It usually gets under my skin when I see it.
Someone writes about an issue of social injustice in America and instead of engaging the merits of the issue a pro-life Christian simply responds with the abortion-juke (the pro-life iteration of the omnipresent Jesus-juke). “Why are you so upset about this when millions of babies are being aborted every year?”
The thing is, you can care about more than one issue. My wife has gotten heavily involved in a ministry dealing with human trafficking issues. But I don’t have to choose whether I’m going to be against human trafficking or abortion. I can be against both. I can believe that abortion is a brutal murder of a baby in it’s mother’s womb AND still think that issues of racial justice should be carefully examined and addressed in America.
The comparative outrage argument is vanity because it falsely assumes that one has to choose between caring about and advocating and ministering concerning one or the other. Baloney. Identifying one sin doesn’t justify another or diminish the guilt of those who commit it. So, the comparative outrage argument is one we ought to abandon.
But then a lion gets killed in Zimbabwe.
A dentist paid $50,000 to go big game hunting, lured Cecil the lion out of a game preserve, shot him, beheaded him, and planned (I’m assuming) to add his head to his wall back home.
Before I go on, there are a few things I should probably say.
- I’m not a hunter. Not once in my life. The only thing I’ve ever shot was a fish. I went fishing periodically with a friend in Florida years ago and we would catch gar. They were a menace to the bass, so we would pull out a little pistol Charlie had, shoot them through the head and throw them behind the boat to the gators that generally followed us down the canal. Never gone deer hunting. Never gone duck hunting. Never. Never really wanted to – hunting ain’t my thing.
- I have never owned a gun. There has never been a gun in a home I’ve lived in.
- I’m not anti-gun or anti-hunting, but they just don’t appeal to me. I support the second amendment, but I don’t really have any desire to take advantage of it. I support the fifth amendment too, but I’ve never invoked it either.
- Frankly, I find sport hunting a little creepy. I’m not saying its wrong or sinful, but I’ve watched shows on ESPN where these guys (and some women too) track these beautiful animals, scope them, and then shoot them down. They then laugh and giggle and talk about how beautiful that dead animal is. I don’t get it. Oh, maybe that bison in Custer Park that rammed our Honda Odyssey minivan – maybe I’d have liked to put a bullet into him! But I think the animals are more noble alive than dead. I get my meat behind the counter at Sam’s Club after someone else has cleaned, dressed and butchered it. I do not understand the psychology of the dentist who travels around the world to kill beautiful animals for sport.
- Having said that, I understand there are people who don’t understand my passion for the New York Yankees, so….
People are absolutely outraged about this; no, they’ve become unhinged. Piers Morgan, who passed the point of sanity a long time ago, is about as rabidly anti-gun as one can be. And yet, this lion’s death provoked him to the point that he wrote the following in the Daily Mail.
Instead, I’d like to introduce a new sport – Big Human Hunting.
I will sell tickets for $50,000 to anyone who wants to come with me and track down fat, greedy, selfish, murderous businessmen like Dr Palmer in their natural habit.
We’d lure him out with bait – in his case I suggest the fresh blood of one of his victims would be very effective as it seems to turn him on so much – and once lured, we would all take a bow and fire a few arrows into his limbs to render him incapable of movement.
Then we’d calmly walk over, skin him alive, cut his head from his neck, and took a bunch of photos of us all grinning inanely at his quivering flesh.
I’m not sure that in the USA that would not qualify as a “terroristic threat,” but if someone kills a lion evidently its okay to abandon all pretense of civility and wish to see him tracked down, shot with bow and arrows (at least its not a gun!), skinned alive, beheaded, and then photographed. Maybe Piers Morgan has a future with ISIS. I hear Jihadi John has fled Syria.
- Others have called for him to be extradited to face (supposedly harsh) justice in Zimbabwe.
- Mia Farrow tweeted his address, I presume so that people could harass (and possibly harm) him.
- Other’s have been content to simply use social media to eviscerate him.
