God fails to save idiot in lion enclosure

The Register report a sad story of a man killed by lions in a zoo in Kiev.

An official at the zoo said: “The man shouted ‘God will save me, if he exists’, lowered himself by a rope into the enclosure, took his shoes off and went up to the lions.”
The man got his answer when an affronted lioness grabbed him by the throat and killed him in front of horrified visitors. The official helpfully explained: “A lioness went straight for him, knocked him down and severed his carotid artery.”

This “God will save me, if he exists” thing smacks of putting God to the test – echoing the story of Daniel in the lions’ den. But it’s missing the point of the Daniel story. Daniel didn’t enter the lions’ den to test whether God would save him. Nor, for that matter, did he choose to enter the den at all. Daniel was condemned to death for worshipping God. After Daniel had already demonstrated his commitment and faith, he was thrown to the lions. We aren’t even told that he expected to survive – King Darius asked Daniel’s God to save him, but we don’t find Daniel hoping at all.

The point is, here, that surviving the lions isn’t what Daniel hoped for. He faced death because he worshipped God determinedly – with no expectation of survival. That’s the message of the story, not that we should face lions and expect to survive.

pax et bonum

Article posted at 09:39am on 12 June 2006
Category: Faith, Musing