Need input from Christians

[stillsmallvoice]

Hi all!

I would appreciate any input from Christians on http://www.christianforums.com/t90158.

Thank you!

Be well!

ssv

 

[Serapha]

Hunting for pleasure & attitudes toward animals

Hi there!



I can only give you an example from the Word of God and you can determine if the "hunter" was violating God's laws.

Genesis 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

I would imagine that God killed those animals before He took their skins for Adam and Eve to wear.




And that same posting said...

The Torah commands us to alleviate pain from a suffering animal. This is derived from Exosus 23:5 ("If you see the donkey of him that hates you lying under its burden, you shall forbear to pass by him; you shall surely release it with him."). From here we see the commandment to help a suffering animal. All the more so is it forbidden to actively inflict pain. The Torah wants us to act with mercy, not cultivate cruelty as a character trait.

I do imagine that it was painful to the animal when God killed them to get the "coats of skins" for Adam and Eve to wear.


Before the flood, man was vegitarian, but after the flood, man was given animals to eat...

Genesis 9:3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.

Yet, in verse two of the same chapter,

"And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered."

God gave the animals a fear of man, and therefore, unless domesticated, the animals would require "hunting" to be meat for man.


I hope this helps in your understanding.



~serapha~

 

[Rafael]

The posted link you gave seemed right on to me. If we need food and clothing, we kill and clothe and feed ourselves. To be materialistic and have to own and have everything to the point of bringing on undue extinction of animal species is wrong.
In my opinion, the skin given to Adam and Eve was their mortality, and it wasn't clear that God killed animals to do this.

Genesis 3:21 ¶ Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
22 ¶ And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

 

[chilehed]

It’s important to consider what would happen if we didn’t hunt. Given that (at least in the US) the food supply for herbivores is vastly greater than before we came, and there are essentially no predatory animals, it’s not surprising that the populations of numerous species (particularly the whitetail deer) are much higher than they were prior to the 19th Century.

There are basically three mechanisms for population control: predation, disease, and starvation. I suppose you could lump road-kill in with predation. There are over 60,000 car-deer accidents per year in the state of Michigan alone, and we still have a significant overpoulation problem.

Having personally seen all three in action, I can assure you that disease and starvation are much less humane than a gun or a bow.

I'm very concious of my ethical duty to my prey. I've hunted for 8 years, and have passed up many opportunities to shoot. If I have any thought that I may not be able to make a clean kill, I will not take the shot. I've only shot at an animal once, and that one time the shot was clean, and the deer was dead within seconds.

Do I enjoy hunting? Absolutely, I've rarely done anything more exiting. Does that make hunting unethical? No way.

 

[Serapha]

Hi all!

I would appreciate any input from Christians on http://www.christianforums.com/t90158.

Thank you!

Be well!

ssv

Hi there!




I am reminded of this great example.....



A farmer was traveling along the way when he came upon a lion that was going to devour him. He grabbed the lion by the tail and he hung on for dear life. He was still holding on when he saw coming down the way, the minister from his church.

He said, "Pastor! Help me. Take my pitchfork and kill this lion so I might go freely on my way!"

The pastor said, "My brother in Christ, always I have told you that "Thou shalt not kill!", and now you ask me to kill this animal. I cannot do that. I believe in the santity of all life, and I could never kill another life!"

The farmer debated with the pastor to no avail, and he was growing weak struggling with the lion but help on firmly to the lion's tail so that he might be able to live.


The farmers said, "Good Shepherd, if you cannot kill this lion, then could you at least hold the lion by it's tail, so that I might kill the animal?"

The pastor thought about it for a minute, and he saw nothing wrong with holding the animal, so he ventured forth to hold the lion by the tail so the farmer could do the dastarly deed.

When the pastor had taken hold of the lion's tail, the farmer asked for an assurance that the pastor had good control of the animal, and he let go of the tail... physically worn out from the struggle.

He backed away from the lion and the pastor, and was bushing off his clothing and began to walk away. The pastor yelled after him, "Wait, you haven't killed the lion! Don't leave me in danger!"

The farmer turned to the pastor and said, "Oh great Shepherd, you are good at what you do, and you have converted me. I cannot, in clear conscience, take another life. I cannot kill this lion with my pitchfork, I can only pray that someone whom you have not converted might come along and help you by killing the animal for you. If someone ventures along, don't give him a sermon on "live and let live", or you will convert him also.




I hope if the "pastor" has converted you, that you never have to walk the talk.




~serapha~