It has always bugged me since I was a small child - are animals just instinctive automatons which are soulless and therefore worthless and thus easily used and killed?
Some verses which deal with this question are as follows :
1 Cor 15:35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? 36 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: 37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: 38 But YHUH giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. 39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. 40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
There is a twinkle of hope in there somewhere I feel.
Animals were put here on earth for us to have dominion over but we have not done a very good job of managing Creation around us, as, in the Bible it states :
Romans 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
Animals have a purpose in YHUH's creation - He notes when a sparrow falls, He instructs us to let the animals rest on Sabbath just as we do, all of Creation sings to the Creator, and animals have been used in many ways by God to help us, such as Balaam's talking donkey and the dog who licked Lazarus's sores to comfort him. Animals should not be treated as worthless but should be recognized more as YHUH's creations created for specific purposes, each with its own glory, even if it meant being used as a perfect unblemished sacrifice to YHUH.
A point to remember - YHUH's judgement falls on those who abuse Creation :
Rev 11:18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
Read this article for more insight:
