It’s a Dog’s World!

If you’re like me, those animal cruelty commercials really pull at my heart strings. How can someone abuse a helpless animal in such heinous ways?

Nowhere do I find the same attention shown to ending abortion or promoting adoption.

Sadly it appears that we have become a society that places more value on animals’ lives than it does human lives. For if that is not true, how can we allow the ultimate abuse of some 3,000 preborn children per day being torn limb from limb (over 3,000 per day, over 55 million since 1973) and then discarded?

Animal rights activists maintain that human beings are no different from any other animal – that they have no divine or distinctive nature. Supporters of animal rights believe that animals have an inherent worth; that they have value separate from their usefulness to humans.

The largest animal rights organization in the world, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is based in Norfolk, Virginia. Founded in 1980, PETA boasts of over three million members/supporters.

PETA maintains that the animal rights issue is not just a philosophy but a social movement: a movement that challenges society’s traditional view that all nonhuman animals exist solely for human use. As PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk has said, “When it comes to pain, love, joy, loneliness, and fear, a rat is a pig is a dog is a boy. Each one values his or her life and fights the knife.”

The culture is indeed shifting in how we view animals. In her book, Beg: A Radical New Way of Regarding Animals, the author, Rory Freedman, calls for "... fellow animal lovers to be better animals lovers. It's an invitation to be more than just good parents to the cats and dogs we live with; 'Beg' is a battle cry to wake up and rise up on behalf of the world's animals."

Freedman’s instructions, among others, of pet owners (parents):

• Don’t bring your cell phone on your walks. Try and actually be present with your dog.
• Don’t buy leashes or collars made of leather.
• Don’t kill bugs-relocate them. Mercy is mercy, whether it’s for a dog or a spider. Why would you choose death when mercy is an option?

While all animals deserve our respect, placing them on the same level with humans denies clear Biblical teaching that humans are uniquely special.

In Genesis, we are taught that humans are created in God’s image (“Imago Dei”) and then charged to “rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

We are responsible to care for the animals but that does not mean that animals are equal to humans.

Often, it appears that animal rights activists actually want to elevate animals in an attempt to actually lower humans. Perhaps they are confused.

As a life-long animal lover, I am not confused. I know the difference between humans and animals – “for the Bible tells me so”.

As Christians we are all called to defend the sanctity of life. Let’s work towards the type of passion in connecting with our human children as outlined in the book, Beg.

Indeed. Where is the mercy shown towards the preborn child slated for abortion?

Georgia Right to Life respects animals but will continue to stand strong that innocent human life is unique, precious, and deserves our full protection—from its earliest biological beginning until natural death. Won't you join us?