God and Lions

From msnbc.com: ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — A 12-year-old girl who was abducted and beaten by men trying to force her into a marriage was found being guarded by three lions who apparently had chased off her captors, a policeman said Tuesday.

This article from 2005 just came across my radar. It relates some horrible statistics about the practice of marriage by kidnap and rape in Ethiopia and, against the backdrop of those statistics, the amazing tale of a 12-year-old girl who was saved from the cruel practice by some lions in the road. In the combox, of course, is where things get interesting. Were the lions actually just setting a table (so to speak) and preparing to have the girl as the main course when the police arrived and broke up the dinner preparations? Did God send the lions to save the girl? And if so, then why would God perform such an extraordinary act while doing nothing about the continuing horrifying practice and the alarming statistics thereof? The debate rages on.

My favorite comment (although I confess I didn’t make it through them all) came from someone named kohny:

Leave it to someone to twist the fact that GOD sent these Lions to protect this girl.

He shut the mouths of the Lions in the den with Daniel, He did the same here.

Keep this behaviour up in ethiopia and this will be your fate…The LIONS WILL BE SENT TO EAT YOU MEN

Comments

  1. Angelico Nguyen, Esq., OP says

    The young lions roar for their prey,
    seeking their food from God. […]

    O LORD, how manifold are thy works!
    In wisdom hast thou made them all;
    the earth is full of thy creatures.

    Yonder is the sea, great and wide,
    which teems with things both small and great.
    There go the ships,
    and Leviathan which thou didst form to sport in it.

    These all look to thee,
    to give them their food in due season.
    When thou givest to them, they gather it up;
    when thou openest thy hand, they are filled with good things. […]

    Let sinners be consumed from the earth,
    and let the wicked be no more!
    Bless the LORD, O my soul!
    Praise the LORD!

  2. Southern Expat says

    The Houston Zoo has a lion named Jonathan.

  3. Illinois Bullet says

    The (absolutley horrible) fact that marriage by rape continues in Ethiopia is no argument against this being a miracle. There were many widows in the time of Elijah…
    I like this story. More lions, please.

  4. Did you ever read Lief Enger’s Peace Like a River? There’s a great line in there about the difficulties miracles pose, but I’m too lazy to go find it right now. I agree with Illinois Bullet–it’s still a miracle. It’s just that miracles often raise more questions than they answer. Anyway, I really love this story.

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