“Non-Christians Are Like Animals in spirit”(quote)???

[Yusuphhai]

Yesterday(Sunday) in Beijing China I heard a preaching of a church of Protestantism. The preacher said:”The difference between Christians and Non-Christians is like the difference between Human and Animal.
I was very astonished. And communicated with an Elder of that church about this issue privately. He insisted that the authority of the preaching platform was given by the Holy Spirit and could not be doubted, and also this opinion (“Non-Christians Are Like Animals in spirit”) was from the authority.
I personally think one of the worst tragedy of mankind is that some people think all the others outside their circle as “NOT HUMAN BEING in spirit”.
If you like, anyone can talk about your feelings about this issue.

 

[CrashTestPoster]

Everyone's created in God's image, but there is some scriptural backing for the *comparison* in the book of Ecclesiastes. Just as long as you don't take it too far, it's fine.

 

[Yusuphhai]

If someone is like a animal does not mean All the non-Christians are like animal in spirit. The category is quite different. There is no any scripture to prove the opinion of the title.

The opinion of the title would put All non-Christians to the opposite side, and brings danger to all kinds of configuration of Christianity.

 

[Imagican]

I believe what your pastor was trying to express is this:

Animals react on instinct. They do NOT have a 'higher power' that guides them. When they are hungry they eat. When it is that time of the year, they mate. When they are angry they fight. When they are scared they run.

Those that are led by The Spirit, (born again), react to a higher source. They have The Spirit to guide them through conviction.

Those that have YET to be 'born again', are subject to The Flesh. They are subject to temptation that is able to guide them to that which benefits the flesh without the means to defend themselves.

I do NOT AGREE that those without The Spirit are LIKE animals. But I DO BELIEVE that I can understand the principle offered by your pastor.

But let me offer this as well. Those that follow God's commandments. Those that are "Spirit Filled" will treat animals with respect. They will not intentionally be cruel to animals any more than they would be cruel to other people.

And let me offer this as well. All NON CHRISTIANS ARE on 'another side'.

The Bible references them that are not 'saved' or 'born again' as being 'of this world'. So that is most certainly offering that there is a DIFFERENCE between those that ARE 'born again' and those that are NOT. And if you choose, you could certainly consider this to be an offering of 'us and them' or 'different sides'.

For those that are 'of this world' follow a DIFFERENT god than those that are 'born again'. EVERYONE serves One or the other. It is IMPOSSIBLE not to serve God or some other god.

Blessings,

MEC

 

[Yusuphhai]

I believe what your pastor was trying to express is this:

Animals react on instinct. They do NOT have a 'higher power' that guides them. When they are hungry they eat. When it is that time of the year, they mate. When they are angry they fight. When they are scared they run.

Those that are led by The Spirit, (born again), react to a higher source. They have The Spirit to guide them through conviction.

Those that have YET to be 'born again', are subject to The Flesh. They are subject to temptation that is able to guide them to that which benefits the flesh without the means to defend themselves.

I do NOT AGREE that those without The Spirit are LIKE animals. But I DO BELIEVE that I can understand the principle offered by your pastor.

But let me offer this as well. Those that follow God's commandments. Those that are "Spirit Filled" will treat animals with respect. They will not intentionally be cruel to animals any more than they would be cruel to other people.

And let me offer this as well. All NON CHRISTIANS ARE on 'another side'.

The Bible references them that are not 'saved' or 'born again' as being 'of this world'. So that is most certainly offering that there is a DIFFERENCE between those that ARE 'born again' and those that are NOT. And if you choose, you could certainly consider this to be an offering of 'us and them' or 'different sides'.

For those that are 'of this world' follow a DIFFERENT god than those that are 'born again'. EVERYONE serves One or the other. It is IMPOSSIBLE not to serve God or some other god.

Blessings,

MEC

I am glad you do NOT AGREE that those without The Spirit are LIKE animals. That is good enough. For there are many different theological opinions in broad meaning Christianity, it is difficult to judge whether a “Christian “ is born again or “led by the Holy Spirit” or false Christian(further argument about different theology is not needed ) . I agree true Christians are in the opposite of others, but true Christians can also commit worse sins than others and put themselves to the opposite of God.

The preacher is not a pastor, he is very young. Maybe he graduated from a theological Seminar not long. He said the sentence just before the Communion(Holy Bread Ritual). I think he wanted to emphasize how high Christians are and how low non-Christians are. I forget the detail that he preached, but he is truly offensive to judge. He must think what he judges is quite right because of his theological education background. I can hardly imagine he will admit his mistake for looking All non-Christians as like-animal.

 

[Imagican]

We are certainly to place ourselves 'above NO ONE'. If anything, those that have YET to come to Christ NEED our love and example more than our brothers and sisters IN Christ.