But while I’ve not seen his views, I’ve been willing to wager my spleen that Piers Morgan and 95% of the “Justice for Cecil” contingent have barely given a second thought to the Planned Parenthood videos that have demonstrated the brutality and inhumanity of that evil organization. Each time one of those videos is released it becomes harder to avoid comparing Cecile Richards (yes, the Cecil/Cecile coincidence has been observed by many) and her bunch to Mengele and the Nazis. Murdering babies in their mothers’ wombs has been SOP for decades and we might have become used to that until we discovered that they were harvesting baby parts and selling them for profit using them to “defray costs” for alarming amounts of money. I
Sidelight: Tweet of the week – “Cecil vs Cecile: One is the world’s most vicious predator and the other is a lion.” (Not sure who the original author was but it tickled my funny bone – if it’s okay to laugh about a story this awful.)
The president has gone on the attack, through his press agent, pointing the finger of blame at the people who made the video. It is the time-honored “kill the messenger” tactic. Most of the American press has either ignored the videos or joined the president and the Democrats in honoring and supporting Planned Parenthood and attacking those who made and published the videos.
So, let me make my point. I’m not a big fan of the dentist. I don’t understand him. Evidently he’s had some ethical/legal issues in the past. So I’m not going to try to give him a pass or hand him a Medal of Freedom. I don’t know why he couldn’t take pictures of the lion and put those on his wall. But the fact that people are outraged to the point of calling for the dentist’s blood but have no outrage at all about the killing, mutilating, and marketing of babies and their body parts is a sign of deep moral depravity in America. How sick do we have to be to be upset about a lion’s death but not to be upset about millions of babies dying and being parted out?
I’m not a fan of the comparative outrage tactic, but in this case, it demonstrates something very real: our values are totally messed up; we live in a depraved land.
It shows something else. This land doesn’t just need a new president who has the basic moral decency to oppose abortion, but it needs something far more important. This national depravity should motivate us not primarily to political action (that is important and has its place), but to the pursuit of the Great Commission, to the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! It is that gospel that will change minds and hearts and open consciences. It is the gospel that not only saves but transforms.
I realize several have made this comparison, but I think this time it’s apt.
Depravity is the simplest explanation.
Animal cruelty should never be accepted nor excused. But it is a flat out despicable thing that we has a nation are silent on the atrocities occurring to babies.
You are right-it more than fits in this case.
I totally agree Dave.
My only caveat is to note that hunting is not animal cruelty. Hunting and fishing are extremely difficult to differentiate when you get down to it, and you don’t see Jesus rebuking Peter for fishing. That said, it would seem there are some other legal issues surrounding the doctor’s actions in this case.
But regardless of one’s stance toward hunting, your point still stands. Thanks for speaking up on this.
Again, I’ve got no beef with hunting. I don’t understand it and sport hunting seems a little off to me. But that’s just an opinion. I shared that just to give some background perspective to my post.
I don’t condemn hunting just because it doesn’t appeal to me.
Dave, I just finished reading some articles saying the video about Planned Parenthood was doctored. That is something I’m not sure about. I understand that 3% of all women that go to Planned Parenthood have abortions. Just one aborted baby is too many. If not for abortion, Planned Parenthood would be the greatest thing since ice cubes. They help millions of women. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz want to defund Planned Parenthood. I think it’s political suicide for them to be talking before the truth comes out, whatever that truth may be. Hopefully, women can keep planned Parenthood without abortions… Read more »
You really need to stop reading the leftist sites and do some research for yourself. Why not simply watch the videos. They are available. They were not “doctored.” They were simply edited. Just about every video you see is edited – long video shortened. That doesn’t mean it’s doctored. Jess, why on earth would you defend Planned Parenthood. These people kill babies in their mothers wombs, then harvest the organs and other parts. Don’t let your political prejudices turn you to the point where you end up defending the indefensible. This is wicked, despicable stuff they are doing – selling… Read more »
Dave,
You have turned what I have written into something I didn’t say. You can do better than that.
Have you watched any of the videos?
Jess, – these “doctored” are what they are – but if you’re willing you can find both the FULL transcripts and FULL unedited (simply shortened not doctored) videos online.
I dare you to watch/read them – I tee totally dare you!
And if it’s only 3% then and then ending a federal funding and state funding shouldn’t hurt them a bit.
