Welcome back to
the Creator Revealed.
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We've been talking today
about our wonderful Creator
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and all the beautiful
creatures that He formed
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from the dust of the
ground for our enjoyment.
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Exactly, you know,
the diversity of life
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is truly amazing.
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It is.
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And anyone who
isn't just blown away
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not just by the diversity
but the beauty of what's there,
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I don't know, it seems to me
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that they've lost
their soul in a way.
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But there is this question
that we have in our minds,
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as Christians, I
think all people.
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And that is, how do we
relate to these other creatures?
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What does the
Bible tell us about that?
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And to assist us with that,
we have Dr. Jo Ann Davidson.
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She is a professor
of Systematic Theology
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at the Seventh-day Adventist
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Theological Seminary
at Andrews University.
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And I'm delighted
that she is joining us
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to discuss this
really important topic.
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So, Dr. Davidson,
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one of the
arguments that I've heard is,
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God made human
beings to have dominion
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over the rest of the creation,
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over the other
animals and so on.
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So we really don't
have any responsibility
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to be caring
for these creatures.
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It is just,
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you know, the earth is
ours to do with what we want.
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And I'm wondering,
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is that really a
biblical position or not?
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You know, that a lot of
people have that position
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but they haven't learnt
to read the text carefully.
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If you look at Genesis 1,
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and God gives a
definition of rulership,
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even before He
creates humans and animals.
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On day four, He says
the sun is to rule the day,
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and He put it in place
so it can conserve life
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and bring forth
life in the ground.
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And so when God
asked us to rule,
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He's warning us to
display the same benevolence
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that the sun does.
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Also I think,
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it's tragic that though people
believe in God as the Creator,
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the ideas of evolution
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have suddenly
affected their thinking,
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often without them
realizing it, perhaps.
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And we just think that
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animals are just
little lower than we are,
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and we finally
advanced to a higher stage,
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and we're really of
more value and more worth,
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and that's not right either.
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That's not right either.
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The creation
story is so beautiful
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because the first three
days, God creates habitats.
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And then the last three days,
He fills each of those habitats
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in turn with the
creatures that live there.
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And then He gives
both humans and animals
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a plant-based,
violent-free diet,
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and then He finishes
day six, rubbing His...
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You can almost see Him rubbing
His hands together saying,
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"Oh, this is very good."
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And He gives animals
and humans the same diet.
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And on day five interestingly,
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He talks to the animals.
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It says in Genesis 1:20 to 22,
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God created all
the great sea creatures
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of the sea and the air.
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And then it says, "And
God blessed them saying,
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"Be fruitful and multiply."
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Well, who is God talking to?
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There was no
humans around to listen,
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and He gives the same blessing,
only a day later to humans.
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And He puts them in a
world filled with new life,
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and tells them to be fruitful
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and multiplied the same blessing
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He'd given to day five.
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And if you go to
the Book of Psalms,
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over and over
again, dozens of times,
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the psalmist praised God
for the works of His hands.
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The works of your hands
are the works of His hands,
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referring back to that
passage you referred to, Tim,
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about God creating the creatures
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from the dust of the ground,
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the works of His hands.
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And He's so excited
about it and praises God,
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it just draws forth
praise over and over again,
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the works of God's hands.
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In fact, there's
one choir in Psalm 1:48
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that speaks of
humans praising God.
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But before it
mentions humans praising God,
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it talks about the
animals praising God.
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And praises venting
to the great Creator
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from all His creatures.
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It's just unfortunate
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that we have
such degraded hearing
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that we can't hear all
the praises going to God.
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In fact, one scientist wrote,
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"As we're destroying these
different species of the earth,
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we're muting God's
praise, muting God's praise."
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That's really
kind of a poetic way,
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kind of a depressing
thought when you think about it.
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I wonder myself,
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how is God
going to respond to us
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if we are
destroying these works of art
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that He's created?
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As a scientist,
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I taught to think about
them more as in an engineering
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almost sort of
sense but also the beauty,
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and yeah, this praise.
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What kind of
specific instructions,
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if any, does God give us
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about how we should be
treating animals, for example?
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Well, if you look at
the story of the flood,
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it's interesting to me
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that when God had to destroy sin
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because it was so corrupt...
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And the word there
in the original language
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is the strongest word
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that could be used
for violence and evil.
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They were corrupted
that God had to destroy it,
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but He wanted to
make a way of escape.
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God never destroys sin
without making a way of escape.
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In this case, He
had Noah build an ark.
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And then He told Noah,
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"Please bring the animals in
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because I want
to spare them too."
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And so God,
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as He prepares to rid the
earth of violence and evil,
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He has an ark for humans
and animals to be preserved in.
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Then after the flood
when they come out of the ark,
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it's Chapter 9,
it's very interesting.
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God gives a major
covenant statement there.
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And four times in
that statement, He says,
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"I'm making this covenant
with you, and your family,
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and all the animals
with you in the ark."
