A recent news article was posted on the Shepherding All God’s Creatures Prayer Group that is rather disconcerting. It is unfortunate that this happened. The video has been removed. I tried in vain to find out if anything has been said by the pastor and his faith community to redeem the situation.
We live in a climate where everything that happens, whether to people or animals, is spread all over social media. It is easy to make judgments before and without looking deeper into the situation. This is dangerous and damaging. The whole story is rarely told, most readers are not a part of that faith community, are not in relationship with the people involved, and lack the inside scoop to the other side of the story. Only God knows this mans heart, as well.
There are a few things that do warrant being pointed out. How the earth and animal kingdom are treated is a topic of utmost concern by many and that number is growing rapidly. The church as a whole does need to get on board for several reasons:
- The world is watching, many are looking for the God that cares about all creation; what happened, though likely it was not meant to, reflects poorly on the Christian faith, it did not not put on display Christ’s character towards the animal kingdom or towards the people who care about them
- The News article itself is bad press for the church and further distances people from our beloved Jesus who should be at the heart and center of all we do to reach people
- The pastor perhaps did not think his behavior through to the ramifications given the times in which we live which puts on display the incredible need for Christian education on animal welfare issues that plague our world and alienate people groups because of them
- The Christian faith (no matter the denomination) needs to take seriously the very real abuses that take place and to stop ignoring and pushing against welfarists; faith based communities must take up these issues theologically or risk further harm being done to the overall mission of the church itself
In Genesis, we read God created us in his Image, to be the Image bearers of God over the creation as caretakers; not taking up the issues of animal welfare is
- The equivalent of denying who we were created to be while also denying the role the fall has played in destroying the relationship between humans and God’s creation
- Refuting the role the church has to act in accordance with the responsibility God placed in our hands to mend this broken relationship is jeopardizing the whole of the purpose of the church
What this pastor did is perhaps a statement of ignorance – animals all over the world today are the marginalized, forgotten, downtrodden, neglected, abused, and poor; they are misunderstood by the masses, people are not educated as to who they are or what they need in order to properly care for them; as a result, their place (and our own) in the ordering of the entirety of creation under the Lord’s reign remains misunderstood
- Christian leaders need an education in animal behavior, animal sentience, and to recognize that animals are more like us than not
- God created them and they share the same breath of life that we do
- God told us to be merciful and kind to them (scripture is filled with God’s concern over them; his desire is for us to care for them as he would himself)
The pastor uses an animal to display Christian discipline as a lesson for people to obey God; animals were created a little lower (this does NOT mean less important or of lesser value) than us; cognitively the dog is not going to understand what his caregiver is doing for the reason he is doing it, he is only going to know hunger, confusion, and perhaps fear; as sensitive as people are becoming to animal welfare issues, his choice can be construed to reflect the fore-stated ignorance, though he likely meant no harm
- Using the animal in this fashion may, for some, teach the wrong message about how to treat animals (particularly in the area of discipline); though this was being done as an object lesson for humans and not as a disciplinary action toward the animal, what it may teach (especially children who take things literally) about correcting an animals behavior could be harmful; any correction in the animals behavior must never be abusive but done with love and care through appropriate training (starving a dog is abusive)
- Animal welfarists who do not know Jesus may attack this pastor and the larger faith community as a whole (which the article itself does); this is not going to advance the animal welfare cause in any way shape or form – it will damage it in the long run not only for secularists but for Christians as well
- Animal welfarists who do know Jesus are likely going to feel conflicted, frustrated, angry; many will not know what to do or not do; they may lash out in the same fashion as some secularists do; the lack of leadership and of a theological foundation in which to address these express concerns within our own faith communities is becoming of great concern to Christians and will only continue to grow. Most Christian animal welfarists want to honor their pledge to the Lord to display his character toward their fellow Christian brothers and sisters while also portraying his great love for ALL of his creation. But what does that look like, how is that done? Where do we go for guidance?
A few suggestions:
- Seeking God in prayer is always recommended and to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit. God asks us to be light and salt. He will show us how and the timing will be perfect
- Writing a compassionate, Christlike (non-judgmental and loving) letter to this pastor (or message on his website) would be appropriate. Perhaps take a look at the excellent letter written by Lois Wye from Dominion In The Image Of God as an example (posted on the SAGC blog here).
- Perhaps we can plant some seeds in this pastor’s heart by sharing our perspectives as Christian animal welfarists and point out scripture to show him the incredible love God has for all his creation!
- Prayer and forgiveness for him are essential; we all need prayer and forgiveness for we all fall short of God’s glory (character)
- We can insist our faith communities invest in developing creation care ministries relevant to God’s indivisible love spoken of throughout scripture for ALL creation that reflects the redeeming work of Christ’s work on the cross to restore the created order to all our relationships, including with animals
Lastly, it is likely this pastor has received hate mail from welfarists. In modeling the love of Christ among secular animal welfarists by not judging those who perpetrate, and by allowing the Holy Spirit to manifest his fruit in us, we invite the Lord into the animal welfare movement to transform lives as only he can do. When the Holy Spirit transforms hearts and lives, the church will be doing its work on behalf of the WHOLE creation and greatly move the animal welfare movement forward.
