References and my thoughts
catholic dictionary online referencing animals mentioned in the bible
I love the mention of baboobs possibly as 'the hairy ones' in Isiah!
See the mention of Behemoth
BEHEMOTH, is generally translated by "great beasts"; in its wider signification it includes all mammals living on earth, but in the stricter sense is applied to domesticated quadrupeds at large. However in Job 40:10, where it is left untranslated and considered as a proper name, it indicates a particular animal. The description of this animal has long puzzled the commentators. Many of them now admit that it represents the hippopotamus, so well known to the ancient Egyptians; it might possibly correspond as well to the rhinoceros.
Here is an interesting article about the bibles references to the Ostrich as a negative and neglectful parent, . Article can be found here
Are cats mentioned in the bible?
This is a great article I found linked through the PETA website.
Here are my own thoughts on the issue.
I have met many a person who claims to be following God.. yet twists sentences from the bible to promote animal cruelty. Not exactly in line with what Jesus taught... love - compassion, caring.
I have met people who have misquoted the bible and statedthat God lets us 'do as we please' to animals.
This is both offensive and a massive lie.
If you actually look at the bible - God created animals as a companion for Adam.. before He created woman.
Some point after Adam and Eve sinned.. and after they were banned from the garden of Eden.. the eating of animals came about. The bible indicates that animals were NOT food in the garden of Eden.. in fact everything was nice in the garden of eden.
There is documentation in the Bible that Jesus ate fish.. the fish were caught with nets, and not hooks. We would assume that these were smaller domestic style nets rather than big ships with massive nets.
Ecclesiastes 3:18 states 'who is to say that the spirit of man rises into the heavens while the spirit of an animal goes into the earth. both come from dust, and both to dust return'
This is to say that we are made up of the same compound, and have similar destinations.. although the sentence is open to interpretation.
The bible does not indicate that animals have a soul in the same way that a human does.. but other passages of the bible indicates that 'everything that has breathe will praise the Lord' which goes beyond Humans.. infact I believe it goes as far as to say that plantlife praises God in its own way but I would have to look up verse and chapter to tell you where...
While there is no evidence that Jesus ate any animal product besides fish.. the Bible does state that nothing you can eat makes you unclean.. but what comes out of your heart..
Extensive research has been done on eco systems and on a documentary that I once watched, they fenced off 2 sections of forrest, and removed wolves from one section.
The section that did NOT have wolves.. became overrun with Deer.. and the deer ate all of the flora and fauna, and about 12-25 other smaller species became extinct because there was nothing killing the deer.. and the deer were eating all of the food.
On the other side with the wolves, the wolves killed the deer and controlled the population so that there was enough food for all.
In conclusion I personally do not think it is a sin to eat animals.. I do however think that it is unfortunate that we live in a world were something beautiful and lovely and loving with their own families and personalities should end up dinner..
However that is how the eco system seems to be as you can see from the example given above
I do however believe wholeheartedly that the animals that we eat should be given the life of a free roaming loved animal up until the point of slaughter.
Oprah Whinfrey did a special on animal abuse and the hideous cruel machines and cages that KFC chickens and other animals are placed in.
The fact is that these machines cost MORE money for the person farming the animals.. than it costs for free range. I won't be able to get right into it but hopefully the episode is somewhere on youtube.
Oprah basically proved in this episode of her show that there is NO disadvantage of free range animals.. not even cost.. cost wise it is cheaper to have animals in paddocks running free..
Oprah also went into more detail. you see at the moment free range chickens are about $14australian dollars, whereas a cage chicken is about $7.
However Oprah was stating that this is just a supply and demand issue. and if everybody went freerange, it would quickly drive the price down, and drive the cruel guys out of business. but people have to be willing to do their 2 cents.
I support PETA but am not a vegetarian. I DO buy free range eggs.. OR I get eggs from my inlaws farm.. I am trying to find brands of red meat in WA that support free range.. free range cattle, free range sheep.. but have not located such information as yet.
I don't mind wearing leather because if the cow is going to be killed for food,then I don't think any should go to waste,
but besides leather of an animal who was killed for food, I don't believe other parts of animals shoudl be used for fashion.
Elephants get killed only for their tusks, and raccoons, bears, cats, and dogs killed for their fur.
Some skinned alive.
So back to the initial link that I supplied in this post..
If you know an ignorant "christian" who is wandering around telling you its ok to abuse animals.. please tell them first to at least get a 'general idea' of the bibles content, before they profess to be one of Jesus followers.. they should at least know the point of Jesus message.. Love and Peace.
... and C O M P A S S I O N
Point them to some scriptures. like the fact
a)animals were Adams companion before God created Eve..
b) God saved a LOT more animals on Noahs Ark than people!.... doesn't that tell you something??
c) Jesus parables and metaphors were always relevant.. and Jesus spoke about leaving a herd of sheep to find ONE that has gone missing..
and incase they are unaware.. when somebody had done wrong in Jewish times.. they sacrificed a goat. They would have a ceremony with a 'scapegoat' this is where the term comes from. They would place the sins of the person onto the goat.. then send the goat out to the wilderness to die.
This is the exact reason why Jesus was crucified.. just like a scapegoat.. the sins of everybody were placed on Jesus and he was sent to die...
So in that way.. Jesus has even been sacrified in the way that animals were in those times... So He has felt the pain that they feel...
Don't let people get away with talking Bollocks!
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