God, Animals, And Nature

[altersteve]

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. What do you think is the role that nature and animals play in God's plan? I have always felt the Spirit the strongest when I am outside, on a mountain, and with pets and young children. Obviously, animals seemed to be on the Savior's mind a lot since He seemed to be talking about them quite a bit: comparing Himself to animals (Lamb of God, Lion of Judah, etc.), using them in His parables and metaphors, and so on. Do you believe that when Christ atoned for the sins of the world, He redeemed animals and plants as well? John 3:16 says that "God so loved the world"—notice how it does not say "mankind," but "the world." Do animals and plants fall under this category?

[DH]

God pronounced them good after creating them. I believe that God does love plants, animals, and nature in general. There are even provisions in the Bible for not being cruel to animals. Joseph Smith had the First Vision in a grove of trees, and many of our temples feature floral and treelike decorations, not to mention the great care that goes into maintaining the grounds.

The earth and its resources are there for us to use, but not abuse. And I believe God created the earth not only for our use, but also to be used by the other creatures that inhabit it, and that those creatures have a certain value in themselves, not just for how they can be used by us.

Like you, I often feel great spiritual feelings when out in nature. In fact, for me there's no place more reliable for that!

[alter idem]

I think if you read the story of the creation it is clear that Animals, plants, this world are all as valued by our Father in Heaven as we are. They are all part of his creations and they fill the measure of their creation and add glory to him--just as we do.

I cannot imagine an eternal existence of joy without the beauties of this world and the animals which inhabit it.

[bluebell]

Likewise, in the temple, we learn that the animals are also created that they might have joy.

I very much believe that God cares about animals and nature and that we will be judged on how we treat such creations.

[rameumptom]

Evil men, such as Nimrod of old, are described as to how they deal with nature. Joseph Smith taught of such people, "Before them was a paradise, and behind them a desolate wilderness."

We definitely need to be excellent keepers of the nature God has given us. That said, we need to ensure that our efforts are effective and efficient, as well as based on good science. It doesn't do any good to save one little species, if we end up destroying an ecosystem to do it.

[Doug the Hutt]

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. What do you think is the role that nature and animals play in God's plan? I have always felt the Spirit the strongest when I am outside, on a mountain, and with pets and young children. Obviously, animals seemed to be on the Savior's mind a lot since He seemed to be talking about them quite a bit: comparing Himself to animals (Lamb of God, Lion of Judah, etc.), using them in His parables and metaphors, and so on. Do you believe that when Christ atoned for the sins of the world, He redeemed animals and plants as well? John 3:16 says that "God so loved the world"—notice how it does not say "mankind," but "the world." Do animals and plants fall under this category?

You know, until today I've never considered the fallen state of Brussel sprouts, or of fluffy, cuddly kittie cats like Mr. Bigglesworth. I think the Savior comparing himself to lambs & lions was more for rhetorical effect than anything else.

My TBM mind doesn't think plants or animals or rocks or amoeba can sin, though spiders get the death penalty when they trespass my secret lair. D&C 77 talks about the state of beasts. http://lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/77?lang=eng

My faithless Skeptic mind doesn't believe in a literal Adam, Eve or a talking snake named "Stan", therefore doesn't believe in a literal fall from paradise as taught, doesn't believe that physical death entered the world after eating from a tree, and is still formulating whether an atonement is even necessary given the non-literal premise.

[Magyar]

Hate to cast a wet blanket, but my faith is weakest when I contemplate animal life. On the one hand, the astounding variety and beauty of animal life seems to call for a Creator. On the other hand, animals spend their short lives either killing or being killed, starving, freezing, fleeing, or in hiding, when they are not dying from parasites and disease. From the agility of a tiger to the bright colors of a Monarch, that which we call beauty is simply strategy for survival in a cruel, pitiless universe.

Millions of people, including most of the aboriginal inhabitants of the New World, have died from smallpox. A few centuries later, mankind eradicated it. What pointless suffering and cultural holocaust could have been avoided if this vicious disease organism had simply not been created in the first place.

[blackstrap]

What will we do when MANKIND has eradicated all forms of death? Nature provides a way to keep any species from overwhelming its environment. We are rapidly approaching our own limit.

In my own area I have watched as man has interfered with the web of life by eliminating a predator or introducing an alien species.Nature corrects in effective but cruel ways,usually starvation,such imbalances.

[thesometimesaint]

I don't know as plants and animals will be Resurrected. However I do believe they are meant to fill the measure of their creation, and that we will be judged on our treatment of them.

[alter idem]

Hate to cast a wet blanket, but my faith is weakest when I contemplate animal life. On the one hand, the astounding variety and beauty of animal life seems to call for a Creator. On the other hand, animals spend their short lives either killing or being killed, starving, freezing, fleeing, or in hiding, when they are not dying from parasites and disease. From the agility of a tiger to the bright colors of a Monarch, that which we call beauty is simply strategy for survival in a cruel, pitiless universe.

