God's Covenant with Animals: A Biblical Basis for the Humane Treatment of All Creatures

By J.R. Hyland

Book Overview

From Genesis to Christ, the Bible testifies to God's love and concern for animals. The same self-centeredness that led to the violence and abuse that has marked human relations also caused the abuse... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1930051158
• ISBN13: 9781930051157
• Release Date: June 2000
• Publisher: Lantern Publishing & Media
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.54 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A thorough review

This book is a thorough review of animal themes within the Bible, including the Old Testament prophets' critique of animal sacrifice. "The prophets taught that God's blessings would abound only in a world where human beings rejected violence and `no longer taught war,'" Hyland writes. "But the journey toward that peaceable kingdom demanded that the sacrifice of animals stop."

Still Christian Enough

This book is one of the best explanations of scripture I have ever read. I am a Christian and yes, like the author of the library review see Pastor Hyland as struggling with Jesus sacrifical death. I still feel that her book maintains intense integrity and know that God only knows her heart. Gail Leavitt

How God Teaches Us

It is such a relief to know that at least a few other human beings are tuned into to God's will for his creatures. All of his creatures, and not just the human ones. Strong biblical arguments against the human exploitation of animals.

The health of the planet and its inhabitants are at stake!

People who have obtained their opinions from the Bible have told me such things as, "Animals were put on the earth for humans to use," or "Animal don't have souls, and they don't go to heaven." It is refreshing to read Reverend J. R. Hyland's positive, well-researched book about God's love, respect and concern for animals and how they should be treated. Reverend Hyland sheds light on such atrocities as animal sacrifices and animal slaughter and how God did not want these sacrifices and meant for all animals, both nonhuman and human, to be vegetarians. He claims that carnivorous eating is in direct contradiction to the Bible. "God said unto them...have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, `Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.' (Gen. 1:28-29) "The restriction to a vegetarian diet as the only legitimate form of food was the standard to which all of earth's creatures had been held from the beginning of time. But during the millennia that had passed since then, human beings had become conditioned-and adapted-to a much lower form of life. Noah and his family, like the people among whom they lived, had become carnivorous." Reverend Hyland also shows how humans have altered the meaning of parts of the Bible. For example, he explains that "the Book of Genesis plainly states that animals, like humans, were created as nefesh chaya: living souls. (Gen. 1:21,30) Scholars have obscured this fact by translating the same words differently. When applied to Adam, nefesh chaya reads "living soul." (Gen. 2:7) But when the same term is used about animals it is translated as "living creature." (Gen. 2:19) He goes on to explain that even though there is no biblical basis for their belief many people use the excuse that animals do not have souls to condone "the most sadistic and cruel treatment of sentient beings." This is an informative book illustrating that nonhuman animals are not to be exploited, abused, and killed, but treated with respect, compassion, and kindness. Hopefully, our species will heed Reverend Ryland's wise and humane warnings-and soon! -Reviewed by N. Glenn Perrett

God's Covenant With Animals

For any Christian, God's Covenant with Animals will open passages of the Bible in new ways. Particularly striking (and somewhat disturbing) is the overview of animal sacrifice in the Old Testament and how the ripples of that terror reach us today. For anyone interested in the well being of animals, but not belonging to the Christian faith, this work will still give insight into Western thinking and philosophy on the role and treatment of animals. Ultimately, after reading God's Covenant with the Animals, no one will be able to deny that what affects any part of creation, affects the rest. The interconnectedness of life, all life, is sacred.