warning, long reply ahead, lol...
But, who are "others"? The biblical injunction is universally believed to apply to human - human relations.
I’m glad you asked! When it comes to whether or not we should give animals moral consideration, from a biblical perspective I think we need to look at the big picture….God’s word as a whole, God’s nature, and God’s intent and ultimate plan for creation.
The animals that people needlessly kill with such cruelty were lovingly created by God, they were part of God's original creation which He said is “very good” (Genesis 1:31) And in the beginning it is very clear that animals were not created to be food, both humans and animals were given a vegetarian diet (Genesis 1:29-30) because God’s intent was (and is) peace and harmony among all creation.
That peace and harmony in the beginning will be restored in the future, because that is God's intent... as stated in the prophetic scriptures. (Isaiah 11:6-9. etc)
Also, God made covenants not only with human beings, but with animals as well. The fact that God would make a covenant with the animals shows that God values animals. They are not mere objects.
Those points in and of themselves are enough to show that animals should be given moral consideration, because God loves and cares about animals. And that’s not even getting into the tons and tons of scriptures on mercy, love, kindness, gentleness, justice, etc.
We aren't compelled to hold animals as moral equal to humans.
It's not about holding animals as moral equals to humans. No one made that claim. It's about treating them with the respect and love that they deserve as creations of God and sentient beings who want to live and enjoy life, just as much as we do!
Animals don't have to be our equal in order to be treated with kindness, love and respect.
They can feel pain, they have emotions. They suffer, they can feel a range of emotions like joy, fear, anger, boredom, curiosity, playfulness, and love.
Animals (at least the ones we eat)have no moral code,
That is debatable, but even if that is true, that is all the more reason to treat them with kindness, because unlike humans, they are
innocent. If they are not moral agents, then they haven’t done wrong, because they don’t live by the moral code we live by. They are not only innocent, but at our mercy… Which reminds me of a quote:
The fact that WE, as human beings
do have a moral code and understand right from wrong is all the more reason to act in a more civilized, non-violent and merciful way…. Not like savages.
they aren't self-actualized, they don't interact with humans except to see us as food -- literal food in the case of predators, providers of food in the case of domesticated animals.
I'm not sure how you're defining self actualized, but animals are individuals, they have a strong will to live, they want to enjoy life, they have families like we do, they have friendships like we do, they have individual personalities like we do, and as was stated before, they have emotions and the ability to feel pain and suffer. Why would you want to cause suffering when you don’t have to?
As for your comment about animals not interacting with humans, that is absurd, that is plainly and observably false. And not just dogs and cats, but other animals as well, if they were given a chance.
However, if you're looking for a biblical injunction to support my choice of diet ... look no further.
“Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”
No, no, no, you are absolutely wrong and it's easy to prove that you are wrong on this one. The fact that we were given dominion over the animals needs to be looked at in the context of the previous verse and the very next verse. In the previous verse, as you posted, our dominion is prefaced by us being image-bearers of God. Therefore we are not supposed to act like tyrants or self-serving, ungodly dictators… On the contrary, our dominion must be in the image of God, which is LOVE! Mercy. Kindness.
Secondly, and this is very important for you to grasp, if you are claiming that dominion automatically means we can eat animals… it doesn’t, and that's because when we were given dominion over the animals,
IN THE VERY NEXT VERSE God gave us our diet, which was vegetarian!
So our dominion has to be viewed in the context of two very important things:
1. us being image bearers of God (God is good and merciful and loving and kind)
2. the diet that was given to us at the same time were given dominion... not a diet that involves violence, killing and exploitation, but a peaceful healthy diet that comes from the earth, a vegetarian diet, as clearly stated in Genesis 1:29.
Btw, I wrote a blog post on the topic of dominion, I hope you will read it by clicking
here.
To sum this up, it was never God's intent for human beings to exploit the hell out of animals and use them in a selfish, callous self-serving way.
Animals were not put here for our own selfish reasons. Although God’s intent was for animals to be our companions, even that does not mean they were put here for us, because everything God created he created for HIM. Animals have value apart from us, because they are valued and loved by God. Even if human beings didn't exist at all, animals would still have value because their value is not in their usefulness to us… But in the fact that they are creations of God and loved by God.
