Human Supremacy in Christianity

Troodon Roar said:

I think many Christians are misguided in condoning human supremacy on the basis of a quote in Genesis stating that humans were created "in our image, in our likeness", i.e., in the image of God, or imago dei. I do not interpret this verse as stating that humans are intrinsically closer to God, or have a better relationship with God, than other species. Rather, I think it could possibly be interpreted as foreshadowing the future arrival of God to Earth in the form of a human, Jesus Christ.

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Troodon Roar said:

I think many Christians are misguided in condoning human supremacy on the basis of a quote in Genesis stating that humans were created "in our image, in our likeness", i.e., in the image of God, or imago dei. I do not interpret this verse as stating that humans are intrinsically closer to God, or have a better relationship with God, than other species. Rather, I think it could possibly be interpreted as foreshadowing the future arrival of God to Earth in the form of a human, Jesus Christ. Before we get carried away and say that the fact that the Son of God came in the form of a human proves that humans are at the pinnacle of all species, though, let us remember, too, that the Holy Spirit came in the form of a dove. Since birds are classified as dinosaurs, just as humans are classified as mammals, I find it pretty cool that God came in both the form of a mammal, a synapsid, as well as in the form of a dinosaur, a sauropsid.

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Fenton Lum said:

Humanity really went astray with this notion of a male dominator god in human form that gave his followers dominion over the earth and everything on it, including other hominids not in the cult.

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Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) was a Spanish mystic who lived during the Counter-Reformation, a period of religious turmoil in Europe. Teresa founded several houses for discalced (or "barefoot") Carmelite friars and nuns, who sought to live according to the original rule of the order. This was a more primitive and ascetic form of monastic life than was practiced in Spain at that time. In addition, Teresa was author of numerous books, including her Life, a personal autobiography, the Way of Perfection, a handbook for her nuns, and Interior Mansions, in which she describes the many different steps taken on the path to mystical union with God.

Teresa described the soul's intense desire for God in the language of erotic passion. In this, she belongs to a long tradition of mystical experience that is known as bridal mysticism:

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'one of the highest of the angels, who seem to be all of fire: they must be those whom we call Seraphim.... I saw in his hands a long golden spear, and at the point of the iron there seemed to be a little fire. This I thought that he thrust several times into my heart, and that it penetrated to my entrails. When he drew out the spear he seemed to be drawing them with it, leaving me all on fire with a wondrous love for God. The pain was so great that it caused me to utter several moans; and yet so exceeding sweet is this greatest of pains that it is impossible to desire to be rid of it, or for the soul to be content with less than God.' (Peers, 197)

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The Great Chain of Being


In their 1936 work, The Great Chain of Being: The History of an Idea, the scholars E. M. W. Tillyard and A. O. Lovejoy argued that ancient and medieval thought was shaped by particular ideological framework known as the "The Chain of Being." Sometimes called the Scala Natura (scale of nature), this view saw all of creation existing within a universal hierarchy that stretched from God (or immutable perfection) at its highest point to inanimate matter at its lowest. One can see something of this hierarchy in Plato's ranking of human souls in the Phaedrus, but also in Aristotle's notion that the capacity to act upon reason rather than instinct distinguishes human beings from animals.

Indeed, each link in the Great Chain of Being represented a distinct category of living creature or form of matter. Those creatures or things higher on the Chain possessed greater intellect, movement, and ability than those placed below. Thus each being in the Chain possessed all of the attributes of what was below plus an additional, superior attribute:


God: existence + life + will + reason + immortality + omniscient, omnipotent
Angels: existence + life + will + reason + immortality
Humanity: existence + life + will + reason
Animals: existence + life + will
Plants: existence + life
Matter: existence
Nothingness


As a result of this hierarchy, creatures and things on a higher level were believed to possess more authority over lower ones. Plants, for instance, were believed to have authority over the minerals in the soil. They were superior to minerals because, unlike inert matter, they were alive and capable of growth. Consequently, they had God’s sanction to draw nutrients from the earth and grow upon it, while the minerals and soil existed to support plants. Similarly, animals--a step higher on the Chain of Being--were thought to have authority over both inanimate plants and minerals. So horses could trod on rocks and earth and eat plants. Humans in turn were believed to possess greater attributes than animals. Thus it was proper for them to rule over the rest of the natural world. Similarly, spiritual beings like angels and God had greater ability than humanity and so ruled over and controlled humanity as well as the rest of the animal and the inanimate world.