The 3% has already been dealt with. 3% of all procedures, tests, etc. Are abortion operations. WAY more than 3% of PP patients end up killing their babies.
I’ve been a hunter all my life. I own guns and bows. But I too have never understood sport or trophy hunting. In fact, if you have to hire a guide, have him either lure in the animal or take you to him, and then you shoot it, that’s not hunting, it’s just killing. Why kill lions, leopards, or zebras? Just because you can. Unless you are protecting yourself, or your property, then eat what you kill and kill what you’ll eat. This guy deserves the ridicule and scorn he’s getting. And if he’s broken the law in Africa then… Read more »
I’m like you, Bill Mac. I grew up hunting, but I never hunted anything I could not and would not eat. But so-called “sport hunting,” hunting something just so you can stuff it and put it on your wall? That I find deplorable, and the antics used by this rich dentist are all that much more the worst. He should be extradited regardless of the condition of jails there or their legal system. It is a simple matter of doing what is right, and if he can’t do the time, he should not have done the crime. He is not… Read more »
I know pastor who went hunting in Africa, with a SBC IMB missionary. He killed a zebra. All according to local hunting laws. They gave the zebra carcass to a local tribesman and his wives. Several hours later they drove back through the village. The wives already had the zebra dressed out, cut into small pieces and hanging on racks drying in the sun. So, maybe some people do hunt zebras for food as well as the hide, trophy, and the thrill of the hunt. And maybe the country recognizes that, as reflected in their laws on hunting. I know… Read more »
Yes I have heard of that happening. Since it was eaten, seems to me that moves it from the realm of “sport hunting” to “food hunting.” That would be not unlike shooting a deer or a wild hog, eating the meat, and mounting the head. I have no problem with that; perhaps the distinction is small, but real nonetheless. And I suppose you could eat lion meat–certainly it sounds more appetizing than worms or bugs. But I think we all know this dentist didn’t eat Cecil, and shot him for the trophy to put on his wall (either stuffed or… Read more »
Not only was the lion not eaten but they tried to destroy the evidence that this was a collared lion used for scientific research. The head and cape were taken and the carcass left. It was lured out to be shot. There was nothing brave, heroic, honorable or sporting about this.
Had zebra at the Carnivore restaurant in Nairobi. Tasted like beef.
Nothing in this trophy hunting is sporting.
This nation is headed for a chastisement. It has squandered every blessing it may have been given. No fault divorce, legalized abortion, homosexual “marriage “. We have allowed paganism to become the state supported, official religion and children are sacrificed on its altar. Just as in the time of baalam. Nothig new under the sun. Almighty God, end this!
This thing begs comparison Dave. It is like a dad who is furious about his 10 year old son loosing the remote for the TV and laughing when he catches him with the loaded pistol. What is the real crime? That Cecil was defenseless? That he was a lion? That Cecil hadn’t paid his dental bill? That $50,000.00 was not nearly enough money? What really goes on in the head of a big game hunter? I am told that it is the same adrenaline rush of shop lifting. Only with big game you get to hang the actual head on… Read more »
When you look at this as the worth of lions vs people, then of course there is no comparison. However this episode may be indicative of something deeper. When killing is fun, when you are willing to spend big bucks to kill something, when you are willing to not only spend big bucks, but to break the law in order to kill (as this guy has done more than once), then perhaps it’s not surprising when human life is also being devalued. If someone you knew worked at a slaughterhouse, most of us would no doubt think much of it.… Read more »
“no doubt NOT think much of it”
I don’t have to watch the videos to be outraged… Saddened. Sickened. We are approaching the time of teshuvah of repentance of reflecting on our lives Yom Kippur. I don’t care what you think individually of Jonathan Cahn his work concerning the Harbinger and the Shmitah and approaching Jubilee, Mark Biltz his work concerning the blood moons falling on the Feast days and the other eclipses on interesting Jewish dates these two years. The Cecil/Cecile connection is nothing new with God. I have made note of several times God has done this in the past linking concurrent events for our… Read more »
Here is a thought, save the babies, and kill the sharks in the ocean, if we must kill just to be killing.
I have never killed just for the sake of killing. I grew up in the mountains, and when we killed it meant dinner and supper.
