People, Their Pets & What the Bible Says About the Relationship Between Them

Animals Are Created Subservient to People, yet People Are to Take Excellent Care of the Animals

God wants people to take good care of the earth and all that is in it, including animals. Genesis 2:15 (Amplified Bible) says, "And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and guard and keep it." The first helpers God introduced to Adam to help him take good care of the earth, were not people, but animals. Genesis 2:18-20 (Amplified Bible) says, "Now the Lord God said, It is not good (sufficient, satisfactory) that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper meet (suitable, adapted, complementary) for him. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every [wild] beast and living creature of the field and every bird of the air and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them; and whatever Adam called every living creature, that was its name. And Adam gave names to all the livestock and to the birds of the air and to every [wild] beast of the field " Adam had a relationship with the animals. It was not a casual relationship, but an intimate one for he had named them; he knew something about them. When Adam and Eve rebelled against God's instruction not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity, they broke relationship not only with God, but also with themselves and the animals.

The rebellion against God was evident even before the forbidden fruit was eaten. Adam and Eve should have subdued the serpent instead of being subdued by the serpent. Listening to the serpent's lies was disobedience. For God said in Genesis 1:28 (Amplified Bible) "And God blessed them and said to them, Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it [using all its vast resources in the service God and man]; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves upon the earth." Listening to the serpent was the first instance of people worshiping the created animals instead of the Creator God.

The animals were created subservient to people. They are trusting people to take godly care of them. People are to train animals, not let the animals train them.