Animal abuse has been on the news lately on TV in which youth have been using cats for target practice, burnings, hangings, etc.

They showed a picture of a young kitten that was brutally killed.

If there is anything that angers me, this is one of them.

I don't know how much anyone is following the story in Canada but a star quarterback in the NFL, Micheal Vick, has been accused of running a large dog fighting ring. This just burns me up, raising animals to fight for sport, to their death. And if the loser does not die in the ring people will kill it.

I was amused this morning though when CNN reported that someone is selling a Micheal Vick chew toy for dogs.

Redfog

I hadn't heard about the abuse cases, such awful things that men devise for amusement. One wonders how bad it will get.

This weeks SS lesson is on Samson.

On reading of him, I can't help but recall what a cruel man he was:

"So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, 5 lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines."

I call this animal abuse at some of it's worse.

What do you think?

Yes, I agree. We would call this animal abuse today.

What about all of the sacrificing of animals that took place during the sacrificial system? Would this be called animal abuse today?

Of course we sacrifice millions of animals every year to satisfy the god of appetite. But yes it's a good thing that PETA was not around in Biblical times.

Redfog

Samson's cruelty was motivated by his anger, and was done with on other purpose then a vent of his anger.

Revenge and cruelty were not behind the sacrifice system but one of the purposes was used to teach the sinner.

"When an animal was devoted to sacrifice, the hand of the one invested with priestly authority was laid upon the head of the victim." The Acts of the Apostles (1911), page 162

"The repentant sinner brought his offering to the door of the tabernacle, and placing his hand upon the victim's head, confessed his sins, thus in figure transferring them from himself to the innocent sacrifice. By his own hand the animal was then slain, and the blood was carried by the priest into the holy place and sprinkled before the veil, behind which was the ark containing the law that the sinner had transgressed." The Faith I Live By (1958), page 198

"The Lesson of the Animal Sacrifices.--A lesson was embodied in every sacrifice, impressed in every ceremony, solemnly preached by the priest in his holy office, and inculcated by God Himself--that through the blood of Christ alone is there forgiveness of sins. How little we as a people feel the force of this great truth! How seldom, by living, acting faith, do we bring into our lives this great truth, that there is forgiveness for the least sin, forgiveness for the greatest sin." (RH Sept. 21, 1886)!

"The heathen systems of sacrifice were a perversion of the system that God had appointed; and many a sincere observer of heathen rites learned from the Hebrews the meaning of the service divinely ordained, and in faith grasped the promise of a Redeemer." The Desire of Ages (1898), page 28

What if the sacrifice was motivated by appetite, as Redfog mentioned? The system man has devised for the mass production of beef and poultry is, in many ways, more cruel than what Samson did.



The Passover sacrifice teaches something that is often overlooked. You pick out a lamb, have it around the house for about a week, probably get attached to it (especially the children), then you kill it.

What does that teach us about how we should feel when we crucify the Lamb afresh every time we transgress?

It is my opinion that most people are way out of touch in the mater of where their food comes from and give little consideration as to how it got to there plate.

Today's agribusiness cares little of the quality of the life of the flesh that they harvest. The system is totally inhumane. I see little to compare it with the sacrificial system that the Creator initiated to communicate his plan of salvation, if that what you were trying to do.