Basic Truths from Genesis: Pets Are Not People

The Rejection of God’s Pattern and the Confusion of the Age

Good morning. If you do have a Bible turn to Genesis 2 and we're going to be reading Genesis 2 18 through 20. We're continuing our study in Genesis on basic truths. So many of the problems that you see in the world right now and the confusion that you can see that's very obvious and manifest and plain is a result of our rejection of our Creator and Most specifically our rejection of his Pattern for us that's established in the opening chapters of the Bible.

So if you do have your Bible turn to Genesis 2 18 through 20 and go ahead and stand for the reading of God's Word.

Today.

The basic truth that we're going to be addressing today is the truth that animals are not people and We're going to be reading Genesis 2 18 through 20 and talking through this passage in general Genesis 2 18 then the Lord God said it is not good that man should be alone.

I will make a helper fit for him now out of the ground the Lord had Formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature that was its name.

The man gave names to all the livestock and all the birds of the heaven and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper Fit for him. This is the Word of Lord. Let's pray. Well, we thank you for the truth that you've given us in Your word Lord.

We know that you were there that you have spoken that you've made us and you've not left us in the dark. You've given us the scriptures to help us to understand ourself and understand our place in the world and understand our design.

We know that we are living in a world that's hostile to that in many ways. The church has fallen prey To the deceptions around us Lord. I pray that you soften our hearts today and help us to learn great things from your word help us to be eager to apply These things to our lives today Lord knowing that you You desire to conform us to your image and you've given us your spirit who will help us to be made more like you.

Thank you for all you do in your system. I pray. Amen. You may be seated. As I said the basic truth that we're going to be talking about today is a truth that I don't know that I've ever really Heard a sermon about before so I've never heard a pastor stand up and give really much of an explanation about the relationship between Animals and human beings and I don't intend to say everything the Bible has to say about this topic in general, but then if you look around the world you see that this is a topic that there is Great confusion about I mean in many ways It's just utterly strange that we're talking about this in.

General.

And you know the title as I said is the animals are not people and it seems like this is such a basic truth that It should go without saying and all of you. I'm sure are predisposed to be asking yourself at this very moment Why are we saying this?

You know, why are we devoting a whole sermon to this topic and this idea? And I hope by the end of the message you'll understand why we are doing in that and Why it's relevant for our time and why this is an important thing for Christians to get right in order to better understand the God who made us and the world that he.

Made a.

Couple years ago, I Counseled a young girl who is essentially starving herself to death. Her parents would she basically was in a home where her dad was out of the picture. She had a single mom as a mother.

Single mom would abandon her for long periods of time. To fend for herself and her younger brother. She was Senior in high school. She worked a part-time job and you know this poor girl. She was Working this part-time job spending all of her money trying to feed her cat and her brother.

And obviously emaciated in the process. She had a certain understanding of the topic of her relationship Between animals and humans that was very difficult to persuade her was misguided. You know, I've been to churches where The members would have gender reveals and I know that these gender reveals are getting You know out of control and carried away.

But then this particular gender reveal involved dressing up the dog in a shirt that said big sis on it. And so that was their gender reveal. I know that that's meant to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek, but this is a very common phenomenon even within the church.

Last church I was at we worked in a university campus and It's difficult To think about a situation where we are counseling young men who didn't have therapy animals. That they needed in order to have emotional security and comfort, you know, this is a Big thing nowadays.

I mean, it's it's it's almost shocking to communicate that. But then if you work with young people to any length of time, you'll realize that they're experiencing great Confusion over the topic of the human beings relationship to animals.

They're looking to animals to do things for them that they shouldn't be looking to them to do. I wish that this was just like a one-off that I just counseled one young man who had a therapy animal. But that really isn't the way it worked.

I counseled many young men who had therapy animals and not even young women. You would expect that it would be the young women who would have the therapy animals, but it was the men too. I counseled one young man who was trying to put himself to college and It was struggling to know what to do because he had a $4 ,000 surgery that he had to pay for for his therapy animal and Instead of being able to pay his tuition.

