Welcome to Gaia! ::

Okay, so I've encountered this several times within a youth group at my church. (Which I'm now hopefully not going back to too often since, the messages there are shifting and the new management is horrid...)

We were standing around waiting to be picked up from the youth group gathering on Sunday night and dad was bringing one of my 'charges', a baby raccoon named Tiko. I was bottle feeding 'im since he'd been abandoned/lost on our property for a number of hours and took to us quite easily.

One of the twins (pastor's sons) began to spout off something I hold quite harshly as crap. He said that Tiko, and any animal for that matter has no soul. Now, see, I'm aware that there are verses supporting that, but it was the next thing that bothers me. He said they didn't matter. Period. Because there is the absence of one, the creature...the life I was helping sustain, was meaningless and my helping it continue existence is also meaningless.

Now, I find that rather...I guess you could say I take offense to that (Seeing as how I'm generally very attached to the creatures I come across and care for). I battled it out with him for some time as my dad talked to the youth director.

I don't think that they are inherently meaningless. In fact, I really disregard anything that says that. Animals are, in my world, loving and caring at times. Everyday, I see that my cat looks at me differently because I'm the one that takes care of him and loves on him an the like. He does things with me that no one else can get him to do. I've turned an aging dog into a playful puppy because she was more my dog, appreciating me more than the other people in the house. My raccoon listened to me a little better, at least. Each and every one have been a joy to have. For me to say they are meaningless (even if you want to say that the behavior change isn't some form of love, which I can see that point of view.) is beyond me.

At the very least, you can at least comment on the value that animals make people feel better at times. Take some of the therapy dogs that are taken through nursing homes or hospitals as special visitors. They make the people happy, no?

Anyway, my questions are: What do you think? Do they have souls, or do you follow the same views as mentioned here? Regardless of your take on the soul thing, are they meaningless in any form? Do you believe that the therapeutic values of an animal exist? Are there any more questions you'd like to bring up?