{"id":7095,"date":"2016-08-01T03:00:56","date_gmt":"2016-08-01T08:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.scquest.org\/?p=7095"},"modified":"2016-07-31T11:15:50","modified_gmt":"2016-07-31T16:15:50","slug":"wikitheology-should-we-protect-animals-in-danger-of-extinction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/?p=7095","title":{"rendered":"WikiTheology – Should we protect animals in danger of extinction?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here are links for a background<\/a> of what is “WikiTheology” and another question<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Should we protect animals in danger of extinction?<\/h1>\n

Your question is an excellent one given the amount of harm we have done to the world over the years. The problem stems from the fact that we have thought incorrectly about the question, not that we haven\u2019t asked the question. We have not asked what the Creator wants.<\/p>\n

The answer depends completely on what you think about the origins of the universe. If you believe that everything came from nothing, over a long period of time, and with a little luck, how are we different from any other animal? We would be considered the product of the same evolutionary process. And that evolutionary process teaches us that the strong survive and the weak die. So, if we say, \u201cWe believe, as humans, we are intelligent animals and for this reason we should protect other not-as-intelligent animals,\u201d where is the logic in your answer? Don\u2019t you think that we are going against the current which has brought us to be the strongest? If you believe that we have been created by evolution, the purpose of life is to survive. Nothing more. And in surviving, if there is an animal that makes it more difficult, or makes it more uncomfortable, why would you want to save it?<\/p>\n

Perhaps a person could say that their life is better if we allow a certain species to exist, like the bee for example, but only for a single person, and not for everyone. All of humanity could never decide what is correct for everyone, because the strong have the right to survive, and not the others.<\/p>\n

But those who think that there is a Creator have other reasons to protect animals. Before we look at two of those reasons, I would like to clarify what it means \u201cto protect.\u201d A believer in God does not protect animals in the same way as a Buddhist might protect animals. We do not believe that we are equal with animals, nor that animals house the souls of other individuals. The Bible tells us that as humans we are the only creatures to be created in the image of God. Animals do not have souls, and cannot have a personal relationship with God, but as humans we can. For this reason God commanded that we are not to murder other humans. There is a difference in value between animals and humans, and it is a value which God has placed on us and which we cannot change. Those who confuse animals for humans do harm to both the animal and other humans. If we think that the creation is god, we have lost the ability to live according to reason.<\/p>\n

And now for two of the reasons why we ought to protect animal species:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. We were created by God in order to have dominion over the earth (Genesis 1:28), by which God means that we \u201ccultivate it and keep it\u201d (Genesis 2:15). It is our privilege to exercise dominion over the earth, and we cannot refuse the responsibilities that come with it. But there are times that we have to kill certain animals to feed humans or other animals, or to protect a herd or another species. Because we have a different value and we have wisdom, we can do so intelligently and correctly (we can also do so in a manner which is very harmful, as we have seen over the years).<\/li>\n
  2. There is another reason to protect different species of animals. Animals were created by God and demonstrate his creativity. By means of his creation we can understand something about God, namely his eternal power and his divine nature (Romans 1:20). This means that if we do not protect well, and allow a species to become extinct (or we do not pursue the opportunity to discover more species), we lose a creation of our God, and another view into his incredible intelligence.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Those who believe in the God of the Bible have a responsibility to protect the various species of animals because as humans we are different. God has created us with the ability and the wisdom to do so for his glory. I thank God for those who are working to protect the various species of animals in our world.<\/p>\n

    \"Scanned<\/p>\n

    \u00bfDebemos proteger a los animales en peligro de extinci\u00f3n?<\/strong><\/h1>\n

    La pregunta es una pregunta importante, porque en los \u00faltimos a\u00f1os hemos visto el da\u00f1o que hemos hecho en el mundo durante los siglos que no nos hac\u00edamos esta pregunta. Eso no es decir que nadie ha pensado en lo que debemos hacer con los animales, pero que no hemos pensado tanto en lo que el Creador quiere.<\/p>\n