He paid the surgery for therapy animal. This is obviously this is obviously problem. I mean, I'm coming from Alabama and we're living in a time right now where Furry phenomenon is on the rise. You know, I know that you're predisposed to think that that's kind of a straw man that these things are extreme and out there but I live in Alabama and at the university you would have students who would dress up as animals and be put on leashes and Demand that you allow them to identify as animals and walk them around.

So this is like these are things that are real and I wish it was just as I said, I wish this was just I Wish it was just a problem out there in the world. It was not just it was not also a problem in the church, but there's so many problems related to the church as well.

I mean the Pew Research Center has done some studies on this and you know with all statistics. I We may be priest at predisposed to ignore Statistics and think that people will just make up whatever they want to make up but these statistics are pretty startling.

When you think about it, so 62 of Americans on a pet One-third have more than one. I'm not saying that's necessarily shocking. I'm sure that your eyes can observe that that seems Somewhat normal for us today in this kind of society.

I mean, it's definitely not normal in all societies throughout the history of the world this kind of proportion. But but what's more shocking than that though? Is that nearly all so nearly all right? Listen, listen to what I'm saying here nearly all 97 Say that their pets are part of their family.

Nearly all 97 say that their pets are part of their family. So if these statistics Statistics are even remotely accurate. I Would think that I would be talking about some of the some of us here today.

That we would also perhaps consider secretly if we were not willing to say it out loud. Pets being part of a family for a baby phenomenon is a real phenomenon as child rates are going down. People are looking to their pets to be replacement children for them.

If you go online, you'll see every Mother's Day a demand that you include in Mother's Day services by Christians a Recognition of the pet parents in the room too, so they won't feel left out. About so 97 say that their pets are part of their family.

About half of u .s Pet owners just 51 say their pets are as much a part of their family as a human member, right? So breaking it down by gender that's 57 of women say that 43 of men say that so that so 97 say they are part of the family.

57 say they are as much a part of their family as a human being. Unmarried pet owners and those who do not have children. Younger than 18 at the home are the most likely to consider their pets to be as much a part of their family as a human.

Member.

So you notice that member there was used ironically at the end. Here's a summary of the situation from the Institute of Family Studies. With delayed marriages the share of young people who are married has fallen and they spend less of their 20s and early 30s in marriage Than previous generation did I think if you have eyes to see you know, this is obviously the truth, right?

Delayed marriages are on the rise. That you have people who spend less of their early 20s and 30s in marriage than previous generations. Meanwhile singles may also see their pets differently than their families do.

Singles often see pets as family members, right? Well family owners are more likely to see pets as property. But while pet parents may rhetorically describe their pets as children the correspondent decline in both single person Fertility and marriage among young people suggests that pets may be replacing two different family members.

For some owners pets replace kids. But for many the companionship provided by a pet replaces spouse spouses. So pets are often described as providing companionship emotional support security a sense of home or rootedness for pet parents.

But these aren't traits that describe a child. These are traits that describe a husband or a wife with my generation. He's a millennial postponing the commitment to marriage due to any number of reasons.

The need for a reliable companion who is committed to stay until death Do it part may simply be transferred on to pets rather than people. In other words There's probably two separate connections between fertility and pet ownership.

Rising pet ownership may be replacing single motherhood to some extent. But more prominently young people are pushed by many factors to delay marriage and so to spend more years in singleness without reliable companionship.

As a result they often Invest expensively so in a truly reliable companion now you look at those statistics. I I think Those are somewhat Surprising, I mean they're not surprising considering the world that we live in but we should if we have a biblical worldview be somewhat troubled by the Phenomenons that I'm mentioning.

We shouldn't just instantaneously Dismiss these problems and treat them as just a matter of good fun, right? I know that you're probably going to be tempted as we go through the lesson here today to think that I'm being pretty dramatic and.

That.

It's not perhaps a significant of a problem as what I'm saying It is but having worked with young people for a great many years now I can tell you that there's a generation that is coming up that is very different than the previous generations and those differences.

Are.

Very much centered on their understanding of the relationship between human beings and Animals. Obviously like we are not yet at a point in our society where bestiality is normalized. And I'm I wouldn't be surprised if we get there I'm making no predictions whatsoever.

