耶穌叫我們愛鄰如己。動物乃係我們的鄰居，動物不僅和我們住在同一個地球上，而且有活生生的靈魂。你不會食鄰居的吧？如果你信基督，請食全素。
耶穌話：你要全心愛主你的上帝……這是第一條也是最大的誡命。第二條亦如此：愛鄰如己（馬太福音 22:37-39）。按：好多中文版聖經擅自將neighbor〔鄰居〕譯成「人」。
根據創世紀，男人和女人照上帝形象創造。但創世紀同時告訴我們：動物係有靈魂的。創世紀 1:30 (英王欽定本) 曰：
地上的走獸、空中的飛禽、地上一切爬行動物，只要有生命者，我都已賜給他們各式青菜生果為食糧......
上述經文中「生命」一詞希伯來原文是“nephesh hayah”（靈命），但大多部份英文版聖經誤譯為「生命」。
Nephesh 意即靈魂，hayah 意即生命。換句話說，上帝創造動物時，確實給了他們生勾勾的靈魂。
因此，動物是有情眾生，能尋求肉體快樂，遠離肉體痛苦；渴望繼續生存，極力避免死亡，能體驗各種情緒，喜怒哀樂等等。其後，上帝創造了人，並將同樣「生命氣息」“nephesh hayah”（創世記 2:7）吹入其鼻孔，亦即靈命。
由於共同擁有靈命/生命氣息，動物也是我們的鄰居，值得我們愛護。
參考：
Norm Phelps. The Dominion of Love: Animal Rights According to the Bible, NY: Lantern Books, 2002.
Andrew Linzey. Why Animal Suffering Matters: Philosophy, Theology and Practical Ethics. N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Elizabeth Farians, Ph D., APE - Animals, People and the Earth (Presentation at the 2009 Animal Rights Conference)
Web link: https://www.hkbnews.net/post/%E8%81%BD%E8%80%B6%E7%A9%8C%E8%A9%B1%EF%BC%8C%E6%84%9B%E9%84%B0%E5%A6%82%E5%B7%B1%EF%BC%8C%E5%8C%85%E6%8B%AC%E5%8B%95%E7%89%A9%EF%BC%81%E9%A3%9F%E5%85%A8%E7%B4%A0%E5%90%A7%EF%BC%81follow-christ-s-words-n-love-animals-as-neighbors-by-chapman-chen-%E6%9B%BE%E7%84%AF%E6%96%87-hkbnews !
Follow Christ's Words n Love your Neighbors, includ. Animals! Go Vegan! By Chapman Chen, HKBNews
Jesus tells us to love our neighbors as ourselves. Animals are our neighbors who not only inhabit the same earth but also have a living soul. You don't eat your neighbors, do you? Please go vegan if you believe in Christ.
Jesus said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart... This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself'" (Matt. 22:37-39).
In the first creation story man and woman are created in God’s image. But it also tells us that animals have a soul. In Genesis 1:30 (KJV) it reads,
And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
The Hebrew original of the phrase "life" in the verse above is "nephesh hayah", which is mistranslated as "life" in most English versions of the Bible.
Nephesh means soul and hayah means living. In other words, God did give the animals a living soul when He created them.
Thus the animals are sentient, i.e., able to look for physical pleasure and to stay away from physical pain; to yearn to go on living, endeavoring to shun death and to able to experience various emotions. Subsequently, God created man and breathed into his nostrils the same “breath of life”, “nephesh hayah”, (Gen.2:7) which is the living soul.
By reason of this commonality of possessing a living soul the animals are also our neighbors to be loved by us.
References
Norm Phelps. The Dominion of Love: Animal Rights According to the Bible, NY: Lantern Books, 2002.
Andrew Linzey. Why Animal Suffering Matters: Philosophy, Theology and Practical Ethics. N.Y.: Oxford University Press, 2009.
Elizabeth Farians, Ph D., APE - Animals, People and the Earth (Presentation at the 2009 Animal Rights Conference)
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