Does anyone know of any teachings in the Bible directly or indirectly advocating kindness to animals?
I seem to read that Jews slit the throats of animals to bleed them to death, before preparing them for the table.
If the level of civilization in the Bible does not include kindness to animals, then we have got to be cautious in taking its teachings on everything else with much filtering attention.
Susma Rio Sep
Not sure what you are implying, but slitting the throat of an animal is probably the most effective and pain free way of killing them available to the average person in a bronze age culture. Hitting over the head or back of the neck with an axe would be more effective on sheep, but a large axe would not always have been available to the early Isrealites, particularly while living as nomads in the desert. I wouldn’t want to volounteer to try to kill an bull by hitting it over the head, whereas slitting the throat is fast and effective
To be unnecessarily cruel to animals is very much a sin in Judaism. There are a number of commandments which are related to the matter of “Tzaar Baalei Chayim”…pain to living things.
Probably the clearest example that can be found in the Bible is the commandment “Do not muzzle an ox while it’s threshing” (Deuteronomy 25:4). Another, less obvious, is “Do not plow with an ox and donkey yoked together,” (Deuteronomy 22:10) which to some degree is because not distributing the burden equally will cause the animals pain.
Jews also believe that the Bible commands an owner of animals to feed his animals before he himself eats. This is derived from the verse (Deuteronomy 11:15) “and I (i.e., G-d) will provide grass in the field for your cattle, and you shall eat and be satisfied.” (following G-d’s example. the animals should be tended to first)
We Orthodox Jews do in fact believe that the method of slaughter G-d commanded us is particularly humane to the animal, but that method is an oral tradition not explicitly described in the Bible and would not be findable in a specific verse.
I’m sure that given some serious time, I could find other examples as well.
Susma Rio Sep:
By the way, this is a somewhat inaccurate portrayal of Jewish slaughter:
Jews do indeed slit the throat of animals; part of the specifics of this is that the knife must be perfectly smooth, and that a single cut must sever both the esophagus and the windpipe. This ensures that the animal immediately feels nothing, and death is pretty instantaneous. It does not “bleed to death”, the issue there is that blood must be drained from the meat (AFTER the animal is dead) before the meat can be eaten - Jewish law forbids the consumption of blood.
Chaim Mattis Keller
The Bible has a uniformly negative view of dogs, which was discussed in this thread:
I Refuse To Believe In A God With Such A Low Opinion Of Dogs
I agree with you, Susma. I think we can learn a lot about the true author(s) of the Bible by studying how they treat animals. My conclusion is that the inspiration was less than divine.
Genesis 1:29 " And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat," has been taken by some to advocate vegetarianism, though as always YMMV.
I would just like to point out the thread of logic shown above:
I hold the belief that kindness to animals is good.
The Bible, supposedly a divinely inspired work, does not include teachings of kindness to animals. Instead, in some places it mentions behavior to the contrary without criticism.
Therefore, the Bible must have errors in it.
Basically it is stated that because the Bible does not conform to your present beliefs, it cannot be divinely inspired and thus correct.
:rolleyes:
No, if you read the previous thread, I pointed out that the Bible is contrary to the literature of contemporaneous cultures in its dislike of dogs. It is not my beliefs, it is the beliefs of other cultures of the time.
**Damn straight.
Word.
Your premise is incorrect; no wonder your conclusion is incorrect also.
If you keep doing that, your face will stick that way.
At the end of the Book of Jonah, God, refusing to accede to Jonah’s desire that God destroy the city of Ninevah, replies “…Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?” (Jonah 4:11) thus apparently displaying concern for both children and animals.
(The Bible is a complex and often contradictory book(s), and there are other passages where God commands the extermination of both children and animals.)
cattle is food, not wanting to destroy something of value does not necessary show compassion. if those were cats on the other hand…
<< The Bible, supposedly a divinely inspired work, does not include teachings of kindness to animals. Instead, in some places it mentions behavior to the contrary without criticism. >>
An interesting statement: do you have a cite?
Cites where the Bible not only mentions, but commands kindness to animals (some have already been cited above):
And then there are the quotes that cmkeller cites, which are intepreted as putting well-treatment of animals in a high regard.
Of course, if you are going to say that slaughtering and eating meat is, ipso facto, cruel to animals, then the discussion sort of ends there. The Bible does seem to say that vegetarianism is the ideal state (quoted by Dissonance, although a better translation is “they shall be yours for food.” Divine permission to eat meat (although draining the blood) is not found until Noah (Gen 9:3).
The Bible is a complex book, with different parts written or compiled over anywhere from 700 to 1500 years (depending on when you think which part was written and on what you include as “Bible.”) If you want to read it as inconsistent, then you won’t find a consistent attitude on anything – not even on monotheism (since the existence of the Egyptian gods seems to be acknowledged.) If you want to read it as consistent, then you will find ways to resolve the apparent inconsistences (such as the existence of the worship of Egyptian gods is acknowledged.)
Howver, I’d be curious to hear cites that explicitly condone cruetly to animals.
In Matthew 12:11 and Luke 15:13, Jesus teaches that doing a kindness to an animal can justify breaking the Sabbath.
Regards,
Shodan
Fear Itself
I pointed out that the Bible is contrary to the literature of contemporaneous cultures in its dislike of dogs. It is not my beliefs, it is the beliefs of other cultures of the time.
This is unimportant. Look back at ancient China; their belief system was and is completely different from Christianity. The situation is that you have a system of beliefs that says it is correct; it is not an acceptable response to point out that others believe differently and by that fact alone disprove such a belief system. It is first required that others beliefs are proven correct for any judgment to be made.
C K Dexter Haven
An interesting statement: do you have a cite? *
Not at all; I was merely pointing out a logical fallacy in the statements of those above. Your post, however, goes a long way toward disproving one of the premises in the argument, and addresses the OP as well. Good job!
… and in certain respects, he was right. In some cases one can do things that would otherwise be forbidden on Shabbos to spare an animal pain. The most famous example is that of milking a cow. Milking a cow is an activity that is normally forbidden on Shabbos. However, if the buildup of milk will cause the cow pain, one may then milk the cow on Shabbos (however, the milk cannot be used) in order to spare it the pain[sup]*[/sup]
[sup]*[/sup]Standard Disclaimer: I am not a Rabbi. Please do not rely on this post as a halachic decision. Please consult your local Rabbi before actually milking a cow on Shabbos
Zev Steinhardt
I know there are a number of books on this subject. Here is one to start with: On God and Dogs. I think that there are some in the Daedalus Books catalog, which you can go to at www.salebooks.com . (Obscenely good prices there, BTW.)