I have always been of the firm belief that the “Christian Right” is in now way wholly representative of the actual “Christian Faith”. Instead they are group devout on getting attention and pushing an agenda that is more self-serving than Bible based. A blog posted by the AFA once again proved my point. Here is an excerpt:
If the counsel of the Judeo-Christian tradition had been followed, Tillikum would have been put out of everyone's misery back in 1991 and would not have had the opportunity to claim two more human lives.
Says the ancient civil code of Israel, "When an ox gores a man or woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner shall not be liable." (Exodus 21:28)
So, your animal kills somebody, your moral responsibility is to put that animal to death. You have no moral culpability in the death, because you didn't know the animal was going to go postal on somebody.
But, the Scripture soberly warns, if one of your animals kills a second time because you didn't kill it after it claimed its first human victim, this time you die right along with your animal. To use the example from Exodus, if your ox kills a second time, "the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death." (Exodus 21:29)
The fact that this group would bring up the counsel of the Old Testament Law and prescribe it to a modern day situation is in very poor taste and also reeks of bad hermeneutics. Does the AFA still sacrifice animals and stone those guilty of adultery? I certainly hope they have had the opportunity to peruse the mercy, grace and love found amongst the pages of the New Testament.
I am not saying the Old Testament doesn’t have its place, but these laws found in the Pentateuch are not meant to be applied literally in the church age, and they know this. Shame on them for once again embarrassing Christianity. This poor woman is dead and her family needs grace, mercy and comfort not this sort of nonsense.
