Originally Posted by Soshi Kitai

Right, because you would know what God has "said".
People often think that the "Word of God" is the Bible. Yet, nowhere in the Bible states that except in the loose translations (kinda' like the Sabbath Day thing, people often misinterpret that ALL the time).

The Bible is a collection of books. Who collected the books? Humans did.
The Bible wasn't in a collection to begin with, it was several books that were written by disciples who had some form of contact with God.
In fact, there are SEVERAL books of the Bible missing. Not because they weren't God-breathed, but because the culture of that time simply did not agree with those books.

The Bible was reformed a good number of times before it became the "permanent" one that it is today.
If the Bible didn't say the sky was blue, would you believe the sky was red? If you say "no, I can judge that for myself", then huzzah you've answered your own doubt! Same with spiritualism, you can figure it out yourself instead of blindly following what leaders and preachers have said through the generations in order to keep things in balance.

Christianity itself is BASED OFF OF previous religions and cults. So it would be wise for you to take note of those religions.

Does that mean that what Christianity believes is false? No, it just means it took rules and ideas from other religions and cults in order to refine their own.
Religion in itself isn't a SOLID thing, you cannot grasp it like if it were fact. To do such would be meaningless. Facts are facts. Science is science. Faith is faith. And religion is religion.

YOU may not believe animals have souls (and it shows very much what your outlook in life is), but that itself is stubbornness. It's the same thing as me doubting YOU have a soul, because I cannot see it, and because someone else told me you don't have one.
A soul isn't restricted to humans, the idea that it is was created from egotistical men who believe it was God that led them to slaughter thousands of people.

You follow your faith blindly. Commendable, but not healthy for you spiritually. To deny other religions and faiths makes you blind. If your faith is truly strong, it would never change under the stress of other religions. Study the ideas of science, for God created science. Study the ideas of other religions, for God created the items and events that inspired them. God is in everything, remember that.

Live and learn with animals. Don't just see them as pets, but really do wonder what's going on in their heads. Listen to those who tell you of an animal's history and as to WHY they act like that now. An animal can CHOOSE what to do is one of the first things you'll learn. I'm sure by the end of that road you'd truly know whether an animal has a soul or not.

If you truly believe humans have superiority over animals in every fashion, I would wish you were put in their situation and see how unfair it is for them. Do remember that blacks were considered as low as animals at one time, preachers and sermons claimed that God cursed them with that black skin - I seriously hope you don't believe that.



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@Spike:
I agree 'xcept for one thing: Animals aren't NEEDED for the balance.
They HELP the balance.
As long as there is one species of animal out here to keep the rest of nature in check, the world can stay in balance. ...some of us humans believe we can be that species (I don't believe that, since we're always fighting with one another).

And even if the species weren't here, mother nature would still flourish. Sure, the Earth could turn into a dry desert, or perhaps a gas planet -but that in itself is mother nature.

... back then, when we lost a species, it was BECAUSE the balance was changing. Nowadays the balance is changing BECAUSE we lost a species. ...we're getting rid of species quite fast -but our human lives in cities and towns are only slightly affected universally. ...while nature rots. But it's only a matter of time that our lives will be changed forever due to the animals we remove from nature. ... of course, before that could happen, we'll be destroyed by our own outbalancing of the atmosphere and weathers.