The Anger of the Elephants

By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio - articles - email ) | Dec 22, 2009

It’s a once in a lifetime story, though our news department ranks it among the least important stories, so it appears only at the very end of yesterday’s daily news list. I refer, of course, to the Avenging Elephants of Orissa. It seems that exactly one year after the Hindu rioting against Christians that left 500 dead and drove thousands from their homes, a band of rogue elephants has left a sanctuary, travelled 180 kilometers, and selectively stampeded through the properties of the leaders of the anti-Christian attacks.

The story comes to us from the web site of the Archdiocese of Colombo, in Sri Lanka, complete with an impressive full-color photo of elephants on the move: Elephants attack Orissa exactly after one year of persecutions. But what is a Christian supposed to do with such a story? Take delight in the destruction of his enemies as would an Old Testament prophet? Suppress the story after the manner of our highly-sensitized diversity culture? Report it with a simple faith in miracles, as seems to be the case in the Archdiocese of Colombo?

Obviously, the first requirement would be to investigate the details very thoroughly. It is, of course, not impossible that the elephants are exacting God’s price for the persecution of His people, a severe mercy which might bring those who take signs and portents seriously to reconsider their hostility to Christ. It is even reminiscent of certain stories which used to appear in the very ancient lives of the saints. But for all that, it does run counter to the Christian understanding of how Our Lord works in history, a method rather decisively represented by the crucifixion not of the Hindu but of The Christian. Therefore, even from the point of view of Faith—in fact, especially from that point of view—it is essential to ascertain the truth of the phenomenon through independent witnesses, and it is doubly essential to avoid ascribing to the phenomenon a Divine intention that cannot be proven.

Even if an unbiased investigation proves that the elephants have attacked only the properties and lives of the persecutors, it could be a cruel trick of the Devil to portray the Christian God as vindictive, and to teach Christians that they should look to Christ for material victory over their enemies. For while Balaam’s ass seems to have been stopped cold by an angel of the Lord, the swine of the Gadarenes were stirred to destruction by evil spirits named Legion.

Thus the story is rated at our lowest level of importance, and yet it fascinates—the story of a lifetime, the rare story that invites us to face things we cannot understand, the intriguing story that forces us to ponder more deeply the Providence of God.