“There are laws in every state opposing cruelty to animals. I daily read about accounts where they are being enforced. Farmers who mistreat their livestock would not stay in business. Mistreated animals don’t make good breeders or good food.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
If we want to know about human laws we’ll ask a lawyer. Is it sinful to mistreat animals?<\/p>\n
Actually, the mistreatment of animals in endemic to American agriculture. This is why a dairy cow who should have a 10 to 15-year lifespan only lives to 3-4 years of age. It is why most pigs and chickens have to be drugged up in order to stay alive. Of course, this goes beyond animals to the poisoning of our soils, water, and ourselves. And no, they don’t make good food, but the commodity market doesn’t care and most food you find in grocery stores is of poor quality, lacks nutrition, and is unsafe.<\/p>\n\t
Answer:<\/h2>\n
So glad to know that the given answer bothered you. It is not unusual that when no answer can be given against a reasoned response, an attempt is made to discredit the speaker. This is what was done by the rulers against Jesus. “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?<\/em>” (Matthew 21:23). The charge was that American farming is cruel to animals. I merely pointed out that the charge was false both because the United States has laws against cruelty toward animals and because those laws are enforced. I can’t help it if you don’t like the truth.<\/p>\nIn regards to the biblical teaching on cruelty toward animals, God told the Israelites, “A righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel<\/em>” (Proverbs 12:10). Cruelty to animals is not a national or cultural problem; it is one of many symptoms of wickedness. Teach people the ways of God and cruelty will naturally decrease.<\/p>\nThe last paragraph is a list of similar false statements.<\/p>\n
\n- Dairy farmers only keep their cattle while they are productive producers. Since the peak milk production is in the first five years or so of a cow’s life, older cows are sent to the slaughtering house. Milking a cow doesn’t reduce a cow’s lifespan. By the way, the typical lifespan for cattle is 25 years, but since they are raised for food, they are not kept that long.<\/li>\n
- Antibiotics are used to keep animals healthy so that they reach their full and marketable potential as food. It was considered cheaper to over treat animals to avoid the dangers of diseases. It became clear this wasn’t a good idea and it has been scaled back drastically in recent years.<\/li>\n
- Humans, as a rule, are generally concerned about the environment. In the United States, the air, water, and soil are far cleaner than it was 50 or 100 years ago. It is definitely better than most third-world countries.<\/li>\n
- If the American food supply was so unhealthy and unsafe, then why are we living longer both in comparison to the past and to third-world countries?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
It is easy to lay charges, but such broad sweeping generalizations do not tell the truth nor, if there is a problem, help to identify and solve the particular problem. It is merely reviling, which Christians understand to be harmful:<\/p>\n
“If anyone teaches otherwise and does not consent to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which accords with godliness, he is proud, knowing nothing, but is obsessed with disputes and arguments over words, from which come envy, strife, reviling, evil suspicions, useless wranglings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself<\/em>” (I Timothy 6:3-5).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Question: In regards to “What about those farmers who torture their animals?“ “There are laws in every state opposing cruelty to animals. I daily read about accounts where they are being enforced. Farmers who mistreat their livestock would not stay in business. Mistreated animals don’t make good breeders or good food.” If we want to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[242],"class_list":["post-22091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-animal-rights"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":21978,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-about-those-farmers-who-torture-their-animals\/","url_meta":{"origin":22091,"position":0},"title":"What about those farmers who torture their animals?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 9, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What about these awful farms that keep calves anemic and torture them just to offer veal on a menu when we already have meat choices. At one point is it torture? Do you feel God would accept the way we farm today? Is there a list of Christian farmers\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21790,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/dont-big-companies-mistreat-animals\/","url_meta":{"origin":22091,"position":1},"title":"Don’t big companies mistreat animals?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read your article about\u00a0the Bible and animal rights, and I see that it is right on. Anyone with biblical knowledge knows it is. My problem is not with the use of animals for food or leather, etc, but with the unbiblical practices of big agriculture, which unduly confines,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21911,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-can-animals-be-used-for-food-but-not-men\/","url_meta":{"origin":22091,"position":2},"title":"Why can animals be used for food, but not men?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 3, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If\u00a0\"Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs\" according to\u00a0your post on PETA's statement that Jesus did not eat meat - what prevents people from eating each other?\u00a0 I am a vegetarian who eats fish.\u00a0 I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27979,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-god-tell-peter-that-the-unclean-animals-were-clean\/","url_meta":{"origin":22091,"position":3},"title":"Why did God tell Peter that the unclean animals were clean?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I was wondering about something from the Bible: In Acts 10 when Peter is on a flat roof praying and then in a trance, he sees a sheet let down by its four corners from the sky, and then God tells Peter to get up, kill them, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23221,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-dont-you-quote-noted-animal-rights-activists\/","url_meta":{"origin":22091,"position":4},"title":"Why don’t you quote noted animal rights activists?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 4, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Upon reading some of the content on your website (admittedly, not the majority, as it's quite voluminous), I focused primarily on the animal rights\u00a0content and the\u00a0Roman Catholic Church\u00a0Demonination\u00a0section. I am curious because, upon doing a search, I couldn't find any listings for Dr. Albert Schweitzer. His \"Reverence for Life\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23429,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/racism-is-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":22091,"position":5},"title":"Racism Is Wrong","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 17, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Racism is wrong. Do you know why? If you say that it is wrong, but do not ultimately know why, then all you are doing is expressing either your own personal preferences or mirroring the preferences of others. That is not acceptable, for preferences are subjective expressions,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/racism-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22091\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}