This view of the world as a well-ordered hierarchy ordained by God was (and in some cases remains) enormously influential. It informed how people understood theology, science (especially astronomy), medicine, politics, and history.
The Great Chain of Being

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Troodon Roar said:

I think many Christians are misguided in condoning human supremacy on the basis of a quote in Genesis stating that humans were created "in our image, in our likeness", i.e., in the image of God, or imago dei. I do not interpret this verse as stating that humans are intrinsically closer to God, or have a better relationship with God, than other species. Rather, I think it could possibly be interpreted as foreshadowing the future arrival of God to Earth in the form of a human, Jesus Christ. Before we get carried away and say that the fact that the Son of God came in the form of a human proves that humans are at the pinnacle of all species, though, let us remember, too, that the Holy Spirit came in the form of a dove. Since birds are classified as dinosaurs, just as humans are classified as mammals, I find it pretty cool that God came in both the form of a mammal, a synapsid, as well as in the form of a dinosaur, a sauropsid.

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FastPace said:

God the Father--and the 3rd person of the Trinity the Holy Spirit--are not biological males, are not biological, corporal beings. Christian theology has always taught this. The term "Father" was given for a theological purpose, framing a relationship between God and humans. For one that God is paternal but equally important is that biological male humans play the female role in receiving from God. Human females play this same role. God inseminates and we receiving. That was kind of the idea. It's also why so many writings of monks during the Middle Ages have a clearly homoerotic quality to it when they write about their personal mystical experiences with God.

The fullest relationship human souls will have with God--according to Catholicism anyways--will be manifested in the beatific vision. The beatific vision is supposed to be orgasmic.


https://aras.org/selection_ecstasy.aspx







Given the great intellects of many humans, and that we sent man to the moon, and that Genesis did not command man to go explore outer-space or land on the moon, I'm pretty sure humans would have took significant roles in shaping the physical environments around them even if the Bible were never written.

As for animals case in point: pagan Roman circuses, which slaughtered many animals for pagan human entertainment.

As for deforestation we have the Mayans before the Europeans ever arrived. Many of their great cities were already abandoned and forgotten when the Europeans stepped foot in the "New World." Some scholars theorize--from some evidence--that a combination of civil wars and negative environmental impact from deforestation *by the Mayans* led to Mayans fleeing and abandoning those once great cities.

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Fenton Lum said:

Guess that explains priests, “fathers”, buggering little boys. The religiosos trashed europe, that's why the went looking for a "new" world in the first place. Then they did the same here.

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CLAX1911 said:

Humans dominate all other species because they are superior.

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FastPace said:

I'm not really interested in your personal problems and your personal resentments. I'm indifferent to them. I have my own problems as well as my own resentments towards the Catholic Church. My greater sympathies are with the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches.

But nonsense--particularly as it applies to physical anthropology and history--is nonsense regardless if it comes from an atheist or agnostic or just someone that proclaims a hatred or contempt for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

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Troodon Roar said:

I think many Christians are misguided in condoning human supremacy on the basis of a quote in Genesis stating that humans were created "in our image, in our likeness", i.e., in the image of God, or imago dei. I do not interpret this verse as stating that humans are intrinsically closer to God, or have a better relationship with God, than other species. Rather, I think it could possibly be interpreted as foreshadowing the future arrival of God to Earth in the form of a human, Jesus Christ. Before we get carried away and say that the fact that the Son of God came in the form of a human proves that humans are at the pinnacle of all species, though, let us remember, too, that the Holy Spirit came in the form of a dove. Since birds are classified as dinosaurs, just as humans are classified as mammals, I find it pretty cool that God came in both the form of a mammal, a synapsid, as well as in the form of a dinosaur, a sauropsid.