City folks would say, “How can you kill those furry little creatures?” My answer to that is Yum, Yum.
If God didn’t mean for us to eat _______*, why did He make them taste so good?
*Squirrel, duck, hog, deer, etc.
John
I was always glad when the Easter Bunny came to our house. It meant we were having rabbit stew for supper.
John
For those interested in a defense of hunting, fishing, etc. , you can find much information at:
U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance – http://www.ussportsmen.org
It is interesting that where you find a healthy, well-regulated hunting environment, the animal populations are also healthy and thriving. Hunters contribute much to the wildlife environment.
Regardless of your view on hunting,
I agree it is tragic to see people crying over a lion, while unconcerned about thousands of unborn babies being cruelly killed, dismembered, and the body parts sold by Planned Parenthood.
David R. Brumbelow
“The reality is, the worst thing you can do for a big game animal is to no longer hunt it. I realize that notion might not sit well with some, but it’s true. No animal in this country has ever gone extinct due to modern, regulated sport hunting. In fact, the opposite is true as they have instead flourished under the North American Wildlife Conservation model… The reality is, human beings are part of the circle of life and there is no more humane way to manage wildlife than through hunting… Mother Nature is not pretty as some suggest. Animals… Read more »
In true “sport” hunting, the animal would get to carry a gun at least as big is the hunter.
How about the passenger pigeon? What got them?
When thinking about Cecil the Lion, remember that there are a lot of thankful zebras, gazelles, and wildebeasts, today.
# Zebra lives matter, too.
#Gazelle lives matter, too.
# Wildebeasts lives matter, too.
Excellent point, David. What do you think the innocent, lovable Cecil the Lion has been eating all these years? Cecil has been brutally killing and eating zebras, gazelles, wildebeests, and other innocent animals. Hunting lions helps balance the population of other animals as well. And, if Cecil the Lion had not been shot, he likely would have ended up, when old and weak, being brutally killed and eaten by spotted hyenas. But Disney somehow never seems to get around to showing those inconvenient details. If Cecil the Lion ever saw Bambi the Baby Deer, Bambi would have been killed and… Read more »
Well, perhaps we should give the dentist a medal then and invite him to speak at the next pastors conference. Trying to excuse what he did is pitiful. No one ate that lion, it isn’t the circle of life. True hunters hunt, they don’t hire other people to hunt for them and then just point and shoot. True hunters eat what they kill. True hunters don’t kill just because they can. No one here is anti-hunting. Trying to make this about opposing hunting is disingenuous at best. Just because we oppose abortion doesn’t make the slaughter of all other forms… Read more »
Actually, the vultures or hyenas probably ate the skinned body–maybe both.
For both Davids. I think that we are way short on predators in most of our natural situations–with the exception of people.
Bill Mac and Bennett,
Let’s not forget about all of the zebras, meerkats, BABY water buffaloes, wildebeests, and gazelles that this lion savagely attacked and ripped their bodies up for devouring. Please, don’t forget about the them!
David 😉
David: I know you’re trying to be amusing, but I don’t see why. Are you in favor of poaching? Are you in favor of Americans breaking the law? Are you in favor of destroying an animal that is being scientifically studied? What exactly is funny about this? I’m just wondering why the “christian” response to poaching is humor.
The op is incorrect about comparative outrage arguments. The issue is not that one has to be chosen over the other. (although sometimes it should) The comparative outrage argument comes when there has been outrage expressed over a much lesser issue and none has been expressed over something with much more value. Certainly one can be outraged over the killing of the Lion (if that is important to them) and abortion at the same time. The comparison is often made about people who care about how animals are treated and express outrage to the level of condemning others who do… Read more »
Another comparison.
The national media is just about as biased on the hunting issue, as it is on the abortion issue.
They present their politically correct side and never,
or almost never,
consider the other side
or have a competent representative from the other side.
It is their one view, period.
David R. Brumbelow
Happy Birthday, Cecil. You were missed at the family reunion.
Sadly, Cecil never learned the lesson about stranger danger that his brothers and sisters learned. If only Cecil had listened.
