Got Milk?

SACRED  COWS

• Hindu’s who still today the cow is sacred…
• cow constellations
• Israel’s “golden calf” (Exodus 32)
• to our traditions of the cow always at the nativity (the cattle are lowing…)
• Jewish sacrifice and the red bull (Numbers 19)
• use for sacrifice all the way to babies-children-people sacrificed (Ezekiel 23:39)
• Chic Fila cows who encourage us to eat more chicken
• Team mascots...:"Go Bulls"

Why the worship of cows and bulls?  What is the importance?

• Cows considered to be good luck???
• Cows are revered as the source of food and symbol of life  (mother earth)(fertility) So possession of a cow then means you have all you need ???
• The cow has been a symbol of wealth “He owns the cattle on a thousand hills”  (Psalm 50:10) Fat cows = plenty
• The cow is a symbol of patience
• The cow is a symbol of truth… truth is good… so therefore honor truth ?????
• Cow mascot for University of Texas – BEVO -  LOL “I will chop off the horns of the wicked” (Psalm 75:10)
• Cow is as useful dead as when she is alive
• Cow’s milk white – purity
• Cows easily available in almost all cultures
• Cow’s horns = strength
• Cow: The term most commonly means go….. cattle means “to acquire”
• Cows are not used just for their meat, milk, and leather,
• Milk = cream, yogurt, cheese, butter, ice cream, buttermilk, chocolate milk
• The parts of cows are used in everything from the entertainment industry that makes horror/action movies using cow's blood to medical and pharmaceutical companies using insulin from the livers of cows for diabetics. Other products we use that come from cows in some form are paint, toothpaste, insulation for our homes, camera film, paintbrushes, asphalt, etc.
• Cows, as living creatures, deposit manure which is commonly used in gardens and fields-fertilizer.
• Cow dung used as a fuel and as a disinfectant in homes. Modern science states that the smoke from cow dung is a powerful disinfectant and is good against pollution.
• Cows will also readily eat plants on land that is not suitable for crop production, and even "clean up" a field after it has been harvested, adding to the soil organic content with their manure.
• Much native grassland is so vast that cattle herds are needed to keep it intact and healthy because the native bison herds that are left are much too small to be used instead.
• Cow's urine is also used for religious ceremonies as well as for medical reasons.

Thots and applications:

• Thankful to God for cows and their usefulness
• May I be completely useful
• May I be humble
• May I be strong
• May I be low maintenance
• May I point to Christ as the Bread of Life, and Living Water
• Keep my eyes on Creator and not creation
• Do not pervert what is good
• To God the things of the world are foolish
• Amazing our great desire to worship something and the great lengths we go to do it
• Traditions and symbols can get us in trouble – always stay with the “things that are True”
• Treat others including animals with care

BONUS:
VIDEO:  Cash cow – claymation video     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r6LV02QscU

QUOTE:  “One can measure the greatness of a nation and its moral progress by the way it treats its animals”  Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi

STORY:   My favorite cow story is the god of dagon when placed in the temple designated for GOD…  He knocked him face down – the people tried to prop him back up … then oops GOD did it again this time…He knocked him down and chopped the horns chopped off (I Samuel 5)

From “beasts of burden” to gods ?  Holy cow! Wow! So God reminds us once again to trust in him  “…for my yoke is easy and my burden is light” Matthew 11:30)