Those that are 'born again' are NOT SPECIAL. They have simply recognized their condition and the NEED for forgiveness.

Blessings,

MEC

 

[Radagast]

...He insisted that the authority of the preaching platform was given by the Holy Spirit and could not be doubted...

If the preaching isn't Biblical, it certainly can be doubted.

1 John 4:1: Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

 

[Yusuphhai]

If one is really born again, he would love his neighbor as himself,as the heavenly Father loves him, whether his neighbor is a sinner.

 

[Imagican]

If one is really born again, he would love his neighbor as himself,as the heavenly Father loves him, whether his neighbor is a sinner.

Not only sinners, but one's OWN ENEMIES. For even those that have yet to be saved are able of offering a semblance of love to their families and friends. What separates them 'born again' from the rest of the world is the ABILITY to love ALL of one's neighbors, be it friend or FOE.

Blessings,

MEC

 

[Harry3142]

Are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to be considered as animalistic? Does it apply to Samuel, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, or any of the other prophets? None of these men were Christians, because Christianity itself didn't begin until after the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I suspect that the person who made such a nonsensical claim was attempting to use a variant of the hitlerian tactic. Adolph Hitler insisted that there were the aryans, who were to be seen as the only truly human race, and then there were the other races, who were all to be seen as sub-human. This man has taken that same teaching, but has substituted 'Christian' for 'aryan', and 'animal' for 'sub-human'.

 

[windy35]

No one really resolves the issue because Christians and NonChristians are both like animal in spirit. Everyone looks after their own interests and is selfish. How you control selfish feelings I have no idea. So for people to claim they have the answers is incorrect because life is more complicated than that. So the Christians think they are better than everyone else. This statement doesn't make any sense because you would think they transcended away from the real world, but they are still living in the real world, so they have the same feelings as everyone else. The only difference is they believe in God, and others don't.

 

[bricklayer]

Spiritually dead humans are not at all in the same state as non-human animals.

There is no privation (absence of thing that should be present) of the spiritual image of God in an animal like there is in a spiritually dead human.

There is also no reason to believe that animals are spiritually dead just because their spirits were never intended to bare the image of God.

Spiritually dead humans are the same as non-human animals only in that neither bare the spiritual image of God.

 

[DamianWarS]

Yesterday(Sunday) in Beijing China I heard a preaching of a church of Protestantism. The preacher said:”The difference between Christians and Non-Christians is like the difference between Human and Animal.
I was very astonished. And communicated with an Elder of that church about this issue privately. He insisted that the authority of the preaching platform was given by the Holy Spirit and could not be doubted, and also this opinion (“Non-Christians Are Like Animals in spirit”) was from the authority.
I personally think one of the worst tragedy of mankind is that some people think all the others outside their circle as “NOT HUMAN BEING in spirit”.
If you like, anyone can talk about your feelings about this issue.

a "Messianic Chinese Arab" certainly is a unique mix... but perhaps not so unusual in Beijing. It's hard to comment on such a line when we really don't know the context. We really can't judge how the preacher justified these remarks, however I agree that calling unbelievers animals is a poor approach to the gospel and I can't think of a good reason to do so. I know within Beijing there are a lot of very new believers and many churches are made of up purely of new Christians and there is a need for some mature leadership.

I agree that the Holy Spirit can intervene and supply individuals with knowledge and wisdom they would not naturally have but we still need to "test all things" and allow the Holy Spirit to work with us as a body of believers to judge what is right and wrong. For me a good measure is using the fruits of the Spirit as sort of a litmus test of if its "of the Spirit" or not. The fruits of the Spirit are "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" and if the words of a Christian goes against these things than they cannot be "of the Spirit". In your case I would question the "love" aspect of these things. 1 Cor. 13 tells us that we can "know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if [we] have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, [we are] nothing" so Love needs to be a dominate presence within the Spiritual gifts to be effective otherwise they are a "clanging cymbal".

This doesn't necessarily mean that this preacher is a false teacher he just probably is young and has a lot of learning to do. Although calling unbelievers animals is not biblical it does sound at lot like Paul's comments in Romans 1. He doesn't go as far as calling them animals but comes pretty close. Again the context of how these words are spoken is important and can determine how much love was a part of the words. On a side note and perhaps something you are familiar with I know in the Koran they call unbelievers the vilest animals and if you are involved in a strong Muslim community area sometimes cultural values pass over into our Christian values. But we need to be able to separate the two and allow Christ to impact us over our cultural values and this is where the bible can teach us and the Holy Spirit can direct us.

 

[Yusuphhai]

a "Messianic Chinese Arab" certainly is a unique mix... but perhaps not so unusual in Beijing. It's hard to comment on such a line when we really don't know the context. We really can't judge how the preacher justified these remarks, however I agree that calling unbelievers animals is a poor approach to the gospel and I can't think of a good reason to do so. I know within Beijing there are a lot of very new believers and many churches are made of up purely of new Christians and there is a need for some mature leadership.

I agree that the Holy Spirit can intervene and supply individuals with knowledge and wisdom they would not naturally have but we still need to "test all things" and allow the Holy Spirit to work with us as a body of believers to judge what is right and wrong. For me a good measure is using the fruits of the Spirit as sort of a litmus test of if its "of the Spirit" or not. The fruits of the Spirit are "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" and if the words of a Christian goes against these things than they cannot be "of the Spirit". In your case I would question the "love" aspect of these things. 1 Cor. 13 tells us that we can "know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if [we] have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, [we are] nothing" so Love needs to be a dominate presence within the Spiritual gifts to be effective otherwise they are a "clanging cymbal".

This doesn't necessarily mean that this preacher is a false teacher he just probably is young and has a lot of learning to do. Although calling unbelievers animals is not biblical it does sound at lot like Paul's comments in Romans 1. He doesn't go as far as calling them animals but comes pretty close. Again the context of how these words are spoken is important and can determine how much love was a part of the words. On a side note and perhaps something you are familiar with I know in the Koran they call unbelievers the vilest animals and if you are involved in a strong Muslim community area sometimes cultural values pass over into our Christian values. But we need to be able to separate the two and allow Christ to impact us over our cultural values and this is where the bible can teach us and the Holy Spirit can direct us.

I am the only Messianic I know in Beijing now. But some of my theological opinion is non-denominational. I would like to be a “Christian” in the meaning of Antioch. I only know a little about Messianism and Judaism. I keep non-Islam route. Further argument of different theology is not needed.

I don’t think looking others outside their circle as “Like Animal” is only from like Islam but a problem of all mankind. This opinion (“Like Animal”) reminds me Crusade、the Inquisition、anti-Semitism and the theory of concentrate centre (ex. Martin Luther) 、slave system especially to Negro etc. I am not astonished some who call themselves “Christian” would look some ones quite different from them as “Like Animal”. Love who is familiar to someone but look down or hate who is quite different to someone is a kind of instinct of Mankind, even Adolf Hitler could do like that.

But true Christians (including all who choose repentance sooner or later) would learn to break the instinct and love their neighbors even enemies. That is the direction of God.

 

[DamianWarS]

I don’t think looking others outside their circle as “Like Animal” is only from like Islam but a problem of all mankind. This opinion (“Like Animal”) reminds me Crusade、the Inquisition、anti-Semitism and the theory of concentrate centre (ex. Martin Luther) 、slave system especially to Negro etc. I am not astonished some who call themselves “Christian” would look some ones quite different from them as “Like Animal”. Love who is familiar to someone but look down or hate who is quite different to someone is a kind of instinct of Mankind, even Adolf Hitler could do like that.

Within Christianity can come a lot of baggage and politics. What I am saying is that the remarks of this preacher possibly is from his own baggage and values but not from Christianity. Spiritual gifts can be tested by the fruits of the Spirit the greatest of these being love otherwise it is just noise. So if its not in the bible and if the elders claim this remark was given to the preacher by the Spirit then it better show fruits of the spirit and love better be a dominate influence.

 

[fhansen]

Yesterday(Sunday) in Beijing China I heard a preaching of a church of Protestantism. The preacher said:”The difference between Christians and Non-Christians is like the difference between Human and Animal.
I was very astonished. And communicated with an Elder of that church about this issue privately. He insisted that the authority of the preaching platform was given by the Holy Spirit and could not be doubted, and also this opinion (“Non-Christians Are Like Animals in spirit”) was from the authority.
I personally think one of the worst tragedy of mankind is that some people think all the others outside their circle as “NOT HUMAN BEING in spirit”.
If you like, anyone can talk about your feelings about this issue.

I agree. Another tragedy is when we're told that every pastor preaching a sermon is necessarily preaching with authority from God.

 

[Jpark]

Animals do not have spirits. They cannot be compared to humans in such a manner.

This is the difference between the faithful and faithless, repentant and unrepentant:

Luke 17
Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan.

Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? Were there not found those who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”

Even when there is singing among the universe, desolation of citadels and pious impurity, and absolution for all inhabitants of this planet, if people do not give thanks, they will not be saved. When God delivers the synchronous strike, and subsequently the sign of His existence, if people do not give thanks, they will not be saved regardless.

 

[bricklayer]

Animals do not have spirits. They cannot be compared to humans in such a manner.

This is the difference between the faithful and faithless, repentant and unrepentant:

Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? Were there not found those who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.”

Animals do not have a spirit in the image and likeness of God.
It is not all together clear to me that animals do or don't have "animal spirits".
I am not aware of anything that would rule that out.