Hunting: Good or Evil?

[TimRout]

I am a conservative Baptist minister from Canada. In our denomination there are a growing number of people who belong to various "Friends of Fur" groups that strongly oppose hunting. The problem is, the basis of their emotionally charged objections are generally devoid of any biblical merit. Having posting this question among my Baptist brethren, none have provided a substantive biblical argument against hunting. Indeed, the vast majority of them agree with me that hunting (especially for food) is perfectly permissible.

Question: Do you believe, on biblical grounds, that North American sport hunting is ungodly?

 

[Hentenza]

No, there is no biblical evidence to support such a charge.

 

[akeng]

Are you a troll dude, thats like asking if floresent lighting is against the bible.

 

[TimRout]

Are you a troll dude, thats like asking if floresent lighting is against the bible.

No friend, I am certainly not a troll. I am a Baptist minister researching a sermon series on biblical ethics. I am also an avid hunter. Given my own obvious bias, I thought it might be helpful to chat with a believer who does not support hunting; that's all.

 

[akeng]

I think that is differnet but I think there would be alot more worthwile biblical issues to undertake. Other christians can believe all kinds of things but it does not mean it has anything to do with there faith. They can be against blue colored curtains but who cares. I think issues like this are a distraction from the real issues facing christians like corporate/government greed, extortion/opression, etc. I will probably get flack for this but I even think the abortion and gay marriage issues are a distraction from the true coruption going on, not saying I think thoes things are ok but I do believe in trioge. I do not know ANYONE who is against hunting, I know poeple who dont do it because of schedules or money or something but thats about it. Just surfing these forums I see all kinds of people asking questions about all kinds of bizare stuff, I have been reading through the OT and time and time again nations fell because of the greed and corruption (not because a small % of the population was gay, BTW for the trollers out there sodom and gomorha was RAMPENT not a small contingent of gays, most americans/canadians are still heterosexual in commited relationships) but we are dangerously close to allowing our national corruption to ruin us, why are we allowing north korea to even exist, back in the day we would have nuked them back in the day we would have built lasers to shot down there missles so we could nuke them with impunity, now days we just pander to whackos. I just hope I can live out my life before the house of cards falls.

No friend, I am certainly not a troll. I am a Baptist minister researching a sermon series on biblical ethics. I am also an avid hunter. Given my own obvious bias, I thought it might be helpful to chat with a believer who does not support hunting; that's all.

 

[mnphysicist]

Hmmm, like many things, it could be sinful on an individual basis, or it could be just fine.

If it gets in between the persons relationship with Christ, or with other people, yep, its sinful. I'm sure you've run into folks over the years where thats the case. Its rare, but it does happen. Ie, hunting should not become a god or idol. Nor should folks go to excessive means (Numbers 11:31-33) I would also go so far, that if someone is obsessed with blood, (Gen 9:4) thats bad news...

There is an aspect of us being caretakers of God's creation (Gen 1:27-28). To shoot an animal, just to shoot it, and let it die and go to waste would be outside the scope of being a caretaker. (Lev 17:13)

 

[David Brider]

52178889]I am a conservative Baptist minister from Canada. In our denomination there are a growing number of people who belong to various "Friends of Fur" groups that strongly oppose hunting. The problem is, the basis of their emotionally charged objections are generally devoid of any biblical merit. Having posting this question among my Baptist brethren, none have provided a substantive biblical argument against hunting. Indeed, the vast majority of them agree with me that hunting (especially for food) is perfectly permissible.[/COLOR]

Question: Do you believe, on biblical grounds, that North American sport hunting is ungodly?

Hunting for food I think is perfectly permissible (it's just a messier version of going to the supermarket to buy meat, really), but I think that hunting for sport goes against God's command to us to be stewards of the Earth, really.

IMO.

David.

 

[Tissue]

The subject is very thick and tangled. As a Christian, I am against causing needless suffering or death to another creature, though it is difficult to form an argument for such a stance. It is also difficult to make value judgments on the subject; I have no problem killing ants in my house, and other 'pests', but I personally would never kill a deer. Why the difference?

I have some friends who are Christians that hunt, and I don't hold it against them.

 

[Dark_Lite]

Hunting for food/skin for clothes/other practical uses I think is perfectly legit.

Hunting for sport just seems kind of... odd, to me. I guess I just don't see the fun in killing things for no apparent reason other than fun.

 

[Celticflower]

If you use what you hunt for food and/or for clothing (or take it further as Nugent did for awhile and add jewelry, dog food and fertilizer to the list) then it is fine.

If you just want a big rack to hang of the wall -- go to the flea market.


ps - how do the "friends of fur" people feel about fishing?

 

[visionary]

We are heading back to the garden of eden.. so when the new heavens and new earth comes, we will be back to eating the garden of eden diet... Some in the journey back have got as far as Mount Sinai diet.. while others have anything and everything is now food.. if you can stomach it. Hunting for that food is a necessity issue.

Ask the "friends of fur" if they are vegetarian? If they are not, they are hypocrites, because they have others do the killing and preparing the meat for them. They need to go to the slaughter houses.

 

[Tissue]

Wow Visionary. Just...wow.

1. I would need to hear a very good argument to believe that we are heading back to the Garden of Eden. I don't think that's anywhere in Scripture. The only two places I can think of that would hold verses on the matter (the beginning of Genesis and the end of Revelation) are both highly poetic, and likely shouldn't be taken as full-out literal.

2. I would need to hear a very good argument to believe that we will be eating on the new earth. I don't see any reason to suppose that we won't be, but if you're going to make it part of your argument, you will need to provide reasons to believe it.

3. The OP only notes that the friends of fur are against hunting. It sounds as though they are against killing animals for sport, but are not against the killing of animals for food. Thus, if they are not vegetarians, they are not necessarily hypocrites.

