I"ve just been searching for some scritpures which show animals have a different sort of mind to us and i found these:
The christian apostle Peter speaks of lawless fleshly individuals as people who are like animals...unreasoning
2Peter 2:12 But these [men], like unreasoning animals born naturally to be caught and destroyed...
Why liken lawless unreasoning people to animals if animals are not lawless and unreasoning.
And what connection is there between 'law' and 'reasoning'? Is not the connection the 'conscience'...the device we use to determine right from wrong? I think so.
Also, the account in Genesis gives some insight about how the animals are subhuman...they are a lower species, subhuman.
Genesis 2:20 So the man was calling the names of all the domestic animals and of the flying creatures of the heavens and of every wild beast of the field, but for man there was found no helper as a complement of him.
The man was 'by himself' in the garden because he had no one to complement him...no one to associate with, no one to talk to. The animals were not on his level...so God created a female human, one that Adam could find a compliment of himself in.
Also see Psalm 32: 9 Do not make yourselves like a horse or mule without understanding,
Whose spiritedness is to be curbed even by bridle or halter
Before [they] will come near to you.
Animals do not have 'understanding' because our knowledge is based on a higher source. For example,
Job 35:11 He is the One teaching us more than the beasts of the earth, And he makes us wiser than even the flying creatures of the heavens.
This next scripture speaks of a man who does not repent over his works, who does not question his actions as being like a horse who runs into the battle...they do that without questioning or thinking about the consequences because they have no conscience within themselves:
Jeremiah 8:6 I have paid attention, and I kept listening. It was not right the way they kept speaking. There was not a man repenting over his badness, saying, What have I done? Each one is going back into the popular course, like a horse that is dashing into the battle.
Then we have a proverb which likens a stupid person to an animal... stupid people fail to apply practical wisdom and knowledge, they act without thinking about the consequences like animals
Proverbs 26:3 A whip is for the horse, a bridle is for the ***, and the rod is for the back of stupid people
I guess that all depends on the translation that you have.
2 Peter 2:12
12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
Genesis 2:20
20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
I never argued that Animals were at the same level as humans. Animals are not God's children and do not have the same potential as man. This scripture says nothing as to the consciousness of animals.
Psalm 32:9
9 Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
Understanding is not the same as consciousness.
Job 35:11 He is the One teaching us more than the beasts of the earth, And he makes us wiser than even the flying creatures of the heavens.
I never claimed the animals are smarter than us.
Jeremiah 8:6 I have paid attention, and I kept listening. It was not right the way they kept speaking. There was not a man repenting over his badness, saying, What have I done? Each one is going back into the popular course, like a horse that is dashing into the battle.
Just because one is ignorant does not mean that one has no conciousness
Proverbs 26:3 A whip is for the horse, a bridle is for the ***, and the rod is for the back of stupid people
Just because someone is stupid does not mean that they have no conciousness.