“CONCERN FOR DOGS”
In recent days a football player managed to get into the news. He was accused and convicted of training dogs to fight in the state of Virginia. If this particular player had not been caught, he would have been throwing passes on Sunday and killing dogs in his spare time. In order to train the dogs to fight, they were tortured and even killed, if they did not perform to the satisfaction of those involved. Animal rights groups picketed the training camp of the football team before the season began. Along with the dog fighting there was gambling going on as to which dog would win.
The statues within the book of Leviticus helped Israel to know how they should behave themselves in the land of Canaan. One such statue was that if a man killed a beast, he would make it good, the idea here being a beast being used for plowing or work of some kind. If such an animal was killed, it was to be replaced by the one doing the killing (Leviticus 24:18). The command was given again a few verses later in verse 21. The injunction found in verse 21 also carried this warning. The person who kills another man was to be put to death. Once more the meaning is not kill as in battle but rather killing out of anger or some other unrighteous reason.
How far should we our justice system go to correct the behavior of this particular ball player? He was guilty of running a gambling operation. What does the state of Indiana run with its state lottery? Should we lock up all our politicians who voted to give us the lottery or who get gain from the lottery? How many states now have state lotteries? The state can operate such a business but a private individual cannot. How many years has the Catholic Church conducted bingo games for profit? I really wonder if they want to convict this ball player for running a gambling operation.
Why don’t we convict him for cruelty to animals? When there is an outcry because of serial killers, the reason is we want to “study” them and learn why they do what they do. In most of the case studies that have been done about serial killers, one constant trademark is cruelty to animals. No, everyone who is cruel to animals is not a serial killer. Serial killers tend to have this in their background. Here then is a young man making a tremendous amount of money and resorts to this horrible practice of training dogs to fight and kill. The state of Virginia was right to find him guilty on this particular charge.
What amazes me is that communities, cities, and ball teams get upset because animals have been mistreated. The kind of torture they were subjected to was presented to establish the guilt of those involved and to drive home the message that punishment was needed. I wonder why a baby inside the womb does not get the same kind of concern? Why do “doctors” tell us that the baby cannot survive out of the womb? Is it because the baby depends on the mother for its life? Oh, excuse me you cannot say that. Why not you ask? Because such a statement implies, the baby is alive. If it is alive, what kind of life is it? Is it organ life such as the mother’s kidney? Is it animal life? Would not reasonable people conclude that it is HUMAN life?
When Elisabeth was carrying John in her womb, she was visited by Mary the mother of Jesus. We know this was sometime in the second trimester of Elisabeth carrying John. When Mary and Elisabeth greeted each other, the babe (John) leaped in her womb (Luke 1: 26,41). What leaped in Elisabeth’s womb, an organ, an animal or John? Mary would leave and later on give birth to Jesus. Where would we be today had Mary decided to kill that which was in her womb? Did not the angel announce, that this baby would be the Savior of the world? (Matthew 1:21). Let us get slightly more personal if the idea of Jesus does not appeal to your reasoning. Where would you be if your parents had decided to kill you while you were in the womb?
Those poor dogs in Virginia had no one to protect them from the savage treatment by humans. They were tortured and in some cases killed. Who protects the human life inside the mother? Who pleads for them? We are living in some disturbing times. We get angry over mistreatment of dogs and cannot get politicians in an election year to say they are opposed to killing babies in the womb. If this were the only issue with which I disagreed with a politician over, he would not get my vote. Let’s protect our animals and humans.