Jesus made it clear that His mission was to serve all sentient beings rather than to enslave them. "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve," Jesus emphasized in Luke 22:24-27 ESV. To say the least, the kind of "dominion" that God in Genesis 1:28 gave Adam and Eve over the other animals is neither dictatorship nor despotism but stewardship for immediately afterwards (Gen. 1:19), God prescribed a vegetarian diet for human beings (cf. Linzey 1995:34). In Jesus' interpretation, "dominion" is not only stwardship but "servanthood" (cf. Linzey 1995:45, 57) .
Jesus Cared for "the Least" of All
Jesus cared for "the least of these" (Matthew 25:40). "The least" of all in the modern world is of course non-human animals, trillions of whom are tortured, raped, exploited, and devoured by humans every year. Jesus asked us to "love thy neighbour as thyself" (Mark 12:31 KJV). The animals are for sure our neighbors both physically and metaphysically (Chen 2022b). We share the same land and a soul (nephesh chayyah as in Genesis 1:30) (Chen 2022a).
Jesus even died for the cause of animal liberation.
In kicking out from the HolyTemple vendors who sold innocent animals to be slaughtered and sacrificed there, Jesus offended the big bosses behind them -- the Pharisees and law teachers, who then delivered Him to the Romans for crucifixion in revenge (Akers 2000).
Christ's Redemption Plan Embraces All Living Beings
God and/or Christ's redemption scheme includes non-human animals. "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together" (Isaiah 11:6 KJV) ; the glorified city of Jerusalem “will be like villages without walls because of the multitude of people and animals in it” (Zechariah 2:4); the transformation of the groaning creation (Romans 8:17-22) involves the liberation of both righteous believers and all creatures by Christ; the New Jerusalem is on a new earth where "all things" will be made "new" by Christ (Revelation 21:5 ESV). "And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”" (Revelation 5:13 ESV).
(As for whether Jesus ate lamb at Passover, whether He ate fish upon resurrection to prove He's not a ghost, whether He did distribute fish to a crowd of 5000 in the miracle of five loaves and two fish, please refer to Chen 2022b.)
Thus, if you really love God and believe in Christ, why not go vegan, starting from this Easter?
Original article link: https://www.hkbnews.net/post/jesus-came-to-serve-both-human-and-non-human-animals-go-vegan-by-chapman-chen-hkbnews Amen!
References
Akers, Keith (2000). The Lost Religion of Jesus. Lagos: Lantern Books.
Antipas (2014). "The Bible Meaning of Soul". Antipas.org, 24 Nov. (http://www.antipas.org/books/soul/soul_2b.html).
Chen, Chapman (2022a). "Animals Have a Soul (Nephesh) and a Spirit (Ruach). Go Vegan!" HKBNews, 12 Apr. (https://www.hkbnews.net/post/animals-have-a-soul-nephesh-and-a-spirit-ruach-go-vegan-by-chapman-chen-hkbnews)
Chen, Chapman (2022b). "Jesus did NOT Eat Meat. God Vegan!" HKBNews, 15 Mar. (https://www.hkbnews.net/post/jesus-did-not-eat-meat-go-vegan-by-chapman-chen-hkbnews)
Clough, David L. (2011). On Animals, Volume I: Systematic Theology. London: T&T Clark.
Dixon, Brad (2018). " Jesus - Kick Arse animal rights activist?" Everfit, Apr. 11. (https://www.everfit.co.nz/articles/jesus-kick-arse-animal-rights-activist)
Linzey, Andrew (1994). Animal Theology. Champaign: University of Illinois Press.