Original Sin?

Actually, I believe that animals are pretty much acting on instinct. You can train animals to do amazing things in order to get rewards, attention, care, etc. A dear priest friend of mine used to train Doberman pinchers. I saw him once lay two steaks in front of them and tell them to stay. He left the room and came back and they were drooling all over those steaks but hadn't moved a muscle. It was amazing to see. That took a lot of work and he used to take them to shows and win all kinds of awards. Anyway, I believe animals are always thinking about reward, punishment, reproduction, and survival. I also don't doubt that they experience emotion. I was moved recently by your description of your dog. No doubt you love your dog and your dog really appreciates it and feels you are the best thing ever - you care for him, feed him, pet him, and play with him. This is all great.

My contention is only that we are very different than the rest of all the animals and actually have a responsibility given to us by God who created not only us, but all of nature to care for it. We are higher beings with the possibility to harm animals and our environment (we are pretty good at this, more evidence of sin) or helping animals and our environment. We can uniquely do this in ways every other single animal cannot. We are indeed all connected with a divine responsibility to nurture and care for our earth and the universe. This is why we are better and more important, not because animals are useless and dirty, but because they are part of creation, as are we. We have been endowed with amazing gifts that you squander and cheapen by calling us equal to a cockroach!

Most societies have charities, even the godless
commie ones. Has nothing to do with god.

Yes most I not all societies do, because on a whole human beings reject the survival of the fittest mentality of nature. We are different than the world around us and this has everything to do with God. By the way your post here has nothing to do with my recent post above.

Quote: FrGamble

Yes most I not all societies do, because on a whole human beings reject the survival of the fittest mentality of nature.

1) Nature has no mentality.

2) "Survival of the fittest" is at best a gross misrepresentation of natural selection. Evolution consists mostly in adaptations. This means species range from rabid loners who get together only to procreate (think of male Beta fish, or of Fugu, for examples of these), to very gregarious individuals who come together in complex groups with hierarchies and mutual support (too many to list, but dogs, lions, chimpanzees and humans among others), and with various degrees in between (think of domestic cats).

Quote:

We are different than the world around us and this has everything to do with God.

It has everything to do with having a conceptual faculty in our rational minds. This was true before the Hebrews invented Jehovah or the Christians deified Jesus after his death. Do not confuse the divine, a product, with its cause.

Quote: FrGamble

We have been endowed with amazing gifts that you squander and cheapen by calling us equal to a cockroach!

Saying they are endowed implies there
was an endower. There wasn't. And
you're immense Christian ego prevents
you from seeing what an amazing creature
a cockroach is, and what his talents are.
You, like all Christians, see the world thru
the prism of me me me. Every thing in
the world revolves around meeeee.....

It doesn't, not even the tiniest part of it.
The lowly cockroach is every bit at the
center of the universe, just like you are.
Once you understand this, you learn to
respect all living things as being just as
important as you are. Just because you're
smarter doesn't mean more important.
The point in life is harmony, not dominance.

Quote: Evenbob

Saying they are endowed implies there
was an endower. There wasn't.

Where does our consciousness come from then? Where does the spark of life originate?

Quote:

And
you're immense Christian ego prevents
you from seeing what an amazing creature
a cockroach is, and what his talents are.
You, like all Christians, see the world thru
the prism of me me me. Every thing in
the world revolves around meeeee.....

No, for Christians it is all about us, the world revolves around us as human beings. We are unique and special in all of creation. I appreciate a cockroach and I think they and all life are pretty amazing, but I don't think they are equal to you or any human being. I might be having a hard time expressing this because it seems so obvious to anyone, whether you are a Christian or not.

Quote:

Once you understand this, you learn to
respect all living things as being just as
important as you are. Just because you're
smarter doesn't mean more important.
The point in life is harmony, not dominance.

Actually the real way to understand what you are saying is to put God in the center of the universe. If we worship the creator of all things you realize that to honor Him we need to respect all of creation and to be in harmony with all life. It seems to me that if I believed the universe never had a beginning and is just mysteriously here without being created and without a purpose it would lead me to not care very much for stuff. How does your love for animals jive with them being like you an accidental mixture of stuff that is here today and gone tomorrow for eternity? Why do you seek harmony with nature if at its essence it is mysterious chaos without a creator or purpose?

Quote: FrGamble

Actually the real way to understand what you are saying is to put God in the center of the universe.

Why put a fake god there, it just adds
an unneeded layer to the universe. It
separates man, causes problems and
even wars. You should get a small dog
and love him and let him go with you
everywhere on your visits. Get a
non shedding hypoallergenic dog
and the people you see will love it.

You will find out that a dog is going
to 'heaven' every bit as much as you
are, so is the cockroach. Maybe the
dog will let you sleep in the big bed
at night, and make you feel loved.

I know you have professed you don't mind idols, but you don't need a fake god, you need the real, living, and true God who is the creator of the universe. Or else your thoughts don't hold together. Why are cockroaches and dogs and soil equally important? Did anything create them? Is there a purpose to their existence? Is there any consequence if I destroy them? Where does this mysterious spark of life come from? How do I know that the trees spark of life is not inferior to my own? Is there anything that unites all of creation together, with which I can obtain harmony with? Maybe you can answer these questions without a creator God, but you sure haven't so far.

Quote: FrGamble

Why are cockroaches and dogs and soil equally important?

Because the universe has no purpose, except
to exist. It's us who create the purpose, not
the other way around. We create our reality,
it's not created for us. We don't live in a
supernatural universe, we live in a natural one.
The universe doesn't play favorites, how could
it. The universe is us and we are it, and it is
everything. The Bible has it half right. We reap
what we sow, but not for the reasons it gives.
We reap what we sow and it ends there. If you
can't see that in your daily life, you aren't paying
attention.

If the universe has no purpose, shows no favorites, and simply exists why are we talking about finding harmony with nature, respecting animals, and reaping what you sow? Isn't all of that your own projections on a meaningless and uncaring universe?