Is it bad to kill bugs?
Question:
This is probably going to sound like a very strange question, but is it a sin to kill bugs? Normally I try to save all the bugs that I can, even the spiders and transport them outside so they'll be nice and safe and happy. My parents laugh at me because I try so hard to save all the little bugs. But tonight, there was this bug in my room. I thought it was a huge spider, but it turned out to be a giant cricket! It could jump over a span of about two feet long. He was very scary, and I tried to kill it, but it jumped away. I was afraid that if I fell asleep with it in my room, he would crawl into my mouth while I was sleeping. So I waited for it to come out again, and then I killed it. But now I feel bad about killing it. Is it bad that I killed it?
Answer:
Bugs do serve useful purposes in this world, but God also designed them to be prolific so that they become food for animals and so that the species survives even though many are killed accidentally. As useful as they are in the world, they can be annoying when they are in the wrong place. That is why God used insects and small animals to annoy the Egyptians.
- "But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all your territory with frogs. So the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into your house, into your bedroom, on your bed, into the houses of your servants, on your people, into your ovens, and into your kneading bowls. And the frogs shall come up on you, on your people, and on all your servants" (Exodus 8:2-4).
- "So the LORD said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Stretch out your rod, and strike the dust of the land, so that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.'" And they did so. For Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and struck the dust of the earth, and it became lice on man and beast. All the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt" (Exodus 8:16-17).
- "Or else, if you will not let My people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies on you and your servants, on your people and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they stand" (Exodus 8:21).
- "So Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind on the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt and rested on all the territory of Egypt. They were very severe; previously there had been no such locusts as they, nor shall there be such after them. For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they ate every herb of the land and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left. So there remained nothing green on the trees or on the plants of the field throughout all the land of Egypt" (Exodus 10:13-15).
Yet when God was done with annoying the Egyptians, He killed off the excess critters (Exodus 8:13-14; 10:19). God does no wrong, so there can be appropriate times to eliminate creatures that become a problem.
Man was given dominion over God's world (Genesis 1:28). A part of that responsibility is to see that a balance is maintained in nature. Overpopulation by any one creature can cause problems for the creatures as well as others.
A house is not an environment for bugs to live in. It is nice that you try to remove unwanted pests from your house, but there certainly isn't anything wrong with killing a few that are not so easily removed.
