Conclusion

God gave us dominion over animals. But sovereignty and control do not imply thoughtless use and abuse. Many people, in good conscience, exercise the choice of eating animals caught or raised for that purpose. My conviction is that there is a crucial difference between animals considered ?food? animals and those considered ?companion? animals. While our peasant or pioneer ancestors may have kept a cow for milking and ultimately, when Bessie or Duchess waxed too old to be a valued producer, she ended up on the dinner table, those people generally had fewer choices about what to eat than do 21st-century Americans.

The argument that humans need to eat animal products does not hold either Biblically or an evolutionarily. As we have seen, humans did not eat animals until after the Flood?perhaps 1,000 years. If the Bible is to be taken literally, people in those days typically lived for hundreds of years. And if humans did in fact descend from other primates, we are not meat-eaters, because humans are not equipped with either the teeth and jaw structure or the digestive system of meat-eating species. People eat meat for one of two reasons?they have nothing else to eat, or they simply want to.

The alternative argument that a horse that has outlived its usefulness ?might as well? be eaten doesn?t work, either. Beloved pets are given respectful burials, not unlike humans, except in the rare cases where the alternative is starvation. (Every student has heard of the Donner Party.)

?We?ve brought the anger of Aslan on us.? That pretty much summarizes the idea of using companion animals for food.

About The Author

Lisa J. Lehr is a freelance writer with a specialty in business and marketing communications. She holds a biology degree and has worked in a variety of fields, including the pharmaceutical industry and teaching, and has a particular interest in both animals and Biblical tradition. She is also a graduate of American Writers and Artists Institute (AWAI), America?s leading course on copywriting. Contact Lisa J. Lehr Copywriting www.ljlcopywriting.com, Lisa@ljlcopywriting.com for help with your business writing needs.

This article ©Lisa J. Lehr 2005.