Who knew a gorilla could cause this much outrage? The Harambe situation has caused an alarming amount of debate and outrage. It has been blogged about ad nauseam over the last few days, which is why I was reluctant to comment on it myself. After all, what can I contribute to the discussion? I am no expert, either at parenting or zoo-keeping (which are often quite similar, I might add). I actually haven't even watched the video (intentionally), but it seems to me that there are essentially two debates being had. The first is whether or not the parents were negligent. I have no opinion. As I said, I didn't see the video. The second debate, and the one I'd like to address, is about the value of the lives of gorillas versus the lives of children. The former has been an emotional, temporal debate. The latter is philosophical and ideological.
As I said, this debate is alarming. Are we really debating the value of human life versus animal life (even endangered)? When we're doing that, we've already lost. Then again, we debate the morality of murdering unborn children, so I guess it makes sense. How have we gotten this far? As with our culture of violence and disrespect, this issue stems from our abandonment of God's Word. More than that, we have abandoned religion altogether. Religion, you see, is the only thing that gives us a reason to differentiate between man and beast (not all religions do this, of course). Religion does this by attributing the existence of man to a special creative act of God. Christianity (along with Judaism) specifically teaches that God made man in His own image. If you abandon religion, especially Christianity and other religions within that tradition, you lose these types of societal moors. Naturalism simply offers no moral reason for why we should value human life more than animal life. In fact, it can offer no moral reason for anything at all.
This has all been discussed though. I'm sure a simple Google search would find a dozen blogs telling you the same thing. I would like to turn my focus to the one side of the debate that I have personally not seen discussed--public education. This Naturalistic worldview that pervades our culture is no accident. It has been an intentional degradation of Christianity (and religion in general). This has been done primarily through government education. The rejection of the Bible by the public education system in America was a sign of the rejection not just of a book, but of the worldview that book sets forth. Naturalism was (and is) subverting Theism. The teaching of Evolution has played a particularly large role in this gradual worldview change. It is the alternative. If man was not created by God, he must have come from somewhere. Evolution gives us a seemingly-plausible explanation for our existence, but it leaves us without moral responsibility. It leaves us without any qualitative difference between man and our evolutionary ancestors. We are different because we have evolved more. That is all. We do not have a Creator. We do not have eternal souls. We are simply self-realized animals. This type of teaching has been consistently administered to the minds of America's children for nearly a century.
Now, not all people will be as extreme or, shall I say, consistent, in applying their worldview. Many Naturalists would support the decision to save the child at the expense of the gorilla's life. However, they could offer no logical reason for such support. This, we might say, is a result of common grace. More disconcerting, however, are those on the other side of the aisle, those Christians who are unaware of their Naturalism. They claim to believe in God and the Bible, but see no issue with submitting their children to an education system that denies Him, replacing Him with blind biological processes. You may baptize Evolution with various theories that allow for the special creation of man, but that does not negate the 6 or 7 hours a day that your children spend immersed in Naturalism. Evolution is just one part of a worldview that sees the Creator of the Universe as unnecessary to the pursuit of knowledge.
Christians must educate their children in a way that acknowledges and submits to God's Lordship over His Creation. Science, along with Math, History, and Language Studies, etc. must be understood through the eye of God's character and revelation. Such an education would teach that nature is to be respected and used appropriately, while not being worshiped or unduly revered. If we hope to restore to this country a respect for life and a sense of moral responsibility, we must begin with the education system. Realistically, this means seeking alternatives to public (government-run) education. Education must be prioritized. We must do whatever it takes to give our children an education, at home or abroad, that instills a worldview that acknowledges our Creator and our proper place in His Creation.
As I said, this debate is alarming. Are we really debating the value of human life versus animal life (even endangered)? When we're doing that, we've already lost. Then again, we debate the morality of murdering unborn children, so I guess it makes sense. How have we gotten this far? As with our culture of violence and disrespect, this issue stems from our abandonment of God's Word. More than that, we have abandoned religion altogether. Religion, you see, is the only thing that gives us a reason to differentiate between man and beast (not all religions do this, of course). Religion does this by attributing the existence of man to a special creative act of God. Christianity (along with Judaism) specifically teaches that God made man in His own image. If you abandon religion, especially Christianity and other religions within that tradition, you lose these types of societal moors. Naturalism simply offers no moral reason for why we should value human life more than animal life. In fact, it can offer no moral reason for anything at all.
This has all been discussed though. I'm sure a simple Google search would find a dozen blogs telling you the same thing. I would like to turn my focus to the one side of the debate that I have personally not seen discussed--public education. This Naturalistic worldview that pervades our culture is no accident. It has been an intentional degradation of Christianity (and religion in general). This has been done primarily through government education. The rejection of the Bible by the public education system in America was a sign of the rejection not just of a book, but of the worldview that book sets forth. Naturalism was (and is) subverting Theism. The teaching of Evolution has played a particularly large role in this gradual worldview change. It is the alternative. If man was not created by God, he must have come from somewhere. Evolution gives us a seemingly-plausible explanation for our existence, but it leaves us without moral responsibility. It leaves us without any qualitative difference between man and our evolutionary ancestors. We are different because we have evolved more. That is all. We do not have a Creator. We do not have eternal souls. We are simply self-realized animals. This type of teaching has been consistently administered to the minds of America's children for nearly a century.
Now, not all people will be as extreme or, shall I say, consistent, in applying their worldview. Many Naturalists would support the decision to save the child at the expense of the gorilla's life. However, they could offer no logical reason for such support. This, we might say, is a result of common grace. More disconcerting, however, are those on the other side of the aisle, those Christians who are unaware of their Naturalism. They claim to believe in God and the Bible, but see no issue with submitting their children to an education system that denies Him, replacing Him with blind biological processes. You may baptize Evolution with various theories that allow for the special creation of man, but that does not negate the 6 or 7 hours a day that your children spend immersed in Naturalism. Evolution is just one part of a worldview that sees the Creator of the Universe as unnecessary to the pursuit of knowledge.
Christians must educate their children in a way that acknowledges and submits to God's Lordship over His Creation. Science, along with Math, History, and Language Studies, etc. must be understood through the eye of God's character and revelation. Such an education would teach that nature is to be respected and used appropriately, while not being worshiped or unduly revered. If we hope to restore to this country a respect for life and a sense of moral responsibility, we must begin with the education system. Realistically, this means seeking alternatives to public (government-run) education. Education must be prioritized. We must do whatever it takes to give our children an education, at home or abroad, that instills a worldview that acknowledges our Creator and our proper place in His Creation.
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