously ask ourselves: In God’s view, is hunting or killing animals wrong? When the 10 Commandments say, "Thou shalt not kill ..." does that refer only to human beings, or to animals, too? Does the Bible prohibit the eating of meat? Now, if the Bible condemned the killing of animals, hunting, or the eating of meat, many of us who adhere to the Judeo/Christian world view would feel compelled to quit all of these practices. But it does not.

Which brings us to the crux of the issue - and to the real division between animal rightists and animal users. Animal rightists place animals at the same level as human beings - even above in extreme cases. It’s one thing to defer from hunting because you don’t like killing animals. I’am sure many God-fearing people take that stance, and I have no problem with that. However, it’s another thing entirely to say that animals are equal in value to human beings. In essence, people who believe that either deny the existence of God altogether, or they deny the biblical God and manufacture a god to suit their own philosophies.

Perhaps even worse are those who twist biblical truths to support manmade philosophies. Yet, that is exactly what PETA has done with it’s new campaign promoting: "Jesus was a Vegetarian, Show respect for God’s creatures - follow Him." The group has erected billboards with that message, and it has created an entire Internet web site dedicated to perverting Jesus and biblical doctrine in the name of animal rights. This web site"proves" that Jesus ate no meat (including fish), that he disapproved of killing animals, that God did not give man dominion over animals, and that man must live at peace with animals.

If someone said, "Look, I don’t believe in God or the Bible. I’ve just decided for myself that killing animals is wrong," I could accept that. Even though it’s dead wrong, at least it’s an honest statement. But to twist the Bible to brainwash people and promote a twisted agenda? That’s the ultimate perversion - one that demands a response.

BIBLICAL ANSWERS

Obviously that response must come from the Bible itself, and three central questions must be answered: 1) Are man and animals created equal? 2) In God’s eyes, is killing animals right or wrong? 3) Was Jesus a vegetarian?

To answer these questions, I’ve selected numerous references from the Bible. This is not a complete list, only a sampling. To meet space limitations, I’ve shortened some with ellipses, but the meanings remain unchanged. All quotes are from the New International Version.

1) Did God create man and animals equal?

* Genesis 1:26-28 - "Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

"God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’ "

*Matthew 10:29-30 - " ‘Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?...So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.’ "

*John 3:16 - " ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ "

*Romans 5:8 - "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

*1 John 2:25 - "And this is what He promised us - eternal life."

2) In God’s eyes, is killing animals right or wrong?

*Genesis 3:21 - "The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them."

*Genesis 4:2-5 - "...Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor..."

*Genesis 9:3 - "Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything."

*Exodus 12:1-13 - "The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, ‘...The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect, and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the people of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight. Then they are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire...and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.’ "

*Exodus 16:8-13 - "Moses also said, ‘You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning...’ The Lord said to Moses, ‘I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your god.’ "

"That evening quail came and covered the camp..."

*Deuteronomy 14:3-6 - "Do not eat any detestable thing. These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep. You may eat any animal that has a split hoof divided in two and that chews the cud."

*2 Chronicles 5:6-14 - "...and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted...Then the temple of the Lord was filled with a cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God."

*2 Chronicles 7: 1-5 - "...and the glory of the Lord filled the temple...And King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand head of cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the people dedicated the temple of God."

*Acts 10:9-15 - "About noon the following day as they were approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. Then a voice told him, ‘Get up, Peter, kill and eat.’

" ‘Surely not, Lord!’ Peter replied. ‘I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.’

"The voice spoke to him a second time, ‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’

*1 Corinthians 10:25 - "Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for, ‘The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it.’ "

*Hebrews 9:22 - "In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness."

3) Was Jesus a vegetarian?

*Mark 7:14-19 - "Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, ‘Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean’...’ ‘Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’? For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.’ (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods ‘clean.’)"

*Luke 24:41-43 - "And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he (Jesus) asked them, ‘Do you have anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence."

*John 21:4 - "Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

"He called out to them, ‘Friends, haven’t you any fish?’

" ‘No,’ they answered.

"He said, ‘Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.’ When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish...When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

"Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish you have just caught.’

"Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153...Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast’...Jesus, came took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish."

From the Bible verses listed here we can clearly draw some answers to the three questions:

1) God did not create man and animals equal nor gave them equal "rights." God gave man dominion over animals and put animals on earth for man’s use. More significantly, He created man in His own image, meaning that man, unlike animals, has an eternal soul. God sent his Son Jesus to die for mankind, not for animals. Never does the Bible suggest animals have the potential for eternal life. Clearly, man and animals are not equal in God’s sight.

2) God does not prohibit, but honors, the killing of animals. He clothed Adam and Eve in animal skins. He honored Abel’s animal sacrifice but not Cain’s plant sacrifice. God spared households with blood of slaughtered lambs on the doorframes. When Solomon sacrificed thousands of animals, God’s glory filled the temple. The entire biblical sacrificial system is based on the shedding of blood - initially that of animals, ultimately that of God’s Son, Jesus. The morality or cruelty of killing animals is never an issue.

3) Jesus ate fish, he encouraged the killing of fish, and he declared all foods clean. Not only was he clearly not a vegetarian, but He apparently was not concerned about animal rights, vegetarianism, or animal cruelty since He never addressed these topics.

CONCLUSIONS

A couple of months ago I pulled up at a stoplight behind a VW Beetle decorated with bumper stickers. One said, "Meat is Murder," and the one next to it read, "Pro Choice" (pro abortion). To call that faulty logic would be the ultimate oxymoron, since it has no logic. But it clearly demonstrates one reason why we, as people who believe in using animals, can never dialogue with animal rightists. Their argument is illogical.

More to the point here, the animal-rights issue will never be resolved by debating cruelty, wounding loss, animal populations, or conservation, because these are only superficial elements. At the far deeper level, we’re fighting for world view, right versus wrong. God. We are, in reality, in a spiritual war, and peoples’ concept of God and His relationship to man and animals is the issue. For that reason, we who hold to a Judeo/Christian view must shed our defensive posture over hunting and animal use and take the offensive for values far deeper.

Last year I was on a bear study committee in Idaho. The committee comprised both hunters and animal rightists. During a break one of the animal rightists, eyes squinted, said to me, "You hunters are crazy to draw a line in the sand, because you’re losing. Either you compromise, or we’re going to wipe you out."

Well, he might win a battle or two over hunting, but he won’t win the war. What he doesn’t realize is that we are not fighting just for the right to hunt; we are fighting for truth. And on that front there is no compromise. The line in the sand is growing deeper. To eternity.