The other day a letter of mine was inserted in one of our local papers, denying the assertion of a socialist lecturer, that man is an animal; and now I see it again asserted in paragraph 6, article by J. H. Kellogg, M.D., July 18th. Will you kindly inform us in your next issue if you approve of this teaching generally believed by all sorts of unbelievers as well as medical men?
We must pay no attention to what somebody else believes or does not believe, but simply ask, "What is truth?"
Many people are frightened away from a truth, because it is believed by somebody who is reputed to be an unbeliever, and who may indeed he skeptical about many things. We must not refuse to eat, drink, breathe, and sleep, because infidels do those things. If a thing is wrong or untrue, it is so because it is not in harmony with God's Word, and not because a wicked or unbelieving person does or believes it.
Let us therefore have a brief study of what the Scriptures teach about man, and that will be far better than to compare the beliefs of different classes of men. The weakness and the greatness of man are set forth in the following texts: "God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them." (Genesis 1:26-27) "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2:7) "When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have ordained; What is man, that You are mindful of him, or the son of man, that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than God [literal Hebrew],and have crowned him with glory and honor. You made him to have dominion over the works of your hands; You have put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passes through the paths of the sea." (Psalm 8:3-8) "Behold, You have made my days as a hand-breadth; and my age is as nothing before You; verily, every man at his best state is altogether vanity." (Psalm 31:5) "He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone." (Psalm 103:14-16) "All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field; The grass withers, the flower fades; because the Spirit of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people is grass." (Isaiah 40:6-7) "The earth is full of your riches. So to this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. ... These wait all upon You; that You may give them their meat in due season. That You give them, they gather; You open your hand, they arefilled with good. You hide your face, they are troubled; You take away their breath, they die, and return to their dust. You send forth your Spirit, they are created: and You renew theface of the earth." (Psalm 104:24-25,27-30) "Cease from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?" (Isaiah 2:22)
What then is man? He is "dust and ashes;" animated clay, made from the very same ground that all other living creatures on earth are made, and breathing the same breath that they breathe; yet made to have dominion over them all, because he alone of all living creatures is made in the image of God.
Man was made to share with God the dominion of the universe, yet he was not made to be God, and can never become God. His power is not inherent in himself, but God alone is his strength. The man who knows this, and who makes the Lord his trust, acknowledging that in comparison with God he is nothing, yea, less than nothing, and vanity, is elevated to a position of dominion and authority with God, and is in the place of God to all the creatures that were formed on this earth before he was; but, on the other hand, "Man that is in honor and understands not, is like the beasts that perish." (Psalm 49:20)
Now what is an animal? It is a creature that has anima, or breath. The primary meaning of the Latin word anima is, "that which blows, or breathes." It is a living creature having the breath of life, as distinguished from plants.
Man, therefore, is most certainly an animal, although designed to be far above all other animals--their lord and master; but when he loses sight of his high calling, by forgetting how frail he is, and his absolute dependence on God, he loses his dominion, and comes at last to be on a level with other animals, and even below them.
There is a mistaken idea that "animal" and "brute" are the same. All brutes are animals, but all animals are not brutes. Do you not remember the description which John gives of God's throne: "In the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts, full of eyes, before and behind." (Revelation 4:6)
This is an unfortunate translation, it is true, for "living creatures" is far better; but it shows that we need not be afraid of applying the term "animal" to man, when it is used even of the beings that help to compose God's throne.
Man is the crown of God's creation, God created him, that he might be the highest and most perfect expression of Divine power. But God's power is made perfect in weakness, and that shows that man is nothing of himself. Whatever is attributed to man, as inherent in him, is so much detracted from God.
So many people have a horror of the term "conditional immortality," not recognizing that it simply means that man has no life except in Christ. Our boast is not in what are, but in what the Lord by His loving power can make of us. "He raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy out of the dunghill; That He may set him with princes, even the princes of His people." (Psalm 113:7-8)--Present Truth, September 26, 1901.