The fixation I've formed around this topic lately reminds me of that song that gets stuck in your head for the better part of a day. Usually it's one you wouldn't listen to unless you were drunk on a cruise ship.

Although I don't take the Bible too seriously, in part because of it's multitude of contradictions and conflicing statements (sorry if this offends anyone), I still find myself madly curious lately as to what the people who wrote the Bible might have been trying to convey, as it regards what they saw as God's thinking about the "status" of animals.

Just got done reading and reflecting on a Biblical passage concerning the use of the words "animal spirits" (previous blog) and got some really interesting responses/interpretations about it, as it regards whether or not animals are believed to have spirits. And by extension, whether or not there are animal ghosts. Anyhow ...

I have a couple new questions, based on Wade's thoughtful response to that blog (Wade I hope you'll consider replying here):

Wade was basically saying that the Bible seems to be an appeal to human conduct, so it makes sense that it places little or no emphasis on animals (did I paraphrase you right? LOL). That makes a whole ton of sense to me. He also theorized that animals are innocent and so are not in need of "redemption", the way humans are. Have to say that seems right, though I don't know for sure. For example:

Can tell you right now that I barely squeeze out more than a pseudo-sympathetic grunt when I watch human characters dying off in movies these days. But show me someone who so much as lifts a foot to a dog in a scene and my instinct is to jump through the movie screen, into the movie house, past the director, and roll my fists over the actor's face. 

If I could accomplish that, my next move would probably be to run off the movie set, drive to McDonald's, go home, then kick back and relax with an ice cold drink in one hand, and a few Chicken McInnocent McAnimal Mcnuggets in the other. Ahhh the hypocrisy of it all. Back to the Bible:

But Wade did recall that there are some Biblical references to animals. One quote he mentioned was: "Man who regards the life of his beast is counted as wise." Now I recall a Biblical event that appears to contradict this animal-kind advice and am thirsty for what others think ...

It's the piece about Jesus driving a legion of demons out of a man and into a bunch of swine, who then dive off a cliff to their deaths. That hits me as pretty harsh, especially if, as the quote above suggests, animals' lives should be "regarded" (and if they are innocent). I wonder why a famous healer wouldn't find it appropriate to simply say "Be Gone You Demons!" and poof, gone. No animal carnage required. Just seems like more reason to speculate that the Bible, in fact, was written by inperfect men (probably not vegans), and should be understood to be tainted by the prejudices of their time.

I tried being a vegetarian, I swear, but it just didn't work. God bless the animals. What do you think??