Life is valuable to the Lord and it should be people as well. This includes the lives of animals because God made them too and how we treat them is a reflection of our heart.
However, we should also recognize that only human life is made in the image of God and that is why we value the lives of people over animals.
Over the weekend, a four-year-old boy fell into the ape enclosure at the Cincinnati zoo leading to the shooting of a 400 pound gorilla named Harambe.
The child’s mother, who was at the zoo, said she tried to stop the child, who authorities believe crawled past the railing and fell 10 feet into the gorilla’s habitat, where he spent more than 10 minutes.
While it appeared that Harambe was attempting to protect the boy, the animal soon picked the boy up by the leg and it was clear that zoo officials needed to intervene by killing the 17-year-old gorilla.
The zoo’s spokesman made it clear that the life of the four year old was of higher priority and that while it was heart breaking to kill the animal, human life was more valued.
The outcry from animal rights activists has been loud to say the least and many are calling for legal action against the parents of the boy.
What is the biblical perspective on an event such as this?
It is always difficult to raise children and to keep them safe, especially if you are trying to mind more one of them, but parents have an obligation to not take on more than they are capable of handling.
It will become clear over time the role the mother of this boy played in his falling into the enclosure, whether it was that he got away from her or she was ignoring her child and allowed him to fall.
Should the death of Harambe be determined to be brought about be parental neglect then the boy’s parents should face charges because we are responsible for our actions as the bible clearly teaches.
We should also remember that human life is of greater value than that of animals not that their lives are without value but man was created in the image of God. The godless tend to place equal or greater value on the lives of animals because they reject not only the Creator but His authority and so they worship the creation instead.
It certainly saddens my heart that it was necessary to shoot this majestic animal but a boy’s life was at stake and his death would have been more tragic.
