Human Exceptionalism

This post is not for the young or the faint of heart. If you do not care to read about bestiality and its consequences, read no further. (It's also rather long.)

I recently read this article by Wesley J. Smith from The Daily Standard and was sickened for many reasons. First, it is extremely difficult for me to grasp that there are people out there who seem to care more about the health and welfare of animals than about the fact that a man died from the act of bestiality. Some will say he died doing something to which he consented. So if he consents, we don't care? How is this different from, say, assisted suicide? It's that infamous slippery slope. How can anyone not care that a human being died? Granted, the article does not specifically say that animal rights activists or liberal media persons don't care that someone died, but the very attitude taken by them would indicate that concept to me. Mr. Smith stated in his article, "[T]he animal liberation movement claims that it is the ability to feel pain, rather than humanhood, which bestows equal moral value." Wha?!? How can an "ability to feel" bestow anything, let alone moral value? Let alone equal moral value? Let alone good moral value? I'm thinking that it is supposed to be "Whoever or Whatever has the ability to feel pain bestows moral value, whether equal and good or unequal and bad (or any variation thereof)," but neither the author of the article nor the activists just come out and say that. This notion of no moral right and wrong other than what makes YOU feel the best makes ME feel ill. Apparently because the man who commits bestiality and dies from it feels good about it or pain from it causes it to have moral value. It is sickening - not just the man's act and his death, but the lack of respect for God and his creation; it is God who bestows moral value.

"Speciesism," or discrimination against animals, has been in place since practically the beginning of time, as a command by God for man to "have dominion" over animals in Genesis 1:26. By this, I emphatically do not mean sexual dominion (that is addressed in the Bible as an act of abomination), but rather dominion over animals as sources of food, labor and the like.

It is rather curious to me that such advocates of "speciesism," some of whom must also advocate evolution, seem so intent on taking us in kind of a backwards evolutionary cycle - or maybe that is what evolution really has been all along, and I just never saw it that way before now. Rather than "evolve" from beast to man, the "evolution" cycle is just that - a cycle which will take man back to level of beast. I must think so if, as animal rights advocates say, ability to feel pain = moral value. Either that or evolution really cannot be true because we never "evolved" past what an animal is since they feel pain as well. Sure we can talk and walk on two legs and have opposable thumbs, but who cares since we're all morally equivalent? Curious, is it not? I guess what I'm saying is I never realized that what animal rights activists call "evolution" is really not what I was thinking it to be all these years (not that I thought all that much of it to begin with, mind you). I am assuming a lot by thinking these ideas, but does it not seem logical if one is to use such a premise as to feel pain = moral value?

As Mr. Smith continues, "[S]uch degrading conduct unacceptably subverts standards of basic human dignity and is an affront to humankind's inestimable importance and intrinsic moral worth...It is our exalted moral status that both bestows special rights upon us and imposes unique and solemn moral responsibilities--including the human duty not to abuse animals." In other words, it is God who created us, and not we ourselves. Man has been created in His image (Genesis 1:27); animals were not created in God's own image. By creating people and animals the way He did, God decided how the moral value system would work and to this standard, people and animals must adhere.

John Piper, in a sermon entitled God's Design for History: The Glory of His Mercy from March of 2004, preached on God's shocking design of history "to maximize the display of his mercy and to shut the mouth of all human boasting" from Romans 11:28-32. He put it like this:

And let me pause here to say that this sort of truth - this shocking vision of ultimate reality - is really relevant to your daily life, if you will see it and feel it for what it really is. Take sex for example...The assumption is this: One of the main reasons that the world and the church are awash in lust and pornography (by men and women - 30% of internet pornography is now viewed by women), fornication, adultery, masturbation, exhibitionism, homosexuality,
bestiality, rape, and endless sexual innuendo in all media - one of the reasons we are awash in all this is that our lives are intellectually and emotionally disconnected from infinite, soul-staggering grandeur. Inside and outside the church we are drowning in a sea of triviality, pettiness, banality, and silliness. Television is trivial. Radio is trivial. Conversation is trivial.
Education is trivial. Christian books are trivial. Worship styles are trivial. It is inevitable that the human heart, which was made to be staggered with terrifyingly joyous dread and peace by an infinitely untouchable, embracing God - it is inevitable that such a heart, drowning in the all-pervasive, blurry boredom of banal entertainment, will reach for the best buzz that life can give: sex. [Emphasis added.]

I would venture to add that mankind is now openly trivializing sex, and thereby trivializing mankind itself. What should be viewed as a natural activity God designed to be performed within the confines of marriage is now trivialized by bestiality. By reaching out for what is unnatural - in this case, bestiality - mankind is actually trivializing mankind. This concept is not new, but it is devastating to our morality to see it so prevalent in society.

In another sermon from a Fall 2004 conference on the subject, Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, Part 1, Piper further states God's design and man's misuse of sexuality:

[A]ll misuses of our sexuality (adultery, fornication, illicit fantasies, masturbation, pornography, homosexual behavior, rape, sexual child abuse, bestiality, exhibitionism, and so on) distort the true knowledge of God. God means for human sexual life to be a pointer and foretaste of our relationship with him. [Emphasis added.]

Piper had two points to make in this message: "The first is that sexuality is designed by God as a way to know God in Christ more fully. And the second is that knowing God in Christ more fully is designed as a way of guarding and guiding our sexuality." Or, put negatively, "[I]n the first place all misuses of our sexuality distort the true knowledge of Christ. And, in the second place, all misuses of our sexuality derive from not having the true knowledge of Christ."

If we do not have true knowledge of Christ, not only do we misuse sex, we have no sense of moral value or compass as individual human beings and we trivialize the things surrounding us, including sex, including ourselves. It is then that we become "animals" in a vicious cycle of evolution. How dare we have such pride? If we have true knowledge of Christ we cannot think that we are above God and proudly misuse whatever we will in whichever way we wish. We must put off "the bestiality of pride": "When man tries to become like God he becomes like an animal. Pride puts man in a class with the beasts of the field. That's the point of Nebuchandnezzar's insanity." It is our pride that unhinges the moral compass God created for us and instead inserts something like "to feel pain = moral value". Shouldn't it instead be something like "God's pain = our moral compass," because those things from which God feels pain (bestiality, abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide and a host of other immoralities) is from what we should also feel pain?

There is hope, however. In "God's Design for History," Piper stated,

Romans 11:30-32 is the summary of the main point of this chapter, namely, that God has designed and guided history - both its disobedience and its obedience - so that in the end it will most fully display the reliability of his promises and the magnificence of his mercy—to prevent human pride and produce white-hot worship. Verse 29: 'The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.' In other words, the gifts and callings by which he completes his plans in history are infallible. God designs and guides history irrevocably.

God guides history; it is He who is in control, who created us in His image and bestowed moral value according to His perfect plan. Bestiality is not currently illegal in the state of Washington. In light of the moral ramifications and the risks of serious injury and death, I do hope that lawmakers in Washington state are able to pass legislation against bestiality, and that those who are enabling others to participate in such a despicable, dehumanizing act are held liable for the deaths - both physical and moral - caused by their actions.

Congratulations (or condolences, maybe?) for making it through this post. It's pretty long and rambling (hey - that is the name of my blog, you know), and I'm still not even sure it's what I want to say, even with a couple revisions. Feel free to add your two cents by commenting.