David
“The Bible says much about hunting and without one derogatory word,” said Paige Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. “But it is not just hunting at issue. Fishing and the eating of any kind of meat is at issue since [with] all of these, [animals] must die in order to feed people. The Bible makes it clear that the animals were given to men to meet their various needs including food. I do distinguish between killers and hunters. I always taught my children that we use every animal taken. Skinning a rattlesnake, a porcupine and a skunk underscored all… Read more »
The preciousness of God’s creation requires that humans “not just go out and shoot up the countryside,” Patterson, a veteran of some 20 African hunts, told Baptist Press in written comments. “Almost all the animals taken in Africa go to the poor of the countries to eat, for which, particularly in Zimbabwe, they are most grateful.”
-Paige Patterson, SWBTS
http://bpnews.net/45240/lions-death-occasions-defense-of-legal-hunting
I made the mistake of having two links in my last comment; therefore it is moderation.
Hope everyone will read the full article.
David R. Brumbelow
Denny Burk tweeted this. Powerful!
If you think the problem is video editing and not barbarism, then your conscience has been burned over by propaganda. http://t.co/9EWMuRcqTo
Good points, Dave. On the one hand, the importance of the abortion issue doesn’t negate any valid moral consideration regarding the unnecessary death of an animal. On the other hand, it is valid to point out the moral failings of being outraged over the untimely death of a lion and not being outraged over the abortion holocaust. I’m not a hunter, but I’d hunt if I had to. I don’t own any firearms, but I’ve considered getting one or two. It just hasn’t been a priority. My budget is limited and I need to focus on more important things. But… Read more »
Lion killers of the Bible Samson Now to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand. -Judges 14:5-6 David Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God. -1 Samuel 17:36 Benaiah He also had gone down and killed a lion in the midst of a pit on… Read more »
What’s your point? Are you in favor of poaching? Do you think we have the right to kill whatever we want, whenever we want?
I think Zimbabwe and many other African countries want to have it both ways – they market themselves and make lots of money off of foreigners – specifically Americans – coming to thier lands hunting big game and doing exactly what this Denist did – only this time he killed a beloved animal. I’m not trying to justify what the man did but I do think this is an important point. (I personally disapprove of people hunting animals unless it’s for food – but I will say that if one hunts for food and kill an animal there’s nothing wrong… Read more »
Agreed, I don’t mount the heads of the animals I’ve taken but I don’t begrudge people who do it, assuming they have hunted an animal legally and for food. Trophy and sport hunting does bother me. In my opinion killing is not a sport and should not be fun. Let’s be honest, people don’t go on safaris to hunt, they go to kill. The “hunting” is done by others. The only thing the consumer needs to do is pay $$$ and be a decent shot (or not, as in the case of this dentist). Hunters spend time in the wilderness,… Read more »
By the way, the bible doesn’t exactly say “much” about hunting. As far as I can tell, there are about 4 verses that talk about hunting animals for food.
One of them in Proverbs says that lazy men do not cook what they hunt.
Bill Mac,
I want to say first that I think what this dentist did was ridiculous. However, the fact is that all hunters at least in part hunt for sport. If it were really just about food then we would not buy high dollar deer rifles, hunting licenses, deer tags and pay for processing, we would use that money to buy food. You can put an awful lot of food in the freezer for what these things cost.
John: Agree, I was concerned about the word sport even as I wrote it, although I think hunting some animals is a necessity. Deer for example would overrun many states if they weren’t hunted. But you are right, we aren’t hunting for survival.
Did you know the Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, voted against defunding Planned Parenthood? He is a Republican that is trying to play both sides. He said his reason for voting against defunding PP was so he could bring it up again. I guess Kirk had the same thing in mind, he, a Republican, also voted against defunding PP.
There is not one cent difference between the parties when it comes to moral issues. The republicans support the rich, and the democrats support the poor.
Jess,
You are showing your ignorance again – Mitch McConnell voted that way not because he did not want to defund Planned Parenthood – it is very clear that he does want to defund Planned Parenthood – Mitch McConnell is not my favorite senator but on this issue he’s pretty solid – he did that so he could bring the vote up again at a later time – it is a Senatorial voting tactic that has been around as long as The United States Senate and used by majority and minority leaders of both parties.
Also – every democrat (except 2) voted to not defund.
