@sik: you can't change it. It's as if you want it to be true that God created another species like us so that you can have an arguement. That won't happen. All creation before man was with spoken words, the heavens, animals etc. Man was created by hand.
It may seem like a scare tactic but it's true. I too would like to believe that hell, a place that'll make the sun seem like heaven in comparison, is not real but when you sit down to really think and see the words of the bible, you realise why it's real.
If you believe God would tell me to treat xspecies well and another to treat xspecies bad, you don't know Him. He would be divided against Himself. Think about the bible portion Disch posted earlier.
I think that he's trying to say that if someone lies and says "God told them", there is no proof for someone to know that you or that person is telling the truth.
Just to clarify:
If someone told you God told him to lie, he is a liar.
That would mean God going against His teachings in the bible and worst of all, everything He stands for and agreeing and submitting to the devil. God gave arch angel Michael the power to cast out the devil because he lied to Adam and Eve and tried to compare his power with God. So God lying won't ever happen.
You forget that the reason God cannot lie is similar to the reason man commits sin. God is not human. Even God said He will punish anyone that lies in His name.
You are mixing the old and new testaments. My view on the old testament is that God was some what disappointed with how man insulted himself.
Jesus Christ is the way to heaven. Accept Him into your life is what He teaches. Christ showed God that man can be saved from themselves. An eye for an eye is the old testament (Moses) while love your enemies is the new testament (Jesus).
Yes, we are the only ones with souls. Man is made up of 3 things; body, spirit and soul. When we die, the body decomposes. Spirit and soul is eternal that is why there is an afterlife.
Your soul faces judgement before God.
Here are three passages from the bible, the same passage three different bibles:
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"Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so". -- Genesis 1:30 New King James Version (NKJV)
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"And to every wild animal, bird in the air and creature crawling on the earth, in which there is a living soul, I am giving as food every kind of green plant.” And that is how it was." -- Genesis 1:30 Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)
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"and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the [a]sky and to every thing that [b]moves on the earth [c]which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.
Footnotes:
Genesis 1:30 Lit heavens
Genesis 1:30 Or creeps
Genesis 1:30 Lit in which is a living soul" -- Genesis 1:30 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
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Now two of them pretty must say that animals have souls. This is not meant to say that you are wrong or the bible that you follow is wrong. Just an example of why answers that rely on bible quotes have very little worth to someone who doesn't 'know' they have the 'correct' bible.
King James Version (not new king james). The newness of it removes it's trueness. They are soulless ( i know it sounds arrogant). Plants need to feed, animals need to feed but for our enrichment. That is what they are for. Let me help you with the KJV:
28: And God blessed them, and God said unto thwm, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth and [b]subdue it: and have domnion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over EVERY LIVING THING THAT MOVETH UPON THE EARTH.
29: And God sais, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; TO YOU IT SHALL BE FOR MEAT.
30: And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every herb for meat: and it was so.
The herbs nourish the beast, and the beast nourish us. They need to feed each other to be useful to us.
Don't go for any bible with new or revised. It needs to explicitly state the point of Christ and God. It doesn't need to be new or revised. No replacements, no sugar coating, nada. That's why KJV not NKJV is recommended. It's old, really old and doesn't replace provocative words with sugar coating. It tells it how it is in the an understandable way but with no coats.
If you compare the first book of the new testament in KJV and RSV, you will notice one big difference.
In RSV, it's "THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW" but in KJV, it's "THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO SAINT MATTHEW". If they can omit that, think about what else they omit or change.
When reading the bible, you need to read the verses before and after a contracting point you found to understand it. You may not immediately understand it, but as you go on and reread that portion, it can become clearer.