What is 'human?'

[bar_khela]

However, man is different from the beasts of the earth in that he is able to generate original thought. He is able to fathom concepts, produce concepts, expound on concepts, and build on concepts.

Man is different from some beasts that way. But, chimps, dolphins, etc. can fathom, produce, and build on concepts.

True, there are exceptions in the animal kingdom. For instance, only dolphins alongside with humans have sexual intercourse for enjoyment. Both chimps and dolphins are able to communicate in a somewhat complex "language." Moreover, dolphins are very benevolent to humans and wolves are known to develop tightly-knitted packs. Crows are arguably as family oriented as human beings. However, all parties are unable to act outside the realm of instinct.

He has the ability to choose between his "will-to-live", which is his primal instinct as discussed previously, and his intellect.

I think some animals have quite a developed intellect and many seem to have emotions as well: fear, love, lust, playfulness, loyalty, greed, jealousy, etc.

Indeed, some animals have a degree of intellect. However, their intellect circles around their urge to trap prey, dodge predators, reproduce, and protect their young. A bee does not choose to collect pollen and create a nearly flawless, geometrical hive. It does not have the consciousness to question the queen bee or to sit and think on how it can improve the hive. Instead, it fully submits to its impulse and does what it was created to do. As a result, it submits to God without question.

As far as fear, love, lust, playfulness, loyalty, greed, and jealousy is concerned, each plays its part in our will-to-live. However, this is not Biology 101, so I will refrain from boring you.

Therefore, I conclude that 'human' denotes "being with choice." With our amphibian-like nature, we are able to choose to live as beasts or serve as angels.

I'd say angels have free will, and perhaps even some animals have that capacity. What separates us from the animals (other than we have been assigned dominion over them) is simply our greater potential for comprehension and relationship with Elohim (some of which no doubt is because of a superior intellect), fallen man is born second only to the angels in that regard, and those who have faith in the Son of Elohim have the potential to surpass even the angels (1 Cor. 6:2-3) due to the indellewing of the Spirit of Holiness which is something they don't seem to have been built with a capacity for (perhaps that is why some angels rebelled).

According to Islamic theology, angels were created from light. They were not given free will. They serve God for all eternity without question. Jinn were created from smokeless fire. The Jinn are an invisible race of beings who are likened to the human race, except they are more prone to evil. According to Islamic theology, Iblis or Lucifer was flawless in his worship, so he was considered to be an angel though he was from the race of Jinn. When Adam was created, God commanded the angels to prostrate before his new creation, but Iblis chose to stand. When asked why he did so, he said that he was created from fire and Adam was created from the earth (implying that he was a better creature). Consequently, he was exiled from heaven and granted respite until the Day of Resurrection.

The point that I wanted to make is that the angels were not given free will (according to Islamic theology). Therefore, the fact that we are able to choose whether or not we should worship God make us superior to the angels. We are have a superior consciousness to them, in that we know good and evil from experience. On the same token, we are superior to the animals because we know good and evil from experience and we are able to resist good or evil based on choice and not impulse.

Shlama,
bar-Khela