One of the prominent movements today is the "animal rights" activists and their verbal and actual shenanigans. Let me say first, that I am not an animal lover; but neither do I think they should be mistreated. Most folks who know me have probably heard me say: "I love pets - I'm just glad somebody else has them and not me!" At the same time, it riles me when I see an animal treated cruelly. Neither do my feelings about this matter mean that you shouldn't have pets - that's your right and I have no quarrel with that. And so with that disclaimer behind us, let me proceed to the gist of the matter.

I read the other day where one activist said, "an ant is every bit as important as a man, and has as much right to life as a man." I wonder if she would want to sleep with a bed full of them? Or, what about the poor fellow in the news who had several thousand old tires on his property which the county told him he had to get rid of? But wait - those tires were the breeding grounds for rats and mosquitoes, and sos the animal rights folks were on his case. Poor guy - couldn't win! Then we've got to shut down the logging industry in some western states because some owls live in some old trees in the neighborhood. Any self-respecting owl would simply move to another place if somebody cut down his tree! But after all, he is just as important as any creature - human or otherwise.

In Genesis 1:26 God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." From this it is clear that man is more than a mere animal; God gave him dominion over the animal creation. In no way did God ever intend that animals be equal with man. Further note that it was man that was made in the image of God. God created the animals, but there were made in his image. Neither is it said that God, upon creating them, "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life" (Gen. 2:7), thus endowing them with a soul. Man then possesses a life apart and different from animals.

A look at Genesis 2:19-20 will also clearly show that man has been placed in a superior position to the animal kingdom. Animals are interesting (nature films on the Discovery Channel are some of my favorites!) - but never were they the equal of man.

Following the great flood God said to Noah, "and the fear of you and the dread of the beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hands are they delivered" (Gen. 9:2). The important thing here is that the animals were delivered into the mand of man; they were not his equal, nor were they as "important."

In Exodus 22:1, as well as many other passages in the Old Testament, animals were clearly shown to be the property of man; he owned them. In Exodus 21:28 God refers to the "owner" of the ox; the ox did not have "equal rights" with the man. Should that ox gore a man to , the ox was to be killed. And there we have a case for the "animal rights" folks to join hands with those opposed to capital punishment!

I hesitate to write on this subject; the entire matter is a mass of ridiculous rantings of a segment of society that are humanist to the core, and don't want anything to do with God anyway. Therefore, to escape responsibility to that God, they make man no more than an animal. Or, probably more correct, they elevate animals to the level of man.

Seems like everybody has a "cause" these days, but this one almost takes the provergial "cake."  - Bill Moseley