With racism being such a hot topic in our culture, one thing that doesn't get much attention is how we relate to our animal neighbors. Of course, most of us take it for granted regardless. While vegetarians and vegans do exist, and a few of them are so passionate about it as to try to make it a legal requirement, the vast majority of people won't even stop to consider the implications of the large quantities of animal corpses that pass their lips on a daily basis.
One famous example of the former is "PETA", the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. This organisation has a word for the rest of us: "Speciesist". Speciesism, by PETA's own definition, is "...a misguided belief that one species is more important than another." Following on from this, they begin to construct a narrative in which humans instinctively recognise that it is wrong to mistreat others (of course, classing animals as "others", as if a man and a dog are as equal as a "white" man and a "black" man), yet, through indoctrination, we later come to suppress that natural instinct, telling ourselves we are more important than any other animal on the planet. In their own words, "...we learn to ignore our own conscience, which tells us that it’s wrong to mistreat others. We convince ourselves that we have the “right” to imprison animals in laboratories, experiment on them, and kill them because it might help humans. We tell ourselves that it’s OK to eat ice cream made from cow’s milk because our desire for dessert outweighs a mother cow’s right to nurse and care for her calf. That it’s OK to steal sheep’s wool for sweaters and scarves and ducks’ feathers for pillows. That keeping orcas in barren tanks for profit and “entertainment” is acceptable and that the enjoyment we get from casting a baited hook into the water to catch fish matters more than the pain inflicted on them when they’re pierced through the lip and yanked into an environment in which they can’t breathe. Humans use speciesism to try to justify every kind of cruelty imaginable."
Now, to be clear from the start, I firmly agree on the orca thing, and stand passionately against abuse. However, in this article, I intend to show that not only is most of PETA's perspective objectively wrong, but is also devoid of solid foundation, and ultimately so contradictory that it will not be able to stand.
Let us first begin with the unavoidable hypocrisy. It's no secret that nature, as beautiful as it is, is horrendous. It is, as the saying goes, "red in tooth and claw". Now note PETA's description of your standard fishing trip. "...that the enjoyment we get from casting a baited hook into the water to catch fish matters more than the pain inflicted on them when they’re pierced through the lip and yanked into an environment in which they can’t breathe."
Now, take a moment, if you will, to look up fishing lures. I'm not a fisherman myself, and I know that even a shark will often overlook meat in favor of large clumps of kelp, but I'm fairly certain there's a reason the vast majority of those lures resemble some sort of creature. It's because these "sweet, innocent fish who just want to be left alone" have no intention of leaving their animal neighbors in peace. The largemouth bass alone is known to eat other fish, crayfish, lizards, snakes, even baby turtles or birds if they can find them.
Now of course, not all fish are predators. But many of them are, and this is the reason fishing lures so often resemble live bait. Now, how much thought do you imagine these fish put into the pain they might inflict on their (likely also predatory) victims? I can tell you this much: We, as a species, are the only ones who care enough to kill our prey "nicely". Yet, I can't imagine PETA would be willing to spend as much time lecturing any animal about how one species isn't more important than another.
Ironically, PETA would actually be right if their worldview was correct. There are two possibilities: Either there is a Creator, or there is not. If there is a Creator, it is that Creator that determines the value of each species, and the morality they must follow. If, by contrast, we are simply the end product of billions of years of time, chance, and natural selection, where does any creature get its value? No species is more important than another because no species is more important than slime on top of a pond!
This, of course, puts quite the damper on the whole "it's wrong to abuse animals" thing. If there is no Creator, right and wrong are mere matters of opinion, no more binding on others than favorite ice cream flavors.
By contrast, if there is a Creator, He gets to decide what is right and wrong. To give an example, what is it that makes a £1 coin less valuable than a £20 note? The note, by no attribute or decision of its own, is worth 20 times as much as the coin. Why? Because that's what it's designed to be. It's designed to represent an amount of money.
In similar ways, when God designed the heavens and the Earth, He did assign certain values to each element within. It's not as simple as 1 man = 20 birds, or anything like that, but it is as simple as "Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows." (Matthew 10:31). Why? Because sparrows are somehow of no value? Certainly not! "A righteous man regards the life of his animal, But the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." (Proverbs 12:10). The creatures with which we share our world are of great value, and they are not ours to abuse. Nevertheless, they do serve a lesser purpose than us.
Pay attention to the very beginning of mankind: "Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day." (Genesis 1:26-31).
Here, we see the very beginning, before there was death in the world. Everything ate plants. Cat, dog, man, ate "every herb that yields seed", and "every tree whose fruit yields seed", and "every green herb". A paradise. Yet, still, man presided over beast. It was our job, and our blessing.
