An Inconvenient Truth: What the Bible Says about God’s Way with the Animals

Abstract

At first sight, the philosophical concept of a God characterized by omnipotence, omniscience, and benevolence is incompatible with a creation in which animals suffer. One possible way out is to assume that to God different moral standards apply than to humans. Whether this really offers a solution is the subject of much debate in which the ideas about God’s character determine one’s position. The grounds on which the authors participating in this discussion determine their thoughts about the character of God are rarely made explicit. In this article I discuss what the Bible says about God’s ways to the animals and what that could mean for our ideas about his moral character. Do the same moral principles apply to him as to us, or are they different? The answer to this question appears to depend on the status we assign to the animals.