But more fundamental to all that is there's there's a there's a dramatic difference in how we understand the relationship between human beings and animals that that is Showing up even within Christian circles.

It's almost especially within Christian sir circles. We are not immune to these things and it would do well for us today to revisit some basic truths. Which I mean almost every one of you will know these basic truths.

I don't I don't imagine them to say anything today. That's gonna be remotely shocking to you. But there's it's one thing you understand. It's one thing to be able to as You know reformed Christians Answer the questions right on a theology exam and There's a temptation that you may feel today to say if I can answer these questions right on the theology exam.

Then I don't need to hear this. But the problem is that our emotions are obviously are.

Often.

Triggered in very different ways than our intellect. And so we need to pay attention to that. The these are statistics that affect all of us in some way. None of us none of us, you know have escaped the influence of a secular society that believes That man is the product of random time and chance and just essentially a naked ape.

None of us have.

Escaped that influence. We're not. We have not been spared in many ways. From falling into the same pitfalls as the world does as it relates to this topic. And so what we're gonna be talking about today as I said is some basic truths.

The Image of God and Human Dominion

The basic truth. First basic truth is that animals are not people and I'm gonna provide a biblical case from this and in some ways. It's obviously breathtakingly Easy case to make okay. So this is what we're talking about is we're not necessarily talking about an intellectual problem in certain ways.

There's a obviously easy Biblical case to make and we've already talked about it to some extent in our study so far. So the first basic truth we talked about was that God was our Creator. Second basic truth we talked about was that he made them male and female and today we're gonna be talking about animals are not People so this is a very easy case to make if you have your Bible open to Genesis I'm gonna point your mind to some of the passages.

We've talked about already that established this point. So in Genesis 1 26 God said let us make man in our own image. After our own likeness. So notice what we said about man before Man was created in the image of God.

That means he's God's vice regent on the earth. God said let us make man in our own image after our own likeness. Man was to represent God in the world. That's why his life is sacred. We said remember.

So whoever spills the blood of man by man shall his blood be spilled. Let us make man in our own image after our own likeness and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over The birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

So he created man in his own image in the image of God. He created him male and female. He created them and God blessed them and God said be fruitful multiply fill the earth subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea over the birds of the heaven and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

So notice man is created in the image of God. Animals are not. Animals are not created in the image of God. A Man is a moral being. This flows from. This concept of the image of God animals are not. Animals are man.

Man is the eternal being meaning that man has a soul that's eternal. Animals are not right. So man has created the image of God. Animals are not. These are obvious things that every Christian knows. You will all answer these questions right on the theology exam.

You got it. You understand we know man is given dominion over the animals, which are obviously not human. There are two different types of things contrary to the evolutionary worldview that basically says that We're all part of the same family.

This is not just a difference in degree and caught but a difference in kind. Obviously man is given dominion over these animals and they're obviously two different types of creation now experts. They obviously did not deny this.

So Darwin in the descent of man says man in his arrogance Thinks himself a great work worthy of the interposition of a deity. More humble and I believe more truer is to consider him created from animals.

So you're obviously living in a world that rejects this basic premise. We think that man and animal are essentially the same. We're not some great special work. We're not the crown of all creation. So the world you live in doesn't believe these things and all the errors that I'm talking about are naturally flowing from that premise in a certain way.

Darwin also says in the same book. There is no fundamental difference between man and the higher mammals in their mental Facilities. The difference in mind between man and the higher animals great as it is is certainly one of degree and not one of kind.

Right, so you're living in a world that obviously denies this fundamental point that man is a special creation. Created in the image of God distinct from the animals. Thomas Huxley in man's place in nature 1863 says in whatever way we look at the matter.

It's impossible to avoid the conclusion that man is in substance and structure one with the Brutes. Peter Singer in this book in animal liberation 1975 says all the arguments to prove man's superiority.

Can't shatter this hard fact in suffering the animals are are equal. So apparently the fact that animals suffer and humans suffer that means we're all the same. So therefore there's no difference. We're not special.

I don't know how that follows, but that's certainly logic that's being presented towards us. So you you obviously are living in a world?

