aren't people more important than animals?
Our regular contributor Dean Ohlman of RBC Ministries and The Wonder of Creation posed the following question at SustainLane's Creation Care community as part of his series "Questions Evangelicals Ask About the Environment," with a rousing response:
Isn’t it more important to care for people than to care for creation? (or “Aren’t people more important than animals?”)
For Christians there is no question that people are more valuable to God than animals. Jesus clearly states this in His Sermon on the Mount: “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:26, NIV). This question, however, is often asked in an attempt to make creation care appear to be non-biblical. Proper earth stewardship rarely involves choices between the needs of people and the needs of the remainder of the creation. This is because the health and life of people and animals both depend upon a sound ecosystem. We have learned, for instance, that animal extinctions are often the first signs of a distressed environment—an environment that will ultimately become unhealthy even for people (like dead coal-mine canaries signaled miners about the presence of odorless, but lethal, methane gas).
An element often forgotten in the emotional tension that follows the posing of this question is that mankind has been given the responsibility to care for the needs of animals. People are the responsible species. While we are charged by God to love our neighbors and meet the needs of suffering people, we are not therefore dismissed from our stewardship tasks toward the rest of creation. It’s not an “either/or” situation: We must care for people and for the remainder of the creation. Certainly Christianity would consider it sinful to care more for stranded whales than helpless children in the womb (something some non-Christian environmentalists might dispute). But we need to see that it is also sinful to neglect the pain and strife mankind unnecessarily creates for God’s other creatures. We must not prioritize biblical mandates to the extent that the ones we place lower on our list are never addressed [editor's note: see the end of our post "FAQ #2, But Don't We Have Other Priorities as Christians?" for more on this theme].
A further point could be made on that affirmation: When necessary responsibilities are kept low on the priority list and never addressed, the problems that inattention creates tend to drive the lesser priorities higher up on the list until they are screaming for attention. This, I fear, is what is happening regarding species endangerment and extinction, the depletion of fisheries around the world, and the rapid destruction of our coral reefs. Millions and millions of dollars are rightfully raised and spent on human right-to-life, poverty, and male-female-marriage-only issues. But Christian leaders who claim these to be the only responsibilities we have are biblically, theologically, and practically off base. It is simply past time for the evangelical community to claim and enthusiastically address our responsibility to be good stewards of God's creation, a major part of which is caring about the welfare of the other creatures we share the earth with—creatures the Word of God tells us that God loves and cares for.
"The eyes of all look to you [LORD], and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. The LORD is righteous in all His ways and loving toward all He has made." (Psalm 145:15-17, NIV).
How can a follower of Jesus believe that behavior that destroys the habitat of these other living things and drives them into extinction is anything less than an affront to the Creator who made both us and them?
(thanks to Dean for sharing "Questions Evangelicals Ask About the Environment" #11 with us, originally posted at SustainLane on 9/23/09; Dean blogs regularly, with great intrigue and devotional insight I might add, at The Wonder of Creation; photos copyright editorialz & Iakov Kalinin/123rf.com)
June 11, 2010
Reader Comments (5)
Ben and friends,
I have been following the conversation on my post about people being more valuable than animals---on my (not so) smart phone. (Or maybe the problem lies with the operator being not so smart). Anyway, I have been on the road and have not had easy access to the Net.
An explanation: The article under discussion was in a larger article on questions evangelicals ask regarding environmental issues. You can see the rest of them under the "Articles" menu at WonderofCreation.org. So concern about unnecessarily offending non-Christians by stating the obvious (keeping in mind what Ben said about the evangelical and RBC constituency) that there are indeed many---especially of the "deep ecology" bent---who do want to see more abortions AND more concern for animals did not feel to me like a put-down.
I went back and re-read what I wrote (some years ago now), and I found it hard to see what the controversy is. I think sometimes people respond quickly to a Facebook post without actually going back and reading the whole source. I believe if any of those who responded negatively to it did go back and read or re-read it, they would see that all the concerns expressed were indeed addressed by the article.
As Martin Luther said, "Here I stand." (smile).
Dean
Dean, thank you very much for taking the time to chime in on the discussion. I hope your trip down South has been a good one. I love and appreciate your article, as I hope you know, and tried to defend it as best I could while also trying to validate some of the points raised by some of the commenters as I could as well. I agree with you, sometimes comments can jump the gun a bit, even on blogs but especially on Facebook. I am very grateful for your writing, and your very valuable place as a leader in the creation care community - Ben
Have any of you ever read a book called "The Ultimate Resource" by Julian L. Simon?
I haven't personally. What's your name, by the way? Please feel free to interact further, but our comment policy does request identifying yourself, if that'd be ok. Thank you for the note - Ben, NOS admin.
I highly recommend you read Julian L. Simon's book. It might change the way you think.