Of course, as time went on, things changed a bit. The first man and woman disobeyed God's command by eating from the only tree God forbade them to eat from, and as a result, God cursed the whole creation, even the livestock. At some point (though Scripture is not clear when), carnivory entered the picture. It's possible man continued to obey God's initial dietary decree, but as sin continued to spread, and "The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence" (Genesis 6:11), many probably ate meat. At this time, God destroyed the whole Earth with a flood, sparing only one man and his family (8 in all), along with the animals they brought with them on the ark. After this, God made a covenant with them: "...“Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood." (Genesis 9:1-4).
We see, then, that following the flood, man's relationship with animals changed again. Eating them became morally acceptable, and in our world, avoiding this blessing is, speaking from the experience of having been a vegetarian (not even a vegan), rather difficult. In the current era (which, I believe, will change again when all things are restored), God's current posture is: "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving; for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer." (1 Timothy 4:1-5).
Of course, I realise a lot of that is directed towards specifically "are we allowed to eat animals?", and not the rest of the stuff PETA complains about. Are we allowed to "steal" sheep's wool, for example? Well again, PETA lacks foundation for their answer. What makes it "stealing"? And if you really want to mess up PETA's view, take one look at a sheep that doesn't get sheered and explain to me if you think they would want that?
Above is a sheep named "Chris", who was found wandering around in Australia. Believed to be around 6 years old, and never shorn since birth, Chris was at death's door until he was finally caught and given some much needed relief from the suffocating mass of wool. So, already, given both PETA's suggestion that we should care for all species equally, and the Biblical concept that it is more righteous to care for animals than any tender mercy the wicked may have, it should absolutely be considered a good thing to sheer sheep.
But of course, Scripture gets more specific, telling us that animals aren't just good for eating. There is morality around eggs. Under the Old Covenant, the Jews were not allowed to take a mother bird with her eggs (Deuteronomy 22:6-7), but were allowed to take the eggs. This is just good stewardship; no longer binding, but also not bad advice to heed. On top of this, eggs are considered a "good gift" to give our children, even being analogous to how God cares for us (Luke 11:10-13). What about the wool? Well, if it gives you any hint, the word of God includes wool among the things a virtuous wife seeks (Proverbs 31:13).
Biblically speaking, then, humans are permitted, and even expected, to have dominion over the beasts, which includes eating them, putting them to work, keeping them as companions, using them as guards, taking their excess products, using them in medical research, and, worst case scenario, taking them out when they pose a threat. There are limits to this. God will, for example, hold Fauci to account for the horrific things he did to those beagles. And again, returning to the orca thing, it's wrong to put an animal in an uncomfortable habitat just for entertainment. If an animal cannot be accommodated correctly, it should not be accommodated at all; leave it where God left it, because He owns the cattle of a thousand hills. But because He owns them, and us, He gets to dictate what is and isn't abuse. He has the right to tell us we have the right to kill, eat, sheer, milk, study, keep, or otherwise use them for our benefit.
In the end, in PETA's worldview, there is no judgement but their judgement. If they get their way, the Biblical view of animals will be outlawed, but in the end none of it matters. Death is the way of nature, and even if you can judge the men you catch, their ultimate end is the same: Nothing.
But in reality, justice will be dealt with. In God's perfect time, "...many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt." (Daniel 12:2). None shall escape this fate. No man, woman, or child, will pass from this life without meeting God in the next. And He will judge us all, and execute perfect justice.
Things like animal abuse are called "sin", along with a long list of other ways in which we rebel against God on a regular basis. And of course, we all do this. Thus, the distinction between everlasting life and everlasting contempt is not "you're a good person", and "you're not". If all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), and yet the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), then eternal life must be gained some other way.
The simple answer to this is that it is a gift. We don't earn eternal life. God offers it to us at His expense. What expense? Death. "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Corinthians 5:21). Thus, every time we ever abused an animal, every time we blasphemed Him by pretending we came from some place else, every time we submitted ourselves to demonic doctrines by forbidding food received with thanksgiving, Jesus took on the cross. He hung where we should have hung. We, as finite beings, should receive everlasting shame, yet He, as the eternal God, endured it all in a day.
So how do we receive eternal life? By receiving it! We do not act, we believe! We confess Jesus as the risen Lord, and we believe in our heart God raised Him from the dead. This gift brings with it more than just forgiveness. It brings the heart of the God who saved us. The God who loves the animals will cause us to love the animals. The God who loves us and our neighbors will cause us to love our neighbors as ourselves. The God who loves Himself will draw us to love Him. Gradually, through prayer and diligence, the Lord will make us more like Him, until He finishes the work He is doing on us, and we resemble the perfect man, Jesus, exactly.
Therefore, speciesism, rather than being a misguided belief, is the very thing for which we were designed. We were designed to have dominion over the beasts, for He made none of them in His image, nor do they seem responsible for their sins, requiring a Savior. When all things are restored, they will still have their place, and we will have ours, above them. But always below God.