    La respuesta acerca de los animales en peligro depende completamente de lo que piensas de los or\u00edgenes del universo. Si piensas que todo lo que es vino de la nada, durante mucho tiempo, y un poco de suerte, \u00bfc\u00f3mo somos diferentes de los animales? \u00bfNo somos el producto de la misma evoluci\u00f3n? \u00bfY que nos ense\u00f1a la evoluci\u00f3n? Nos ense\u00f1a que los fuertes sobreviven y los d\u00e9biles mueren. Entonces, si decimos \u201cCreemos que nosotros, como humanos, somos los animales mas inteligentes y por esta raz\u00f3n debemos proteger a los animales no tan inteligente como nosotros\u201d \u00bfde d\u00f3nde viene la raz\u00f3n de tu respuesta? \u00bfNo piensas que estamos yendo contra la corriente que nos ha llevado a ser los m\u00e1s poderosos? Si crees que la evoluci\u00f3n nos ha creado, el prop\u00f3sito de la vida es sobrevivir. Nada m\u00e1s. Y si necesitas sobrevivir, y hay un animal que lo hace m\u00e1s dif\u00edcil, o te hace inc\u00f3modo, \u00bfpor qu\u00e9 los querr\u00edas salvar?<\/p>\n

    Quiz\u00e1 una persona pudiera decir que su vida ser\u00eda mejor si dejara vivir una especie de animal, como la abeja por ejemplo, pero solamente para una persona, y no a otra. Toda la humanidad nunca podr\u00eda decir que fuera correcto para todos, porque los fuertes tienen el derecho de vivir, y no los otros.<\/p>\n

    Pero los que piensan que hay un creador tienen otras razones para cuidar a los animales. Antes de hablar de dos de estas razones, me gustar\u00eda clarificar que significa \u201cproteger.\u201d Un creyente en Dios no protege a los animales de la misma manera que los Budistas. No creemos que somos iguales que los animales, ni que los animales tienen las almas de otras personas. La Biblia nos dice que los humanos son los \u00fanicos que fueron creados en la imagen de Dios. Los animales no tienen almas, y no pueden tener una relaci\u00f3n personal con Dios, pero los humanos s\u00ed. Por eso Dios mand\u00f3 que no matemos a los otros humanos. Hay un valor diferente entre los animales y los humanos, y es un valor que Dios ha puesto y que no podemos cambiar. Los que confunden los animales con los humanos le hacen da\u00f1o al animal y a los otros humanos. Si pensamos que la creaci\u00f3n es Dios, perdemos la habilidad a vivir razonadamente.<\/p>\n

    Ahora, dos de las razones porque debemos proteger a los animales:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Fuimos creados por Dios para dominar a la tierra (G\u00e9nesis 1:28), que significa para Dios \u201ccultivar y cuidar\u201d (G\u00e9nesis 2:15). Es nuestro privilegio ejercer dominio sobre la tierra, y no podemos dejar nuestra responsabilidad. Pero hay veces que tenemos que matar a los animales para alimentar a humanos u otros animales, o tambi\u00e9n para proteger la manada o otra especie. Porque tenemos un valor y sabidur\u00eda diferente, podemos hacerlo correctamente (tambi\u00e9n podemos hacerlo de una manera muy da\u00f1osa, como hemos visto durante los \u00faltimos a\u00f1os).<\/li>\n
    2. Tambi\u00e9n hay otra raz\u00f3n para cuidar a las especies. Los animales fueron creados por Dios y muestran su creatividad. Por medio de su creaci\u00f3n podemos entender algo de Dios, su eterno poder y su naturaleza divina (Romanos 1:20). Significa que si no cuidamos bien y dejamos que muera otra especia (o si no perseguimos la oportunidad de descubrir m\u00e1s especies), perdemos una creaci\u00f3n de nuestro Dios y otra muestra de su inteligencia.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Los que creen en el Dios de la Biblia tienen la responsabilidad de proteger a las especies de animales porque como humanos somos diferentes. Dios nos ha creado con la habilidad y la sabidur\u00eda para hacerlo por su gloria. Doy gracias a Dios por los que est\u00e1n trabajando para cuidar a las especies de animales en nuestro mundo.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Here are links for a background of what is “WikiTheology” and another question. Should we protect animals in danger of extinction? Your question is an excellent one given the amount of harm we have done to the world over the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[97,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wikitheology","category-wildlife"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p34kFn-1Qr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7095"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7105,"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7095\/revisions\/7105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scquest.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}