By now everyone has heard of the 3 year old boy that managed to climb his way into the gorilla exhibit at the Cincinnati zoo. Fearing for the boy's life, zoo officials made the decision to shoot and kill the 400-pound Silverback gorilla named Harambe. I'm not here to discuss whose fault it was or even if it was necessary, everyone else is doing that. What I am more interested in is people's reaction to it.
Several questions have occurred to me. Why is it that people's first reaction was not relief of saving a child's life, but outrage over killing an animal? Why is there more outrage about the death of Harambe the gorilla and Cecil the lion than millions of babies being aborted, or Christian's dying in Syria? Yes, it's unfortunate that this incident happened at all, and that an endangered species had to be put down, but what does it say about us?
We live in a world where people increasingly care more about animal life than human life. Of course, this is nothing new. Clement of Alexandria in the second century chastised the Romans for saving and protecting young birds and other creatures while abandoning their own children. All this is the result of a pagan worldview where animal life is elevated with, and many cases above, human life:
The end result is human life becomes devalued, and so do things like compassion and love. The pagan worldview strips mankind of its position and authority, making them no better than animals. So how did we get to this point? There are many ideas over the decades that have brought us here. Evolution and secular humanism which teach moral relativism, environmentalism which teaches a subtle form of pantheism (worship of nature), and the legalization and acceptance of abortion to name a few. All these things devalue human life.
Contrast this with the Christian worldview. Genesis 1:26 says, "“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Humans are a special creation that was made to have dominion over the entire earth. Humans are so special in fact, that God sent His only son to die for them. This is the only worldview that elevates human life.
Speaking of the last days, Jesus said the love of many shall wax cold. Are there any doubts we have arrived at that point? When there is more outrage over the death of a single animal than that of 58 million babies aborted, equal to the deaths of all U.S. wars combined, then Houston we have a problem.
Several questions have occurred to me. Why is it that people's first reaction was not relief of saving a child's life, but outrage over killing an animal? Why is there more outrage about the death of Harambe the gorilla and Cecil the lion than millions of babies being aborted, or Christian's dying in Syria? Yes, it's unfortunate that this incident happened at all, and that an endangered species had to be put down, but what does it say about us?
We live in a world where people increasingly care more about animal life than human life. Of course, this is nothing new. Clement of Alexandria in the second century chastised the Romans for saving and protecting young birds and other creatures while abandoning their own children. All this is the result of a pagan worldview where animal life is elevated with, and many cases above, human life:
The end result is human life becomes devalued, and so do things like compassion and love. The pagan worldview strips mankind of its position and authority, making them no better than animals. So how did we get to this point? There are many ideas over the decades that have brought us here. Evolution and secular humanism which teach moral relativism, environmentalism which teaches a subtle form of pantheism (worship of nature), and the legalization and acceptance of abortion to name a few. All these things devalue human life.
Contrast this with the Christian worldview. Genesis 1:26 says, "“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Humans are a special creation that was made to have dominion over the entire earth. Humans are so special in fact, that God sent His only son to die for them. This is the only worldview that elevates human life.
Speaking of the last days, Jesus said the love of many shall wax cold. Are there any doubts we have arrived at that point? When there is more outrage over the death of a single animal than that of 58 million babies aborted, equal to the deaths of all U.S. wars combined, then Houston we have a problem.
