Today at 10:39 PM judy said this in Post #19
Lightbearer, I'm going to copy my questions from the post above yours, since you may have missed it.
Hi Judy, sorry if I missed your point.
The cycle of life and death existed inside of Eden as well as outside. Animals and plants were created naturally to die, only humans had the prospect of living forever. As far as plants are concerned we cannot look upon the death as you call it of a plant the same way as we would an animal and far less than we would a human.
Plants were created for and always considered part of the foodchain from the begining.
God gave plants as food for man and for animals.
Genesis 1:29-30 "And God went on to say: Here I have given to YOU all vegetation bearing seed which is on the surface of the whole earth and every tree on which there is the fruit of a tree bearing seed. To YOU let it serve as food. And to every wild beast of the earth and to every flying creature of the heavens and to everything moving upon the earth in which there is life as a soul I have given all green vegetation for food. And it came to be so".
At this time there is no mention of any meat being allowed for food for Man or animals, just vegetation, fruit, grains and so on.
That God considers Humans far, far above the animal kingdom being made in the image of God and therefore a higher creation is evident from the fact that Adam was given dominion over all the animals and was to carry it out in a responsible way.
Of mans creation, we read:
Gen 1:26 God went on to say: Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and the domestic animals and all the earth and every moving animal that is moving upon the earth. (Sadly today because of sin and the corruption it has brought into the world this is not the case and man exploits them horribly).
God added (after the flood of Noah's day) the eating of animal flesh for food.
Genesis 9:2-7 Every moving animal that is alive may serve as food for YOU. As in the case of green vegetation, I do give it all to YOU. Only flesh with its soulits bloodYOU must not eat. And, besides that, YOUR blood of YOUR souls shall I ask back. From the hand of every living creature shall I ask it back; and from the hand of man, from the hand of each one who is his brother, shall I ask back the soul of man.
Anyone shedding mans blood, by man will his own blood be shed, for in Gods image he made man. And as for YOU men, be fruitful and become many, make the earth swarm with YOU and become many in it.
Yet to shed Man's blood was considered murder and was to be avenged.
Jesus in illustrations showed that God cares about all his creation yet he considers Man in a superior way.
Matthew 6:25-30 On this account I say to YOU: Stop being anxious about YOUR souls as to what YOU will eat or what YOU will drink, or about YOUR bodies as to what YOU will wear. Does not the soul mean more than food and the body than clothing? Observe intently the birds of heaven, because they do not sow seed or reap or gather into storehouses;
still YOUR heavenly Father feeds them. Are YOU not worth more than they are? Who of YOU by being anxious can add one cubit to his life span? Also, on the matter of clothing, why are YOU anxious? Take a lesson from the lilies of the field, how they are growing; they do not toil, nor do they spin; but I say to YOU that not even Sol´o·mon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these.
If, now, God thus clothes the vegetation of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much rather clothe YOU, YOU with little faith?
Matthew 10:29 Do not two sparrows sell for a coin of small value? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground without YOUR Fathers [knowledge]. But the very hairs of YOUR head are all numbered. Therefore have no fear:
YOU are worth more than many sparrows.
Adam was a human
"Son of God" an inteligent creature, therefore he was the crowning glory of God's earthly creation and what everything else was made for. As such he was far superior to all other created things on earth.