Millions of people, including most of the aboriginal inhabitants of the New World, have died from smallpox. A few centuries later, mankind eradicated it. What pointless suffering and cultural holocaust could have been avoided if this vicious disease organism had simply not been created in the first place.

Yet, this is the world we live in, so I guess this is the world that God wanted us to experience. I look forward to having a full understanding of the mind of God one day.

To me it is an incredible world and I acknowledge and trust God that the negative aspects of life were and are necessary--and thankfully very short in the eternal scheme of things.

[Questing Beast]

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. What do you think is the role that nature and animals play in God's plan? I have always felt the Spirit the strongest when I am outside, on a mountain, and with pets and young children. Obviously, animals seemed to be on the Savior's mind a lot since He seemed to be talking about them quite a bit: comparing Himself to animals (Lamb of God, Lion of Judah, etc.), using them in His parables and metaphors, and so on. Do you believe that when Christ atoned for the sins of the world, He redeemed animals and plants as well? John 3:16 says that "God so loved the world"—notice how it does not say "mankind," but "the world." Do animals and plants fall under this category?

"The World" is Existence In Total. For us it is the perceivable universe. But to "God" the world is everything.

Animals don't require redemption. I am quite confident in asserting this. They do not possess the full range of free will. Instinct is always taking over in situations that are beyond the animal's control. There is no apparent reasoning power to make decisions in other animals. No sapience, only sentience. So, no law and therefore no sin to be redeemed from. Animals are the "soul" of innocence, living according to "the measure of their creation" and therefore joyful - as long as we humans do not interfere, which we do; e.g. the manipulation of animals for our food is surely a great evil: any animal, no matter how humble in intellect, deserves to live as long is we allow it, in an environment of natural beauty and fulfillment. For instance, I am disturbed by the sight of endless rows of chickens stuffed into stainless steel cages, from floor to ceiling, laying eggs or awaiting butchery. Or calves fed hormones to hasten their growth; kept inside, never seeing a field or the light of day, then being slaughtered as soon as they reach the desired weight, etc. Animals should be allowed their natural environment: chickens should peck in a dusty yard; calves should grow up in a grassy field, etc. Is this asking too much? Apparently so. Enlightenment is required, that's for sure. Too many people do not appreciate how exquisitely horrible sentience is. Animals know joy, therefore they know misery too.

Plants? Not so much. But the world as a whole, surely is a living thing. The health, the fecundity or sterility and pollution, of its surface, of its combined life, is a state of existence that is "sensed"; if not by the planet itself (please do not quote Moses 7:48 to me), then surely by Existence In The First Place, which Caused Earth to be by natural means. To abuse anything in nature is a crime. To determine what is abuse and what is stewardship is only for us to know. The plants and animals do not "go there"....

[thesometimesaint]

Questing Beast:

I'll agree to an extent. Chickens don't do so well in the wild either, but I don't believe in mistreating them either. If we're going to eat them. We should treat them humanely, and kill them quickley with the least suffering possible. The same can be said of any other domesticated animal.

[bluebell]

Questing Beast:

I'll agree to an extent. Chickens don't do so well in the wild either, but I don't believe in mistreating them either. If we're going to eat them. We should treat them humanely, and kill them quickley with the least suffering possible. The same can be said of any other domesticated animal.

I agree.

I believe that part of an animals 'measure of creation' that they are meant to fill is being a part of the food chain, including being eaten by humans.

I believe that we still need to treat them with respect and care, regardless.

[altersteve]

Animals don't require redemption.

Neither do young children, but that is because of the fact that they have been already redeemed by the blood of Christ. That's what I meant.

[Doctor Ninja]

I am quite confident in asserting this.

The plants and animals do not "go there"....

Thank you for that.

Unless of course you reject Joseph Smith and other prophets while having a limited understanding of the Fall, the Atonement and the Temple: all of God's creations are redeemed and resurrected for the Atonement covers all of God's creation, including the kingdom plantae.

“Says one, ‘I cannot believe in the salvation of beasts.’ Any man who would tell you this could not be, would tell you that the revelations are not true. John heard the words of the beast giving glory to God, and understood them. God who made the beasts could understand every language spoken by them. The beasts were four of the most noble animals that filled the measure of their creation, and had been saved from other worlds, because they were perfect. They were like angels in their sphere. We are not told where they came from, and I do not know; but they were seen and heard by John praising and glorifying God.” (DHC,vol. 5, pp. 343–44.)

“So we see that the Lord intends to save, not only the earth and the heavens, not only man who dwells upon the earth, but all things which he has created. The animals, the fishes of the sea, the fowls of the air, as well as man, are to be recreated, or renewed, through the resurrection, for they too are living souls.” (Joseph Fielding Smith. Conference Report, October 1928, p. 100.)

[Nathair/|\]

I have written on this topic before and when I get home, I will dig out some quotations from general authorities. For now, I would like to share one thought. I believe that since virtually everything we eat, wear, use involves taking something from a living being and often killing something, we owe it to them to use the harvest with respect and thanksgiving. I believe that an important and often overlooked way to do so is to prepare it in a manner that is aesthetically pleasing as possible.