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cuban smokes said:

humans have nukes so, we can continue the policy of MAD, which is MAD .............. which makes us superior ............

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cuban smokes said:

humans have nukes so, we can continue the policy of MAD, which is MAD .............. which makes us superior ............

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Fenton Lum said:

Uncomfortable history huh.

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FastPace said:

My sympathies are with the Oriental and Eastern Orthodox as I said. But as I correctly stated, your comments referring to the sex abuse scandal, have to do with your own personal problems and your own resentments, and nada to do with the subject matter of the thread.

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cuban smokes said:

humans have nukes so, we can continue the policy of MAD, which is MAD .............. which makes us superior ............

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Fenton Lum said:

I rather think the church's sex abuse scandals have to do with the perpetrators and you appear to have sympathies there as well, but whatever.

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Keystone species

EU Bio-Glossary

Description: A species whose loss from an ecosystem would cause a greater than average change in other species populations or ecosystem processes; species that have a disproportionately large effect on other species in a community.

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A keystone species is a species that has a disproportionately large effect on its environment relative to its abundance.[1] Such species are described as playing a critical role in maintaining the structure of an ecological community, affecting many other organisms in an ecosystem and helping to determine the types and numbers of various other species in the community. A keystone species is a plant or animal that plays a unique and crucial role in the way an ecosystem functions. Without keystone species, the ecosystem would be dramatically different or cease to exist altogether.

The role that a keystone species plays in its ecosystem is analogous to the role of a keystone in an arch. While the keystone is under the least pressure of any of the stones in an arch, the arch still collapses without it. Similarly, an ecosystem may experience a dramatic shift if a keystone species is removed, even though that species was a small part of the ecosystem by measures of biomass or productivity.

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...Sever and his colleagues hope to help governments and citizens throughout Mesoamerica ensure that the region can continue to support the people who live there. By learning from the Maya, modern humans may avoid sharing their fate.
Mayan Deforestation

Before its collapse, the Mayan empire stretched out from its center in northern Guatemala’s Petén region across the lowlands of the Yucatán Peninsula. Pollen samples collected from columns of soil that archeologists have excavated across the region provide evidence of widespread deforestation approximately 1,200 years ago, when weed pollen almost completely replaced tree pollen. The clearing of rainforest led to heightened erosion and evaporation; the evidence of the erosion appears in thick layers of sediment washed into lakes.

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Why Did the Mayan Civilization Collapse? A New Study Points to Deforestation and Climate Change

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It’s long been one of ancient history’s most intriguing mysteries: Why did the Maya, a remarkably sophisticated civilization made up of more than 19 million people, suddenly collapse sometime during the 8th or 9th centuries? Although the Mayan people never entirely disappeared—their descendants still live across Central America—dozens of core urban areas in the lowlands of the Yucatan peninsula, such as Tikal, went from bustling cities to abandoned ruins over the course of roughly a hundred years.

Scholars and laypeople have proposed countless theories accounting for the collapse, ranging from the plausible (overhunting, foreign invasion, peasant revolt) to the absurd (alien invasion, supernatural forces). In his 2005 book Collapse, though, Jared Diamond put forth a different sort of theory—that a prolonged drought, exacerbated by ill-advised deforestation, forced Mayan populations to abandon their cities. That hypothesis has finally been put to the test with archaeological evidence and environmental data and the results published this week in a pair of studies.

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FastPace said:

None of that has to do with the subject of the thread which is related to environmentalism and anthropological discussions. Discussions on whether or not human beings can be considered a keystone species? Issues like that.

Keystone species definition | Ecology Dictionary



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_species

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