Where.

Where people don't have the basic understanding of the Bible anymore. So it we used. America used to be somewhat of a Christian nation. If you talk to a random person on the street. They would know the difference between the the Old Testament in the New Testament even right.

So you're living in a time right now of gross biblical ignorance where we've rejected this Christian worldview and the worldview of. Basically everyone around you is more influenced by evolutionary theory at this point than it is by the Bible and This is true even in the Bible belt where things are increasingly Secular for sure.

So I mean considering an evolutionary worldview it all makes sense. Think about all the statistics that I explained before I mean in light of an evolutionary worldview. Yeah, that makes sense, right? Animals part of a family aren't they?

We're all one in the same. All the product product of matter time and chance. We're all the product of Natural selection right and so we're all we're all part of the same family. Why not treat them as the same family.

They deserve the same rights and privileges as us all of that makes sense. But what does Genesis say. Man's created the image of God. Animals are not man's given dominion over the animals. They're obviously not the same kind of thing.

What is this? What does the psalmist say at this point Psalm 8 for what is man that you were mindful of him and the? Son of man that you care for him. Yet you've made him a little lower than the heavenly beings.

You crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet all sheep and oxen and also the beast of the field the birds of the heaven the Fish of the sea and whatever passes along the paths to see.

So it's Christians. We obviously believe all these things. Everyone in the room believes these things. I'm sure man's created the image of God. He is a special unique creation of God. He's been crowned with glory and honor in contra Contradistinction with the animals.

We are different types of creations. We should all believe this yes and amen. Third point, and I'm not going to give you every biblical argument. There is to establish this point that we already know.

I just want to give you a few. Animals are food. And humans are not right someone said amen. Genesis not and we enjoy that food don't we Know Genesis 9 3 every moving thing that lives shall be food for you.

As I gave you the green plant I give you everything. Everything. So every living thing that moves shall be food for you and as I gave you the green plants I give you everything this communicated to Noah after the flood.

Obviously, it's morally repugnant. It should be morally repugnant to a Christian to consider the thought of killing another human being because Human beings are created in the image of God. They're God's vice regents on the earth.

The idea of killing another human being and treating that other human being as Food should be completely and totally morally repugnant to us. But then there's whole classes of animals. I'm sure where you feel morally repugnant the same kind of moral repugnance if you were thought of killing them and eating them and it's because secretly in your heart you consider them to be Something different than food.

Don't you.

So.

What I'm trying to say is God says in the Genesis 9 3 every moving things that live shall be food for you and as I Gave you the green plants. I gave you everything like you're living in a world that considers it fundamentally immoral to eat animals.

Because we consider ourself the same. But then Christians we can have the same kind of impulses along those lines where.

We.

Consider some classes of animals particularly the ones we put in our home to be a little bit more human, right? Maybe not completely human, but a little bit more human and then we consider it absolutely immoral the thought of using them as a Extra source of food and if you need it in a pinch and you probably go to jail for doing that, too.

So I'm not necessarily recommending that I'm just trying to say that we definitely with most animals Christians. We we don't humanize them with some we give ourselves permission to humanize them to much greater extent than others.

All right. So first point everyone agrees with yes name in animals are not people. We know this you'd answered it right on the test. Get it. I don't know that our emotions always line up with this, but we know.

Intellectually, it's true. And we're wondering why I'm belaboring this point so much and I guess there's a reason for it. See later. Second point animals are not family members right animals are not family members.

They're not people therefore. They're not family members. Now you may be screaming at me like what about non-human family members we'll get to that right. What is the family? What is the family? Now look, you know as much as I know That there is no Universal agreement in the world that you live in today on what a family is anymore, you know that.

You know that you are living in a world that is trying to redefine family at almost every single point. You understand that it's like there's a there's an absolute rejection of The concept of family that's that's the world you're living in where the absolute rejection of this concept of family and and I think you think that the That the only relevant attacks on this are related to those sexual deviants who are trying to push their agenda in on this definition of family.

