The Painting Elephant

Oh, Christian Apologists,
You dismantle the faith
Of the little ones.

You say things like, 
"Art is what makes
"Man who he is."

You say things like,
"Tools are what makes
"Man who he is."

You then say things like
""Reason is what makes
"Man who he is."

I've seen elephants paint
I've seen otters use tools
I've seen dogs reason.

None o this is what separates us from the beasts.
Rather, it is Christ, who ordaining us with dominion
Over the world, that is what separates us from the beasts.

I know this truth, yet I still believe in God.
Every empty argument, every wise notion
Man has conceived, has been made foolish.
The Animals have Consciences, 
Sometimes more delicate than even our own.
The Animals are as intelligent as our six year old children.
It is why we have so much joy in them.

Nay, we ought not use reason to determine
That the animals are lower than us
Because in many ways they aren't.
In many ways they are far more noble than us
Incapable of doing the great harms that we have inflicted.

Rather, what separates a man from an animal
Is the same thing which separates an Angel of God
From a man. A degree not of intelligence
But of authority; for man shepherds the animals
And has the authority to preserve or destroy them.
So the angels have their authority over man
To bestow blessings or curses upon us.

For man reigns in his princely domain
Yet when Christ returns
Men shall be to Animals what Christ is to us.
For the Man clings to Christ to enter into the gate
While the Animal clings to his master
To enter with them into their eternal abode.
For Jeremiah says that Jerusalem shall be inhabited by both man and beast.
Certainly he is speaking of the celestial city.

Yet, the Animals are sincere, the animals are precious among God's creation.
We ought not say to them, "You do not have our faculties."
In many regards, they have them in greater abundance. 
Rather, it is simply our domain to be their steward,
And their domain to be our domain.
For, if we rule benevolently, we shall have an abundance of good
And the Lions shall be given molars.
If we rule antagonistically, and are brutes,
Well, as Chesterton said,
I do not see the animals as these mere brutes,
As elephants paint
Dogs count
And otters use rocks to burst open clams.
Yet, the steer is good for food
And the horse is good for riding;---
It is this symbiosis of nature which determines the truth.
That man is half a predator,
And half like the sheep.
And the two moralities set before us
Demanded by Mr. Nietzsche
Are the morality of the Predator
And the morality of the Sheep.
Bad men, their morality is natured like the wolf.
And good men, their morality is natured like the sheep.