Emily Stuart: Animality and the 6th Commandment

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In class, we mentioned animality, which is the connection made when one animal eats another. There is no transcendence between the eater and the eaten, but instead a sacred energy exchange. This exchange does not establish a dominant-subordinate relationship, but in its place allows animals to live like water in water within the world.

In RUF this semester we are going through the 10 Commandments with emphasis on the application to modern day. Specifically, the sixth commandment says, “Thou shalt not kill” (Exodus 20:13).  The preacher, Jeff Lee, made the point that when this commandment is broken, humans degrade themselves from dominion-holders and image bearers of God to the status of animals, allowing natural selection to become their god. This degradation, in turn, disrupts the status quo of animal-human, animal-animal, and human-human interactions that have been designed by God. Disregarding vegetarian (and other forms of such) lifestyles, humans are meant to eat animals, animals are meant to eat each other, but it is widely unacceptable for humans to eat other humans. The reason behind this prohibition is that according to Scripture, we can understand humans as a “higher” being. So the sixth commandment goes beyond the notion of consumption to state that humans—beings of greater intelligent/consciousness—must not lower themselves to the standards of animals.

             Yet, if this notion of animality is applied to the 6^th commandment, we cannot say humans are living like water in water, but instead in some sort of gray area. We are neither animal, nor Creator, but yet we are not allowed to be given through the eating of one another. This separates humans (even in a secular sense) from animals and leads to a series of interesting questions about the human dominion over creation. If we are indeed something distinct by our lack of animality toward other humans, are we considered “above” other creation as Scripture suggests?