The film, The Life in the Bear, shows how the Koyukon of Alaska treat the bears they hunt. First, they credit their success as hunters less to their own skill than to the bear's own willingness to be eaten. Therefore they never boast lest they offend the bear. Second, they always tie the bear's forepaws to a tree. They have an oral history of how Bear told the first hunter to do this. Women never say the name of the bear. They have a bear feast with much ceremony and thanksgiving. They treat the remains of the bear the same way they treat their own dead.

[zerinus]

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. What do you think is the role that nature and animals play in God's plan? I have always felt the Spirit the strongest when I am outside, on a mountain, and with pets and young children. Obviously, animals seemed to be on the Savior's mind a lot since He seemed to be talking about them quite a bit: comparing Himself to animals (Lamb of God, Lion of Judah, etc.), using them in His parables and metaphors, and so on. Do you believe that when Christ atoned for the sins of the world, He redeemed animals and plants as well? John 3:16 says that "God so loved the world"—notice how it does not say "mankind," but "the world." Do animals and plants fall under this category?

Yes, Joseph Smith taught that the animal kingdom will be resurrected along with the earth and mankind; therefore salvation (through the Atonement of Christ) extends to the animal kingdom as well. Here are some quotes:

D&C 76

:

43 Who glorifies the Father, and saves

all the works of his hands,

except those sons of perdition who deny the Son after the Father has revealed him.

D&C 77

:

Q. What are we to understand by the four beasts, spoken of in the same verse?

A. They are figurative expressions, used by the Revelator, John, in describing heaven, the paradise of God, the happiness of man,

and of beasts, and of creeping things, and of the fowls of the air;

that which is spiritual being in the likeness of that which is temporal; and that which is temporal in the likeness of that which is spiritual; the spirit of man in the likeness of his person,

as also the spirit of the beast, and every other creature which God has created

.

Q. Are the four beasts limited to individual beasts, or do they represent classes or orders?

A. They are limited to four individual beasts, which were shown to John, to represent the glory of the

classes of beings in their destined order or sphere of creation, in the enjoyment of their

eternal felicity

.

[thesometimesaint]

Doctor Ninja:

I don't know that plants and animals will be Resurrected. Unless every single species has a whole planet of their own. IE; If all amoebas were to be Resurrected it would take many earth sized planets just for the space needed.

[bluebell]

Doctor Ninja:

I don't know that plants and animals will be Resurrected. Unless every single species has a whole planet of their own. IE; If all amoebas were to be Resurrected it would take many earth sized planets just for the space needed.

The scriptures seem to imply that all of God's creations (ie-'every one') will live eternally. Exactly how that will work logistically? It is a quandry.

[thesometimesaint]

bluebell:

I don't know as it is even implied in the Scripture. Man, and his connection to God, is the thrust of the Scriptures, as far as I can tell.

I don't have a problem with my kitty cats being Resurrected. I just don't know where the cut off would be. Would a pet lizard qualify, but not one in the wild. How about a sea sponge?

I personally don't care to meet a T-Rex even if it is a friendly purple one like Barney.

[bluebell]

bluebell:

I don't know as it is even implied in the Scripture. Man, and his connection to God, is the thrust of the Scriptures, as far as I can tell.

I don't have a problem with my kitty cats being Resurrected. I just don't know where the cut off would be. Would a pet lizard qualify, but not one in the wild. How about a sea sponge?

I personally don't care to meet a T-Rex even if it is a friendly purple one like Barney.

I think D&C 76 and 77 imply it (and another poster has already quoted the relevant parts so i won't do it again) but i admit that i don't understand how every ant that's ever lived on the earth over a few million/billion years is going to end up all resurrected in the Celestial kingdom and it not be a problem.

Maybe ants and the sort are reincarnated so that the actual number of spirits in question is actually quite managable....

[thesometimesaint]

bluebell:

I don't know either. We'll just have to WAFO.

[KevinG]

I have a problem with a compassionate all knowing God filling the earth with mosquitoes. Then again who am I to comprehend the mind of God?

[alter idem]

bluebell:

I don't know as it is even implied in the Scripture. Man, and his connection to God, is the thrust of the Scriptures, as far as I can tell.

I don't have a problem with my kitty cats being Resurrected. I just don't know where the cut off would be. Would a pet lizard qualify, but not one in the wild. How about a sea sponge?

I personally don't care to meet a T-Rex even if it is a friendly purple one like Barney.

Are you dissing the Creator's creations??!!

Seriously though, I think everything that Heavenly Father has created is valuable to him--all have a purpose though we may not understand it, and if everything single human being will be resurrected, no matter how utterly useless or evil they are, I think all animals, plants etc. will be saved as well.

I thought there was a statement by Joseph Smith about the resurrection of animals, but I can't remember a reference. Maybe someone else has a better memory than me.

[DH]

I have a problem with a compassionate all knowing God filling the earth with mosquitoes. Then again who am I to comprehend the mind of God?

Either He has a wicked sense of humor, or loves us enough to want to teach us patience...