{"id":596,"date":"2013-03-15T14:52:58","date_gmt":"2013-03-15T14:52:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.all-creatures.org\/blog\/?p=596"},"modified":"2013-03-20T19:35:21","modified_gmt":"2013-03-20T19:35:21","slug":"challenging-church-compassion-10-chased-away-b","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.all-creatures.org\/blog\/challenging-church-compassion-10-chased-away-b\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenging Church Compassion \u2013 10: Chased Away \u201cB\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Challenging Church Compassion \u2013 10: Chased Away \u201cB\u201d<\/h2>\n
\"Lamb<\/a>
Lamb of God<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cB\u201d is another one of the people who have been chased away from the church because of the hardness of heart toward animals that she encountered from both the pastor and congregation. She wrote:<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been a Christian most of my life, but have always loved animals and as I get older, I am finding myself more and more drawn away from conventional churches, because of their lack of compassion and spiritual acknowledgement of animals.<\/p>\n

I have always felt that every living thing has God’s Spirit living inside it, trees, animals, even the ground (I know that sounds crazy, but that’s how I feel) and I can’t believe that God, who created everything, has less compassion for His animal creations, than He does for humans.<\/p>\n

Nothing makes me angrier than when I hear people say that God created animals for man to eat. HE DID NOT!!! Read Genesis! We were all supposed to eat the fruits and all green things! Man and animals both, we were not intended to eat our animal companions! (sorry).\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cB\u2019s\u201d church was doing the exact opposite of what God desires. Note what we are told in Hebrews 3:15-17.<\/p>\n

15. As has just been said:
\n“Today, if you hear his voice,
\ndo not harden your hearts
\nas you did in the rebellion.”<\/p>\n

16. \u00a0Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?<\/p>\n

17. And with whom was he angry for forty years?
\nNIV<\/p>\n

The church chased away \u201cB\u201d because of their hardness of heart.\u00a0 Their leaders know what God desires of us, as well as what the Bible tells us about not hardening our hearts as did the Israelites who came out of Egypt.<\/p>\n

The church has a responsibility to make people feel comfortable because of their love for God and the whole of His creation, which includes us and all the animals.<\/p>\n

Go on to: Challenging Church Compassion \u2013 11: St. Francis Church<\/a><\/p>\n

Since \"date\"