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And He lists
them, He mentions them,
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many of them by name.
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Four times, He repeats
this in one covenant statement.
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And we're knowing now
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as we're learning to
read biblical narratives
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that anytime
something is repeated,
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it's a key point.
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The ancients didn't
have underlining and italics
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and bolding letters
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to emphasize
something important,
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so instead,
they would repeat it.
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And in this case, God
four times repeats it.
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He has a covenant with
all the creatures He's made,
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humans and animals.
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You know what?
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Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead.
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Go ahead. I just
wanna add with that.
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When God gives
the Ten Commandments,
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the fourth commandment
is the Sabbath blessing,
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and He includes the animals
even in the Sabbath blessing
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that they deserve to rest
too, they deserve to rest.
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And the Old Testament
laws, the Mosaic laws,
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marvelous how God says.
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I love some of them.
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I'll repeat one of
my favorite, God says,
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"If you see a donkey overloaded
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with a heavy load
and he falls down,
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you need to help that
donkey back to its feet,
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even though that
donkey belongs to your enemy."
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Yeah.
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I guess the text
that jumps to my mind
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is the one that says that
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you shouldn't muzzle
the ox that treads the corn.
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You know, these
animals are worthy
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of their wages in a way as well.
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They should be
allowed to enjoy the harvest
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that they're reaping.
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Yes.
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They're ostensibly
working for humans,
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but they're part of the team,
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and they deserve to
enjoy the harvest too.
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So if we sort of say,
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"Well, these animals
are of such great value,
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and they're very much like us,"
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then what does that do
to human beings because...
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Does it degrade us
to say, "Hey, you know,
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we're not as special
perhaps as we thought we were
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or how are we
supposed to think about that?
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Well, you know,
that's the idea of hierarchy,
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thinking that the people
up higher are more important,
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but God has a
different system, I think.
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He gives us the privilege
of caring for His creation.
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And the animals
depend on us for that,
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and we should be
caring for the creation
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just like God Himself
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doesn't say
it's very, very good.
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Instead of thinking that,
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because we supposedly
have more intelligence
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that we are above them
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and don't have to care for them.
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But, you know, this
thing of intelligence
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is really significant to me
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because scientists of
which you are a noble one,
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Dr. Tim, are coming out
with many, many books now
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about the
intelligence of animals.
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And like the last one
I read, I love the title.
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It said the Wise
Guys of the Avian World,
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Ravens and Crows.
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And it talks there about
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how the scientists used to think
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that monkeys were closest
to humans in intelligence,
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but now they realize that
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ravens are smarter than monkeys.
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And the fact that...
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And tongue in
cheek, the author says,
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"Now when you call
someone a birdbrain,
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that's a compliment,
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because they're really smart."
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Oh, it is amazing
how smart they are.
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But, Jo Ann, you will agree.
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Humans are special in a way
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because we were
created in the image of God.
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So there's a form and a
function for everything.
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That's right.
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And when we see how
God cares for the animals
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as well as He cares for humans,
that should give us a lesson
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on how we should
care for the animals.
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If we're created in
the image of the Creator,
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we need to have the same care,
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and love, and
concern for them as He does.
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Okay, well, thank you so much
for joining us, Dr. Davidson.
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It's been a
privilege to hear your thoughts
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and the way that you
have bought out these lessons
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that are contained
there in God's Word.
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I am absolutely convinced
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that we have a
duty, as Christians,
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to care for the entire
creation but especially
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these intelligent other beings
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that inhabit the earth with us.
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You know, it's so funny,
because you and I were talking,
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I think yesterday,
we were talking about
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the intelligence
of animals in pigs.
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You know, like how
intelligent a pig is.
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I want a pet pig.
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But, you know,
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I have never
lived in a household
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where the true
bosses of the house
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would allow me to have one.
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You're saying your mother
and your wife won't allow it.
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You know, sometimes I think
they just don't understand me.
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But we don't always appreciate
the intelligence of an animal.
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And you know, my
mother always told me,
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"Don't trust someone
that is not good to animals."
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Exactly.
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That was one of the core pieces
of advice I gave my daughter.
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Do not date anybody
who is cruel to animals
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because they will be
cruel to you as well.
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At the same time when
you see kindness to animals,
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and when we ourselves
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develop these
amazing relationships
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that we can have...
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I talked about my dog, Jack,
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but I still have
our other dog, Jill.
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You know, and
the joy and the love
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that we share with each other,
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even though we're
not the same species,
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it is a beautiful thing.
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And I suspect it model something
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about the relationship
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that we ourselves
can have with God.
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Amen.
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And I think in
many ways, it makes us,
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as we are totally
dependent upon God,
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when you have any creature
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that's totally
dependent upon you,
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you can't help but
love them for some reason.
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So it's just an idea, a
model of how much God loves us.
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We hope that
you've been blessed today,
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and you will join us next time.
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