Letter from Jeremiah Smith about Our Ministry, Animal Rights, and the Bible - 26 Aug 2007
Letters From All-Creatures.org and The Mary T. and Frank L. Hoffman Family Foundation

Letter from Jeremiah Smith about Our Ministry, Animal Rights, and the Bible - 26 Aug 2007

Dear Pastor Or Biblical Scholar,

I felt the sermon you wrote was well put together and had some very good points. But I am curious about which scripture do you base your animal rights views on? I don't mean this to be disrespectful in any way. I am just curious about why you believe what it appears you believe. In Genesis 1:28, God says "Be fruitful and increase in number; Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

Thank You Very Much, For The Good Of The Gospel,

Jeremiah Smith

Reply from Frank and Mary Hoffman

Dear Jeremiah:

Thank you for writing and for your inquiry.

We could write books in answering your question, but let's start with the verse you quoted, Genesis 1:28. In order to properly understand the intent and meaning of this verse, we need to put it back into the context of the passage. We can see from the verses that follow, Genesis 1:29-31, that after giving humans dominion over the earth and rule over the other animals, He prescribed a plant based diet for all, and declared that it was very good.

There was no death in Eden up until the time of the Fall, and we know that there is no death in heaven (Revelation 21:4), which means that there was/is no flesh eating. And in the Lord's Prayer, Jesus taught us to pray: 'Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.' (Matthew 6:10) Surely, if Jesus wanted us to pray for this death free way of living, shouldn't we also do our best to bring it to fruition by eliminating as much death as is humanly possible?

We could go on and on from here, but we'll stop here for your comments.

In the Love of the Lord,

Frank and Mary

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