Where in the bible does it say this???
God is a complex idea created by the human need to explain what happens in the world around them. Without much capacity for rational thought, animals react to the world more than they try to understand it. The concept of god is meaningless without the distingtly human concepts of fate, personal identity, and self-awareness.
FWIW, Asimov wrote a short story called “Flies” which deals with this subject.
So you’re saying that animals are not self-aware? If so, I have to disagree. Many of the “higher” animals are very self-aware. The larger apes, especially the ones with highly developed social structures have to have at least some measure of self-awareness. Some might even argue that larger, social pack animals such as wolves and elephants are self-aware. Hell, there are times when I’m all but convinced my CATS are self-aware.
Yep.
Makes sense to me. Thanks for the clarification.
And yes, National Geographic and Discovery Channel are THE best on television.
My point is that God is the creation of a rational thought process, you need wonder about how things work before you can create a god to explain them. While apes might lay in that semi-human grey area, I would not venture that dogs are self aware in a rational sense. They might posess a concept of their existance, but they lack the logical complexity to form any of the philosophical ideas which we do when we contemplate a God. Also, don’t confuse social behavior with intelligence, just because a dog acts like it thinks like a human doesn’t mean that it really does, evolution and instint have managed to fake it for millions of years. On the other hand, dog’s have a concept of Alpha Male, which is similar to God, but this is only in a leadership sense, not a spiritual one.
Ishmin…, what evidence do you want?
Do you say that a child is born with God’s image in his head? If so, which one? If this child is raised up an atheist? Or without any knowledge of religion, God, theology? Or if he is not very bright? Will he “discover God” on his own?
Um, Uniball-do you get off on torturing animals or something?
No, that’s when organised religion steps in.
Sorry. Couldn’t resist.
Do cows and pigs have a religion? If they do, we shouldn’t eat them.
Yeah; the torturing insects thing really bothered me, too…shudder Or were you just toying with them the way god supposedly toys with us? (Er…tests us…tests us!)
Of course not. I have two dogs and five cats. But killing a vicious, eye-poking cockatoo is one thing; and roasting ants when you’re a child, heck, EVERYBODY did that!
Um, no, not everyone did. I never did…
But to each his own…
Nope. Cause it wasn’t the ant being fried at the time; it was the ant I was planning to kill next.
Feh. I tried to keep this open to learn the facts about the bible’s take on “soulful” animals.
What do I get? Great Debates and tangents on ant killing. That’ll learn me.
This thread is closed.