Some Scripture we can understand easily, and some seems to be possibly interpreted in more than one way. But there are some questions to which there doesn't seem to be a clear unequivocal answer.
One question that I sometimes ask myself is "What was the attitude of Jesus to the life of animals?"
At the Creation, Genesis informs us that mankind was to "have dominion" over the animals, which could benefit from more detail, defining the limits in several aspects.
Then in Leviticus we are told of the various animals which were to be sacrificed for which sins, and the whole business of blood-letting doesn't go down well with the supporters of the RSPCA. In fact, Hosea and Isaiah both point out that God doesn't want the sacrifice of animals, but that was not just to spare the animals from death.
So were animals created only for food, or to work for farmers, or to take part in chariot races ? Without mankind's provision for domestic animals many would just kill and eat each other. And some of us can see the arguments of our vegetarian friends.
Then there are the questions posed by non-Scriptural science (Darwin and company), who have their arguments pointing towards the evolution and emergence of basic life from the sea to the land, eventually turning up as the human intelligencia.
So although we may not be at all surprised that Jesus rode on a donkey (even a colt), should we be surprised when Jesus told his fishermen friends where to cast the net, and met them on the beach while cooking a fish breakfast?
What would Jesus have done if He found a snake in His bed? Praying, put it out to sting someone else? I was surprised when one of my clerical friends went to great lengths to stamp on a moth fluttering about in the grass outside, but I was made to wonder if I would be right in letting it have a chance to get into a wardrobe and create havock there.
Personally, I cannot "love" or even keep a dog, but I would certainly not be cruel to one in any way. Nevertheless, I do ask myself what Jesus would think about the pigs into which the demons went and led them all to their death. I imagine that if someone asked Him about it then and there, He would have said how much more important it was to cast the demons out of the distressed man than to worry about the pigs, or even the loss incurred by their owner.
What leads are there in the New Testament which might point us to the mind of Jesus on our dealing with animals in our modern lifestyle?
One question that I sometimes ask myself is "What was the attitude of Jesus to the life of animals?"
At the Creation, Genesis informs us that mankind was to "have dominion" over the animals, which could benefit from more detail, defining the limits in several aspects.
Then in Leviticus we are told of the various animals which were to be sacrificed for which sins, and the whole business of blood-letting doesn't go down well with the supporters of the RSPCA. In fact, Hosea and Isaiah both point out that God doesn't want the sacrifice of animals, but that was not just to spare the animals from death.
So were animals created only for food, or to work for farmers, or to take part in chariot races ? Without mankind's provision for domestic animals many would just kill and eat each other. And some of us can see the arguments of our vegetarian friends.
Then there are the questions posed by non-Scriptural science (Darwin and company), who have their arguments pointing towards the evolution and emergence of basic life from the sea to the land, eventually turning up as the human intelligencia.
So although we may not be at all surprised that Jesus rode on a donkey (even a colt), should we be surprised when Jesus told his fishermen friends where to cast the net, and met them on the beach while cooking a fish breakfast?
What would Jesus have done if He found a snake in His bed? Praying, put it out to sting someone else? I was surprised when one of my clerical friends went to great lengths to stamp on a moth fluttering about in the grass outside, but I was made to wonder if I would be right in letting it have a chance to get into a wardrobe and create havock there.
Personally, I cannot "love" or even keep a dog, but I would certainly not be cruel to one in any way. Nevertheless, I do ask myself what Jesus would think about the pigs into which the demons went and led them all to their death. I imagine that if someone asked Him about it then and there, He would have said how much more important it was to cast the demons out of the distressed man than to worry about the pigs, or even the loss incurred by their owner.
What leads are there in the New Testament which might point us to the mind of Jesus on our dealing with animals in our modern lifestyle?