Carnivores

Summary

The website content discusses the moral and existential dilemma presented by the carnivorous nature of life on Earth, questioning why an all-merciful God would create a world that necessitates killing for survival.

Abstract

The article titled "Carnivores" delves into the ethical implications of the food chain, expressing a personal struggle with the concept that life must consume life to survive. The author, raised with Christian values, grapples with the idea that a compassionate and omnipotent God would design a world where suffering and death are inherent in the cycle of life. Through a narrative that includes a vivid depiction of a bird and an earthworm, the author challenges the notion that this is the only way life could have been structured, suggesting that a more merciful system could have been devised by an all-knowing deity. The piece also touches on the biblical justification for human dominion over other living beings and the contradiction it poses to the idea of a benevolent creator. The author, Wolfstuff, concludes by highlighting the paradox of a kind universe being governed by a game of survival that involves constant killing.

Opinions

The author expresses a deep perplexity over the necessity of one being's death to sustain another's life, considering it a "recurring theme" that troubles them.
There is a sense of disillusionment with the Christian teachings received during the author's upbringing, particularly the portrayal of God as all-merciful despite the violent nature of Earth's ecosystem.
The author questions whether God derives enjoyment from the struggle for survival among His creations, implying that this could not be consistent with a merciful nature.
A critique is made of the biblical verse Genesis 1:28, which is seen as a "terrestrial carte blanche" for human exploitation of other species, highlighting the moral contradiction in the concept of divine sanction for such actions.
The author suggests that an all-knowing and capable God could have created a non-violent food supply system, further questioning the necessity of the current predatory ecosystem.
The piece concludes with the author's bewilderment at the apparent contradiction between a kind creator and the cruel reality of the food chain, indicating a profound philosophical struggle with the subject.

The Zero-Sum Game

Who made such a world Where for one being to live another must die?

This, I admit, is a recurring theme because it is a thought and a notion and a perplexity and a question that refuses to leave me alone.

Here it is expressed for the first time (well, for my first time) in a five-seven-five Wolfku, and it states my quandary quite clearly: on this planet (and for all I know, in this universe) we have to compete for food, and in this competition someone always has to die, whether that someone is a blade of grass, a carrot, a chicken, a cow, a shrimp, a bird, a worm, you name it, someone (and I used the pronoun someone because it is alive, it is a being of some sort) has to give up his, or her, or its life to feed someone else. The only life forms here on earth that are not born killers are plants (nice beings that they are) who live on sunshine and what chemicals the earth provides.

I was raised a Christian. Well, sort of. I was certainly raised to believe that God was good, not an evil bone in his Godly body. All-merciful God, the all-compassionate God, the all-forgiving God. Yet, yet, if I’m to believe that He did in fact create the Heavens and the Earth according to His plan (which my maternal grandmother — mormor — certainly drummed into me all summer long during my forming years: four through eleven or so), He has set up a really messed-up game here. Does the all-merciful One really enjoy all this incessant killing? Why on earth would He? How on earth could He? Cheap kicks? One can only shake one’s earthly, bewildered head.

I picture the earth worm hanging on for (literally) dear life to the, yes, earth while the little (cute, sure) bird has the worm by its tail and pulls with all its might to dislodge the recalcitrant critter who seems to want to go on living. From the bird’s perspective: perhaps her chicks are starving, perhaps they are near death, and if so, at this point it’s either the earth worm or the chicks. Truly, a bird no-brainer. From the worm’s perspective: life’s been good so far, and this actually hurts. I am not letting go, though. A worm no-brainer.

And God, watching (as He watches every critter and creature on earth — including, if my grandmother is to be believe, each and every thought of each and every being as well), is He getting his fill of kicks now? Does He enjoy the earthworm’s struggle to stay alive? Does he enjoy the starving chicks back in the nest?

Surely, surely, had He wanted to, He could have designed and arranged a much better, a much more merciful food-chain — say, one that would let us all live and grow on sunshine. Since, supposedly, He is all-knowing, all-seeing, incredibly smart and clever, no one’s going to tell me that conceiving of a non-killing food supply for all His critters would be beyond his ken, that would be a little sacrilegious, no? So, He would have been (and still is) capable of a kinder, more merciful way of keeping all His children alive and well.

So, and that is really the question, why didn’t He? Why on earth didn’t He? Yes, I know, Man has since written a book called the Bible and in this book it says (Genesis 1:28): And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

That verse is also known as the terrestrial carte blanche: yes, go ahead and subdue, kill whatever you want and eat it. You’re at the top of the food chain. They’re your slaves and minions. Well done.

I can only shake my earthly, bewildered head again.

We have a stellar contradiction here, far too large (and obvious) to notice for most of us: the kindest Being in the Universe has designed the cruelest game in the Universe. And that sits well with most of us?

Again, this earthly, bewildered head shakes.

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Carnivores

The Zero-Sum Game

Wolfstuff

So, who am I? Really really. I could tell you that I was born in northern Sweden during a snow storm, and subsequently…