But it's it's a lot broader than that as I as can be demonstrated by the nature of the statistics that I provided. What is a family? Good verse to go to there's many verses to go to here. I want to give you one verse to go to here and Think about just one verse, but we could do this at any number of places, but Ephesians 3 14 Says this right Ephesians 3 14 for this reason I bow my knees before the father.

From whom every family in the heaven and on earth is named. Okay, so for this reason I bow my knees before the father from whom every family on the earth Is named. Now, I'm gonna read this in Greek to you and I understand it's all Greek to you.

But it's all Greek to me too. It's fine. It's all Greek to all of us now so so For this reason right I'm gonna read in English for a second, so I don't belabor the point I bow my knees before the father.

That's proston pet Patera in Greek. Okay, and then it says ek u pasa patria. So let me read that again proston Patera before the father ek u pasa patria. You have two main words there before the father.

That's Patera, right? Proston are ek u pasa patria. Patria is family so Patera patria Patera patria. What do you notice about that if you know anything about language you notice? Oh, that's a similar root isn't it Patera patria, huh?

What is a family? Well notice what Webster says the basic unit of society traditionally consisting of two parents rearing their children. Right so you have a arbitrary subjective definition there. What is this word?

Patria mean People linked over a relatively long period of time by the descent to a common progenitor. What does that mean? Do you see how the connection between a father and a family is made explicit in the word itself?

Do you understand what I'm saying? So laden within the concept of a family a patria is the idea of a Patera a father biblical notion of family is People linked over a relatively long period of time by a line of descent to a common progenitor okay, when I Started out ministry.

I did a funeral and this is a while ago. You know you could see the stirrings of a lot of confusion related to this point for many many years now if you have eyes to see and ears to hear but I went to a funeral and Man had recently died.

He had.

Two young kids who he was survived by. And these I mean these these these children he had they they I'm sure that they were the pride of Him. I get they were his pride and joy. I mean they both were very successful in the business world and both of them were Obviously like gender confused and and I don't mean that in the formal sense that they identified as members of the opposite gender.

But you had a man who was like a young man who was very effeminate who'd pursued his college degree and moved up into his career, and then you had a the daughter who was Very masculine for a girl. She kind of chopped off all of her hair look like a boy.

But she had also moved up into her career as a family so you had the mom and you had the children. Coming to the funeral, and I'm there. You know to talk to them, and you know both of them brought their dogs.

Who were they treated as family members? To this thing so your dad dies you have to bring the family, so this is a big family meeting. That's the way they described a big family grieving session together.

And I'm not if you hear me to be making fun of their grieving then you're Misunderstanding the point significantly about what's happening. The point about what's happening right now is to say that it's a it was a sobering picture.

Sobering thought to me to think that that man's legacy was a couple of dogs. And as I've you know known this this family that nothing has changed. Over the past years and years and years that man's legacy is a couple of animals you know.

Was the family. Well we're obviously live in a world that's very confused at this point. Bible says is people people people. People Linked over a relatively long period of time of descent to a common progenitor common father.

What does Jesus say about this you know like when you talk about the relationship of human beings to animals they're obviously not family members and. And that's not a statement that you make that just again you answer it right on the theology exam.

You check it off our animals family members. Well technically no. But it's okay to kind of treat him as family members. The issue is when when Christ speaks about animals. He says it's fundamentally immoral to mix these categories up fundamentally immoral.

Matthew 15 26 In a larger passage. I'm not trying to take I'm not trying to take this passage and divorce it from context and if you're predisposed to be cranky. You're gonna say hey, I'm taking this out of context.

I know that there's a particular context which this is used in but this is an axiomatic statement. That's used to apply to many different situations this statement is Self-evidently true, that's why Jesus is bringing it up.

He's bringing it up because it's self-evidently true. Everyone in the world would agree about the moral principles involved and he's using that to apply to a different situation. But fat Matthew 15 26 Jesus answered.

It's not right to take the children's bread and to throw it to dogs, right? What is he saying he's saying that children deserve a certain standard of care from their father right their progenitor. And it's fundamentally immoral to mix these categories.

That's what Jesus is saying G that Jesus is saying that children are owed certain things by their parents. Parents are responsible to provide those things for them.

