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NASB | Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty (subtle, skilled in deceit) than any living creature of the field which the LORD God had made. And the serpent (Satan) said to the woman, "Can it really be that God has said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" [Rev 12:9-11] |
Subject: Animal Intelligence Isn't Rational |
Bible Note: Interesting debate, even though it is a moot point, but I'd like to interject a thought of my own. I once had a dog, and my room mate and I would go to work in the morning, when we got home in the evening, the dog was outside running the streets. We found the back door opened. The next day we decided to make sure the doors were closed and locked in the morning, when we got home, "Chopper" was running the streets again. We finally discovered quite by accident, that Chopper, though never trained to do so, learned to work the doorknob, and if the door was a push open door, he would open it and stroll freely about. This may simply be a case of watching and copying, kind of like the monkey see, monkey do mentality. That winter, we had Chopper chained to a tree out front, and me and several others were sitting on the porch talking. Chopper was intent on trying to reach a pine cone that was about 1.5 ft our of his reach. After he realized he could not reach it with either his mouth or his front paws, (no matter how hard he stretched), he turned around and tried to get it with his back feet. This only succeeded in pushing the pine cone further from him. Now we considered that to be a pretty intelligent move, but what happened next really floored everyone present. There was a rubber garden hose that snaked it's way around the area, and Chopper picked up the garden hose, being in the cold season it was pretty stiff, and he flopped the curve of the hose over the pine cone, then proceeded to drag the hose toward him, thus coaxing the pine cone into his reach. There were no bells or whistles, no training exercises or rewards, this dog did this on his own. I guess it depends on what you call rational thought, but that was pretty well thought out in my opinion, and in the opinion of everyone else present. As far as the image of God, maybe it is exactly that, His image! Through out Old Testament History, kings would have statues of themselves, (images), made and placed at the borders of their land so people would know who's country they were coming into. I like the idea that everything here is owned by God, and we are simply stewarts of all he has given us. These images of human beings inside every car, standing on every porch, and everywhere else you look are reminders everywhere that this is Gods world, Gods Creation, and Gods elements. We have simply learned, (as Chopper did), how to use the elements that God owns to make things that make our lives easier or more comfortable, (many times to our own discredit). As for the serpent, it was more subtle than the beasts of the fields, does not specifically mean he was a beast of the field. We don't know what the serpent is, and it may very well be an animal that has been long extinct. In fact, eating dust of the ground for the rest of it's life, it may have been the last of its kind. Debates are fun and they excercise the mind, as long as we don't loose touch that some debates are not essential to our salvation. Dano |