Every republican except 2 voted to defund (and at least one of those did so strictly for procedural reasons)
Now objectively and rationally explain how it is that there’s no difference in the two parties on this issue.
Look at any vote on the abortion issue and you’ll see that by and large one party (dems) defends and supports abortion and PP and the other party (reps) opposes them.
Tarheel,
I’ll say this once again, because your ignorance is showing. Republicans are why we have abortion in the first place. Republicans are why the sodomy laws were struck down.
Republicans are for the rich. A few rich folks control the Republican party. Republicans have been and are against the middleclass and poor.
Tarheel, hunt it up, the facts are real. I think you talk without thinking. We have a Republican Supreme Court now, thus Gay marriage. Tarheel, you are trying to say that Republicans are on the moral high ground. That is a joke.
Wow. Just wow.
Jess,
Your “republican/conservative Supreme Court” mantra has been disproven and should be thrown into the trash heap of blogging history by any reasonably thinking person – however you keep bringing it up – I don’t know if that’s just woeful ignoring of what’s been posted in response to your comments or if you just simply incapable of grasping Simple facts and reality – I’m not sure.
[Paige] Patterson denounced illegal hunting and said if any laws were broken related to Palmer’s hunt, “the local outfitter and professional hunter” should be prosecuted. He added that “a man is innocent until proven guilty and rush to judgment is in this case, as [in] all others, unwise.” Most hunting outfits in Africa “are run by men of high ethical and moral conduct and in accordance with the laws of the land,” Patterson said. Hunters “are normally your leading conservationists. After all, they are dependent upon the prosperity of the herds. That is why almost all forms of African and… Read more »
So David: When you say you are for lion hunting, do you mean you would go to Africa, learn the lion’s ways, enter into the forest, track it, kill it, dress it, butcher it, cook it, and eat it? I didn’t think so.
Bill, I think of the hunters who do the “big game hunts” in Africa will donate the meat to villages – kinda like what some do in our area when they are not going to eat their kill- donate to “hunters for hungry” or some other charitable group that does feed people with the meat. I do not have a problem with that either. In other words – hunt it if you want (but if the meat is not eaten – by you or someone else – then I think you are walking a line that could border the inappropriate… Read more »
Tarheel, I think the “We Donate Meat” argument is really a red herring. The money spent on the safari would feed many more people than the meat of a lion. I started hunting when I was 14 with a .410 single shot. Big game for me were squirrels and rabbits. We ate the meat, but we hunted for the “thrill of the kill.” Watch any hunting program and it is the “thrill of the kill,” not the need for food that drives hunting. Patterson’s argument has more holes in it than the big game he has shot. He did not… Read more »
“Red Herring” or “Red Meat”?
🙂
Tarheel: It’s great that they donate the meat. But I doubt they are doing it primarily out of generosity. Are Westerners going to eat lion? Of course not. They kill things to stuff them and put them on the wall.
Do you think people who go on safari are motivated by conservation concerns? Do they say: “I’m really burdened about lion overpopulation in Africa”? Of course not. They want to kill a big, dangerous animal and stuff it for pride.
No, I think people who go on these adventures are going primarily because they enjoy the art of hunting and, yes as Jack said, for the “thrill of the kill” – part of that the mounting of the “trophy”. They *could* do all that stuff at home so the thrill of going overseas to a jungle or what have you must have some “sporting” and/or “thrilling” appeal. I do not have a problem with any of the above – again so long as the meat is used for food of some sort. I do this might border on the inappropriate… Read more »
Tarheel: Hunting certainly can be enjoyable but I maintain simply shooting something isn’t hunting. Some of these outfitters capture trophy males of various species and drop them onto the ranch to be shot by clients shortly after. Some of these animals are lured in by bait (like Cecil). There’s no way you or I could go and “hunt” a lion. We don’t know the habits of the animal, we don’t know the land or the terrain. What we can do is hire something to take us to a lion, or to have jungle beaters drive the lion to us, and… Read more »
Yeah – I see your point there Bill Mac.
I don’t understand why you keep invoking Paige Patterson in this discussion.
I found today’s F Minus strip apropos: http://www.gocomics.com/fminus/2015/08/06
Enjoy