And.

Dogs don't have the same rights and privileges now. I mean the dogs at the time I mean they weren't the kind of dogs we have today that are nice and wag their tail. And I mean the dogs that they had there at time there.

They were a little bit more scary than all that. I mean you can tame some of them and then they could Follow you around. I mean the the woman in question Jesus is talking to says yes, but Yes, like it's not right, but don't the dogs eat the scraps that fall from the master's table.

She's acknowledging the basic point yeah children are owed certain Rights and privileges that aren't owed to animals, but don't don't the dogs eat the leftovers and isn't that okay? And Jesus doesn't refute that idea.

It's just to say there's a different standard of care expected for humans than for Animals and that's the point that we should take away from that. What are the entailments of all this? Well one is it's fundamentally immoral to give animals the same rights and Privileges as a family member.

I know Christian couples who let their dogs share the marriage bed with them at night. And I'm not saying anything scandalous by that if that's what you're thinking. I'm just saying that the dogs are Treated as children indulged as children.

Because animals are not made for life in the suburbs. Christians are spending more and more money Trying to make suburban life comfortable for him. If you look up statistics You'll see that they've been on the rise for quite some time a lot of that is because suburban life is not suited for Animals in the same way that it used to be.

I mean every time I call up regions Bank I have a bank account with regions Bank. And I don't know if you guys have that here, but I think it's a little located in the south. Yeah, it's in Birmingham, but it's it's.

It's funny. They have they're trying to get you to take a second mortgage on their home In order to give your furry friend the backyard that they deserve. Right and you think about how immoral that actually is.

I mean I know it's funny. It's a joke like taking this. I mean it should be a joke taking out a second mortgage to give your Dog a backyard that they deserve, but this is an actual commercial and people are actually doing this.

You know people are actually doing this. But what does Jesus say it's not right to take the children's bread to throw it to the dogs. Many of us are taking our Children's inheritance and wasting it on animals.

Now notice. I didn't say that any money spent on an animal is taking your children's inheritance and throwing it to the to Dogs, but if you are taking a second mortgage To give your furry friend the backyard they deserve you've lost track of the plot brothers and sisters.

You've lost the plot, okay. Christians today can grieve the loss of animals with the same intensity if not more. Than they do the loss of their human like their actual family members, right? These are these are not these are not problems that we are sheltered from.

We need to rethink our basic premises at this point so point number one animals are not people. Gave you a variety of verses. Man's created the image of God. Describe that Animals not family members defined what a family member is on the basis of Ephesians 3 14.

What else can we say here today? Animals are not companions, okay. Animals are not companions. What is a pet? We're talking about pets. You should probably define what a pet is at some point. What is a pet?

Merriam-webster says it. Merriam-webster says a pet is a domesticated animal kept for pleasure. Rather than utility, so you understand like the traditional concept of animals throughout most of human history is that they have some purpose.

They have some value to have some utility if you look up older definitions of the word pet within the the definition itself of a pet there's a notion of approbation essentially like meaning like Like a pet was an animal that was over indulged, right?

So there's some disapproval there like you can imagine like a Church lady who is shamefully Saying the word like overindulged right like you shouldn't indulge that animal so much, you know, you shouldn't encourage it.

I mean you can but it within the definition of pet like you used to be this notion of overindulging, right? Because animals were seen largely for utility. So we're basically there's been a dramatic shift in our understanding of Animals that's occurred over time.

I'm going to talk about that and talk about the main passage that applies to this in my mind here. But so Merriam-webster it this is kind of more of a neutral one. It's a domesticated animal kept for pleasure rather than your utility.

Dictionary comm gives us a horrendous definition. I find it horrendous. I'm scandalized by it. I want to light my beard on fire and run around and Turn over tables or something when I listen to this one, but dictionary comm says any domesticated or tamed animal that's kept as a companion and Cared for affectionately.

I mean, I'm I'm scandalized and shocked by the companion lane language. I I feel triggered. I feel like I feel like they should have put a trigger warning there for me to help me process what they're about to say, but There's been a shift in viewing animals as companions rather than property and that's happened over several centuries.