Bizarre Steve Erwin News

My wife and I were listening to the radio this morning. We heard some rather odd news about how some of Steve Erwin's fans had decided to take out their frustrations on the animal guru's death by mutilating stingrays.


Now...I'm definitely not into abusing animals and I believe people who do so should suffer the legal consequences for what they've done. However, I've always wondered why the penalty for harming an animal is the same, if not more so, than harming a human being. I started thinking about this morning after hearing this rather bizarre turn of events, and I suddenly came to the realization why this is so: It's because we've been taught that humans are animals, too.


Of course, this sort of erroneous teaching has been going on for years, thanks primarly to the media and our schools teaching us (and our kids) that we've evolved from animals, and in turn, we're animals, also. I hate to break the news to the scientists, but there's a flaw in this theory.


In the book of Genesis, man is created separately from the animals. God saves His best creation for last; the animals are created first, and mankind is created afterward, man given the special privilege of being made in the image of God. The scriptures even clearly differentiate the fact that we're different. Animals are referred to numerous times as "creatures", not only in the Genesis account, but elsewhere in both the Old and New Testaments. The word "creature" is never applied in referring to mankind. Instead, God instructs mankind to subdue the "creatures".



And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.
And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day. (Genesis 1:20-31)



So...why all the hoopla about humans being animals? If we're deceived into believing we're, in fact, animals, we don't have to be responsible for our behaviors and actions. We can live any way we want to, and we don't have to answer to a Holy God who demands righteousness. When human beings are viewed in their proper perspective, as a separate creation made in the image of God, we have to look at ourselves as we really are: sinners who are in desperate need of someone who can help us, and that person is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

God created mankind unique because he made us in His image. None of the animals can say that, so we should be honored that God chose to create us differently. God loves the animals, but He loves us much more. Luke 12:6-7 says that God loves the sparrows because none of them is forgotten by God, but that we are "worth more than many sparrows". He has given us life in order we could form a relationship with Him, and, although it's His will that we do so, He gives us the option to do otherwise if we so choose.


God has a special plan just for you. Will you let Him come into your life?


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God's Love in One Word.
Jesus.
www.PassTheWord.net