Anything less than loving as Christ loves will only harden hearts, further distancing them from understanding the truth of who animals are in God’s eyes as well as to what role they are suppose to play in manifesting God’s Kingdom upon the earth by directly working toward healing the relationship between man and animals.
Thank you for reading, following, and sharing our blog; God bless you and yours and we pray that our blog reflects truth in Christ, that what is not of God falls away, it is our heart of hearts, and that it is a blessing to all! ~Kathy
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The Rev’d S. Elizabeth Searle
You do realize that no one could have the slightest idea what you are talking about unless you share the problem/issue/post that produced this response….
Kathy
Thank you for your comment Rev’d S Elizabeth Searle; the link to the article that sparked this response is at the beginning of the article in the first sentence – “A recent news article.” If you click on that it will take you to the article. Thank you for reading and for the question! God bless. ~Kathy
Kathy
Rev’d S. Elizabeth Searle, I was talking about this post today with someone, in particular about the news article which prompted the article that I wrote. The link did not work when I tried. It is fixed now. It worked when I tried it after I wrote you the first time in answer to your message; not sure why the link got broken.
We hope you will revisit the blog, and thank you for tuning in!
Blessings to you and yours,
Kathy
Jen
Kathy: thank you for writing this. A slightly different incident recently came out involving a youth pastor who self-flagellated (my term) to teach the youth what Christ went through. At least he did it to himself, though I’m sure it could be disturbing to see. Perhaps a forewarning should have been given to the youth and their parents so they could decide whether or not to be there.
Obviously, abusing the animal is never o.k. I have thought recently about how much influence Descartes has had on contemporary Christianity, even if we don’t recognize it. I understand that he viewed animals as machines. I don’t know enough about him to assume that he believed they couldn’t feel pain or emotions. Still, labeling them machines isn’t good, unless the original French has a different take.
I also remember discovering so pro-animal welfare comments (in my view) of C.S. Lewis as I perused a small collection of his works years ago. One quote in particular stands out. He spoke of anti-vivisectionists being dismissed as sentimentalists toward the animals. He argued that those promoting vivisection on that basis were themselves sentimentalists toward humans.
**I hope I explained that right!**
SPOILER ALERT for The Martian Chronicles
There’s also a particularly graphic example of a character consumed by evil who tears up living animals.
Kathy
Jen, thank you for your comment. I’m sure that was disturbing to see to both youth and parents or anyone else who may witness it. The movie that Mel Gibson produced, The Passion of the Christ, would have been sufficient to teach the youth.
Yes Descartes had tremendous influence over Christianity; it was he who “maintained that animals cannot reason and do not feel pain; animals are living organic creatures, but they are automata, like mechanical robots. Descartes held that only humans are conscious, have minds and souls, can learn and have language and therefore only humans are deserving of compassion.” Boy, nothing is further from the truth! Imagine if he were alive today and could stand in the presence of Koko the gorilla using sign language or cracking a joke, or any number of other of proofs we have of certain mammals in particular being self aware (elephants, dolphins, orangutans, parrots); or to walk with Cynthia Moss as she witnessed untold proofs of the intricate family relationships of Echo and her family; there is so much today praise Elohim/God that tell us about the non-human animal kingdom. No matter the animal or their abilities to be self aware or not – Elohim made them each after their own kind (Genesis) – they all feel emotions, it is likely a matter of degree, they are more like children than not. I love the Job passages where the Father talks about the ostrich! Animals are his. We should care for them as he would.
You did a fine job of explaining about C.S. Lewis and his thoughts about vivisection and in fact made it even clearer – we are indeed sentimentalists towards humans on the that (vivisection) basis. C.S. Lewis, though instructive in his advocacy for animals, was also weak in some areas. I could not get into some of his writings due to how guarded he could be by the checks and balances of the views of authority during that time period; I think this made his case for animals weaker; but I have become critical of Christianity in its anthropocentric reading of scripture in its entirety; I have parted ways with mainstream Christianity. I do like some of the quotes, however, of C.S. Lewis. But even here, like in this quote:
“One of the things that distinguishes man from the other animals is that he wants to know things, wants to find out what reality is like, simply for the sake of knowing. When that desire is completely quenched in anyone, I think he has become something less than human.”
Animals want to know things too! And some of them, like take apes or the chimpanzee, are more like us in this area than not. I guess the anthropocentric in him just has always stood out and I can not entirely get passed it. And the things humans often want to know — well, they fly in the face of what is reasonable, equitable, are dangerous and destructive, and often play god.
I have not read the book, The Martian Chronicles. The introduction on goodreads is interesting, I may have to get myself a copy! Though animals being ripped apart by evil consumed humans is troubling for sure…. Thanks for the spoiler alert! I don’t hold fantasies myself of going to mars and living there, though I know some who do. Personally, I think the human race needs to solve its problems with regards to how we live on the earth rather than looking to another planet to live on, it has always struck me as ridiculous that we would think we could survive elsewhere when we can’t do what will be necessary to survive here – as we see before our very eyes how we destroy the earth’s habitats for not only us but all life on it and cannot seem to stop the treadmill toward eminent destruction.
Thanks again, Jen, for you comment. I hope you will consider following our Facebook page and blog, and feel free to PM me anytime. Many blessings ~Kathy