Animal Sacrifice and Liberation

[Guest guest]

As Easter is significant for

Christians, it occurred to me to use Easter's message to Christians

themselves, to further the understanding and acceptance of animal

rights. Some real conservative Christians are big on their "right" to

exploit, eat and profit from animals as property and for

self-gratification, therefore invoking contradictory capitalism over

their faith. So, what better way than to point out

what the message was all about on Easter? Maybe next time someone

tries to proselytize/evangelize/preach to me, I'll just hand them a

copy of this article. Below are excerpts of it that that might help make a meaningful point to some who think animal rights is a "liberal" or crazy new movement.

If America thinks it's sooo Christian, maybe I'll just mail this to

every corporate head, starting at the top of the administration who

believe in hunting, promote experimentation on animals and drop bombs

on people and animal alike.

 

Animal Sacrifice and Liberation: Implications of the Atonement

For full article: http://all-creation.franciscan-anglican.com/atonement.htm

In ancient times, people

believed that their sin could only be "atoned" for (that is, made

"right" or "satisfied") by sacrificing innocent animals to their

god(s). Animals were the "scapegoats" for the sins of the people and

bore the brunt of the evil and fear of humankind.

 

 

However, people continued

doing what they were used to doing and killing animals in an attempt to

atone for their sins. Then finally Jesus came along. Apparently Jesus

did not approve of the sacrificial system of the Temple. In fact, he

became very angry and drove everyone out of the Temple who had been

selling animals due to be sacrificed for the Passover (John 2:13-22).

The Scriptures also never record Jesus as participating in the animal

sacrifice at the Temple, although the custom at the time required it.

As the author of Hebrews writes:

For it is

impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, `Sacrifices and

offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; in

burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure (10:4-6).

 

So instead, on the night of

the Passover, when the Jewish people were celebrating the sacrificing

of the paschal lamb, Jesus began to talk about his own body and blood

being shed and given up for the sins of the world. "While they were

eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it,

gave it to the disciples, and said, `Take, eat; this is my body.' Then

he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying,

`Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the new covenant,

which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:26-28). Within hours Jesus was arrested, tried, and crucified.

 

Jesus' disciples quickly

made sense of the crucifixion, this highly symbolic and transformative

act: Jesus had died at Passover in place of the sacrificial lamb. Jesus

became, literally, the Paschal Lamb, the "Lamb of God who takes away

the sin of the world." The Greek word for "world" used in this

Scripture is "cosmos," and it includes the entire world, all creatures

great and small. Applying the belief that was held about atonement, it

was understood that Jesus died, just as the sacrificial animals used

to, on behalf of the world's sins.

 

Christians understand Isaiah 53:7-8 to refer to Jesus:

"He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before

its shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. By oppression and

judgment He was taken away; and as for His generation, who considered

that He was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the

transgression of my people?"

 

It is painful to imagine how

much Jesus may have identified with the millions of animals who had

been lead to slaughter before him. Jesus was innocent, just as the

sacrificial animals had been, because he was perfect, without sin, and

the Son of God. But Jesus' action put an end to the system of animal

sacrifice once and for all. Jesus' life and death revealed the flaws of

the animal sacrificial system. God revealed to humanity that we need

not kill innocent animals because "God himself would provide the sacrifice" in

form of Jesus, God incarnate. (Genesis 22:8). This is good news for

humanity! It is also good news for all creation and for God's innocent

creatures, the animals. Like Jesus, they had been abused, exploited,

and killed by humanity.

 

Animals have been victims of

humanity's fears and sin since the beginning of time. Today we engage

in our own form of animal sacrifice. We continue to pin our fears and

sins upon innocent animals in contexts such as our factory farms, sport

hunting, slaughterhouses, and laboratories. We abuse, exploit, and kill

animals every day for our selfish purposes. We justify our actions,

saying eating meat will make us strong and healthy when we have

evidence to the contrary. We hunt and kill for sport, believing this

will prove our prowess and courage. Meat, fur, purebred animals, and

leather are all signs of wealth and prosperity and cause us to feel

"good" about ourselves by playing into worldly standards of success. We

experiment on animals, driven by our fear of death and disease, because

animals are helpless to resist. We dominate and exploit the created

world in order to prove our power over it and to help us feel in

control. Animals continue to bear the sins of humankind in all its

tragic forms. Their suffering never seems to cease even though Jesus

came to seek an end to suffering on earth.

 

Jesus died to bring us into

a new reality. The cross is redemption for humanity and it is

redemption for all God's creatures. We must no longer sacrifice animals

for our own purposes. We must no longer pin our fears and sin upon the

innocent animals of God. We must live in the reality of the redemption

that Christ won for us on the cross and live at peace with all God's

creation, praying for a complete restoration of God's kingdom, where

there is no violence, no killing, and where "the lion lies down with the lamb" (Isaiah 11:6).