 God’s
Covenant With Animals: A Biblical Basis for the Humane Treatment of All
Creatures
By Reverend J. R. Hyland
Lantern Books, 2000, 107
pages
ISBN: 1930051158
References to animals in
the Bible are often negative. I have a problem with many statements
about animals attributed to the Bible. People have obtained their
opinions from the Bible when they’ve told me such ludicrous things
as animals were put on the Earth for humans to use, that animal don’t have
souls and that they don’t go to heaven.
While my knowledge of the
Bible
is limited, it is refreshing to read Reverend J. R. Hyland’s positive,
well researched book about God’s love, respect and concern for animals
and how they should be treated. Reverend Hyland sheds light on such atrocities
as animal sacrifices and animal slaughter and how God did not want these
sacrifices and meant for all animals, both nonhuman and human, to be vegetarians.
“By Noah’s day, many of earth’s
creatures had changed from herbivorous to carnivorous organisms although
God had created all His creatures to be nurtured only by the produce of
the earth. The restriction to plants as their only legitimate food immediately
followed the appointment of humans as caretakers for God’s other creatures.
Yet men claim that dominion equals carnivorism: This is a direct contradiction
of the Bible.
“God said unto them...have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over
every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, ‘Behold, I
have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the
earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to
you it shall be for meat.’ (Gen. 1:28-29)
“The restriction to a vegetarian
diet as the only legitimate form of food was the standard to which all
of earth’s creatures had been held from the beginning of time. But during
the millennia that had passed since then, human beings had become conditioned
– and adapted – to a much lower form of life. Noah and his family, like
the people among whom they lived, had become carnivorous.” (pages 26, 27)
Reverend Hyland also shows
how humans have altered the meaning of parts of the Bible.
“The Book of Genesis plainly
states that animals, like humans, were created as nefesh chaya: living
souls. (Gen. 1:21,30) Scholars have obscured this fact by translating the
same words differently. When applied to Adam, nefesh chaya reads “living
soul.” (Gen. 2:7) But when the same term is used about animals it is translated
as “living creature.” (Gen. 2:19) And although there is no theological,
or biblical basis for their belief, those who want to exercise a ruthless
dominion over animals believe that God overlooks the most sadistic and
cruel treatment of sentient beings, as long as they do not have a soul.
Hence, the centuries-long determination to obscure the biblical news that
animals, too, are living souls.” (pages 73, 74)
God’s Covenant With Animals:
A Biblical Basis for the Humane Treatment of All Creatures is an informative
book that illustrates that nonhuman animals are not to be exploited, abused
and killed, but treated with respect, compassion and kindness. Hopefully
our species heeds Reverend Ryland’s wise and humane warnings – and soon!
The health of the planet and all of its inhabitants are at stake. |
