Do you believe?

Are you a Christian or Jewish?

Do you believe in God?

Do you believe that man has dominion over all animals?

^{Genesis 1:28} And God blessed them, and God said to them, Bring forth fruit, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heaven, and over every beast that moveth upon the earth.

Do you believe the next verse, where GOD tells man what to eat?

 29 And God said, Behold, I have given unto you every herb bearing seed, which is upon all the earth, and every tree, wherein is the fruit of a tree bearing seed: that shall be to you for meat.

The above is from the 1599 Geneva Bible where the word rule is used.

Below is from Bereishit (Genesis) in the Torah Pentateuch:

כטוַיֹּ֣אמֶר אֱלֹהִ֗ים הִנֵּה֩ נָתַ֨תִּי לָכֶ֜ם

אֶת־כָּל־עֵ֣שֶׂב | זֹרֵ֣עַ זֶ֗רַע אֲשֶׁר֙ עַל־פְּנֵ֣י

כָל־הָאָ֔רֶץ וְאֶת־כָּל־הָעֵ֛ץ אֲשֶׁר־בּ֥וֹ פְרִי־עֵ֖ץ זֹרֵ֣עַ

זָ֑רַע לָכֶ֥ם יִֽהְיֶ֖ה לְאָכְלָֽה

In the following from the 1611 KJV version the word dominion is used.

²⁸ And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

²⁹ And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 

To understand the archaic language it is sometimes necessary to look at a modern translation.

Below is from the NIVUK

²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.’

²⁹ Then God said, ‘I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.


So we have the word dominion and the word rule.
Both of these follow the line which says to subdue the land; NOT the animals.
To rule over the animals, to have dominion over them.

Dominion does not mean destruction, but responsibility.

A false view of dominion has played a role in the mistreatment of creation, but a correct understanding of the concept can lead to service, responsibility, and stewardship.

Responsibility, service, stewardship.
Like a king will look after and protect his people.
The same way that Jesus will tend his flock.
Man's role is to take responsibility to look after and protect the animals God created. On his behalf.

God then states that 'I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.'

So what we have here is God creating animals. Then creating Man. Then telling man to look after his creations for him.
He says what to eat; seed bearing plants and fruit.

Therefore anyone who truly believes the bible, especially Genesis which is the original word of God when he created the world,  rather than later books which are stories and parables to explain things to later generations, must accept that killing and eating animals goes directly against the true wish of their Creator.


Link to an interesting page on the meaning of stewardship.
The comments are well worth a read too.

https://tifwe.org/a-biblical-view-of-dominion-stewardship/