 

[visionary]

The argument from scripture for vegetarianism..

The garden of eden diet...

Daniel and His friends were vegetarian..

As you indicated.. coming full circle from genesis to revelation.

As far as convincing you... that is God's job.. in His time and in your willingness to obey Him on the subject.

 

[DamianWarS]

before the fall there wasn't any death, and killing and things like that whether for food or sport or whatever. So I suppose someone could use that as an argument. We know Jesus himself ate fish... and that was after he was resurrected. I assume he ate meat that was kosher, like that what is served during the passover, but I don't think it really says one way or another.

Jesus himself even says "What goes into a man's mouth does not make him unclean." Paul of course has his dream about everything is clean. But those things aren't really an issue about "should we kill/not kill" it was what kind of animal should you eat.

I don't know if it talks about hunting for sport in the bible but I know people killed for more things than just eating the animal. For example some animals were sacrificed.

Then we have paul's words in 1 Corinthians (9-10 I think) "Everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial" and "we need to be all things to all men" and "to the weak we need to be weak in order to minister to the weak". Roman's 14 adds to that as well. I like the account in Roman's 14 more then Corinthians. Roman's 14 actual talks about eating meat vs eating only vegetables. Roman's 14 puts it, "He who eats meat, eats to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God" or He who hunts for sport, hunts for sport to the Lord, for he gives thanks to God. However Roman's 14 also says "if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean. If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died. Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil."

So in the end hunting for sport is not wrong but if you know others are strongly against it you need to act in love over your own interest and if you don't than the act of hunting (or insert your act here) is not the wrong but instead the act of unlove which makes the hunting wrong. I know this is not a blanket statement and you can not apply everything here for example "He who rapes, rapes to the Lord... etc..." there are some things that are just wrong however I think hunting for sport is a good fit here.

 

[jiminpa]

Want to make the white tailed deer extinct? Ban hunting in Pennsylvania. Anti-hunting activists are not the least bit concerned about the animals. They are just misanthropes who found a cause to justify their hatred of people.

 

[David Brider]

Want to make the white tailed deer extinct? Ban hunting in Pennsylvania. Anti-hunting activists are not the least bit concerned about the animals. They are just misanthropes who found a cause to justify their hatred of people.

That's rather a generalisation, don't you think? Do you actually know any anti-hunting activists to justify that opinion, or is it just guesswork? Apart from anything else, as anti-hunting folks tend to get together in groups and (AIUI) get on well within bthose groups, they obviously don't hate *all* people, even if you could legitimately argue that they hate the people who go hunting. (Personally, I'm certainly anti-hunting for sport, albeit in no way an activist, but I don't hate...well, *anyone*, really...)

Oh, and I'm a bit confused by the first bit of your post - how does that work, exactly?

 

[TimRout]

If you use what you hunt for food and/or for clothing (or take it further as Nugent did for awhile and add jewelry, dog food and fertilizer to the list) then it is fine.

If you just want a big rack to hang of the wall -- go to the flea market.


ps - how do the "friends of fur" people feel about fishing?

Friends of Fur? I'm not sure how they feel about your average Small Mouth Bass, but they go absolutely NUTS over whales and seals.

 

[TimRout]

That's rather a generalisation, don't you think? Do you actually know any anti-hunting activists to justify that opinion, or is it just guesswork? Apart from anything else, as anti-hunting folks tend to get together in groups and (AIUI) get on well within bthose groups, they obviously don't hate *all* people, even if you could legitimately argue that they hate the people who go hunting. (Personally, I'm certainly anti-hunting for sport, albeit in no way an activist, but I don't hate...well, *anyone*, really...)

Oh, and I'm a bit confused by the first bit of your post - how does that work, exactly?

Well Dave, I can't speak to the issue of animal activists in general, but the group welling up in our Baptist community is becoming problematic in some of our churches. Thankfully, this hasn't damaged my church at present. But as a Pastor, I am deeply concerned about the unbiblical nature of the arguments put forth by Friends of Fur and other similar groups. They usually argue that animals are our "cousins" and should be afforded equal rights with humans. As a biblicist, of course, I strongly object.

My goal in launching this string is to garner purely biblical objections (if any exist) to sport hunting in North America --- sport hunting, as opposed to native hunting or sustenance hunting. I Pastor in the far north of Canada and up here there are a great many people who depend on hunting for their very livelihood. Even the Friends of Fur aren't foolish enough to go after these fine folks. But I am a sport hunter who eats what he kills, though I have no dire need to hunt since there is a well stocked grocery store in town. It's people like me who often take the brunt of abuse when activists come to the north, chain themselves to trees to stop forestry, or protest the hunting of black bears whose populations are growing out of control.

Some people have offered interesting ideas in response to the OP and I appreciate their efforts. Ultimately, my series on Christian Ethics will target a variety of social issues (including "animal rights") wherein believers willingly abandon their biblical foundation for a cultural cause.

 

[visionary]

Are you sure you want to deal with social issues on the pulpit? If I was to visit your congregation and listen to a social political issue dealt with, would I feel fed living waters. Would I feel drawn to Christ as my savior? Let us not let social political issues of the day draw us away from the message of salvation is my moto.

 

[Tissue]

Are you sure you want to deal with social issues on the pulpit? If I was to visit your congregation and listen to a social political issue dealt with, would I feel fed living waters. Would I feel drawn to Christ as my savior? Let us not let social political issues of the day draw us away from the message of salvation is my moto.

You're already saved, aren't you? If so, why would you still need the message of salvation?

While the pulpit should not be a political pungee pit (alliteration!), I do think social issues certainly have their place in the church. In particular, I think it is most valuable to engage in discussion on the matter of social issues, instead of forming a sermon on the subject.