I Don't Kill For Pleasure

As a pro-life Christian, I don't believe in trophy hunting. It's possibly one of the biggest violations of compassion and stewardship that humans are capable of. Trophy hunters do not hunt out of necessity or to eat, they hunt to hang dead animal remains on their walls. Killing should be reserved for necessity. We should not partake in blood-sports. Trophy hunting is extremely wasteful as the majority of trophy-hunted animals are left to rot after their heads, horns, tusks, feet, etc. are removed.

I don't believe it's wrong to keep antlers or taxidermy and the like from an animal that was killed out of necessity, but it's not right to kill for pleasure. I understand that people will disagree with me, maybe even some of my watchers, and that's okay. I understand that animals must sometimes be killed out of self-defense, but killing solely for fun strikes me as sick, twisted, and sadistic.

Trophy hunters claim that they are seeking the "thrill of the hunt," or to "release their primal instincts," or to "battle a wild animal," but trophy hunting is anything but sportsmanlike. It is not "manly," "heroic,", "primal," or "tough" in the least to give yourself an unfair advantage over the creature you claim to be "battling." When challenged about this, trophy hunters typically respond with aggressiveness rather than logic and science. They claim we just don't understand the great outdoors or how brave they are. Sure, we don't. We just don't understand the bravery of trekking into the wilderness under controlled, planned conditions with $50,000 of technology and engineering to shoot unarmed animals from a distance. Trophy hunters can suffer sunburns or hangovers from celebratory drinking. They could get backaches from sitting in their blinds for hours on end. Their flights could be delayed, resulting in severe inconvenience. Their hotel pillows may be over-starched and make them really itchy. Such brave individuals to risk these deadly dangers, don't you think? Okay, I'm sorry. It just astounds me that trophy hunters say these things, and that people actually believe them!

What is the purpose of trophy hunting?

In the words of one trophy hunting advocate: "For the thrill of the hunt and a trophy. Fun." Killing for fun, huh? That's odd, because that's the definition of sadism.

There is nothing natural about trophy hunting.

Not only are the massive ethical implications of trophy hunting apparent, but the sport is also detrimental to wildlife genetics. Unlike predatory animals, which pick off the weak or sick animals (thus helping to strengthen and enrich the herds), human hunters go after the biggest, flashiest, healthiest animals they can find. This is exactly the opposite of what hunting is naturally.

This phenomenon is called "unnatural selection" and/or "human-induced evolution."

The phenomenon of human hunting and poaching causing decreased genetic potential among wild animals has been well-documented:
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonto…
www.cbc.ca/news/technology/big…
academic.oup.com/jhered/articl…
canadianmountainnetwork.ca/201…
phys.org/news/2016-01-intense-…
www.edmontonsun.com/2016/01/20…
www.wideopenspaces.com/new-tro…
creation.com/bighorn-horns-not… (the Creationist perspective on unnatural selection)
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10…
www.pnas.org/content/106/Suppl…
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/scien…
www.scientificamerican.com/art…
www.independent.co.uk/news/ele…
www.awf.org/blog/going-tuskles…
goodnature.nathab.com/will-evo…
wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endan…
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/180…
www.newscientist.com/article/m…
scribol.com/environment/conser…
news.nationalgeographic.com/20…

When is it appropriate to kill?

- For survival (food, clothing, supplies, etc., when there are no other options, hence the word "survival")
- Out of self-defense (such as if the animal is attacking you)
- To protect other species or the environment (such as if a species is overpopulating; although let's be honest: the root cause of animals overpopulating is almost always human activity)

Does God care about animals?

There is also a school of thought among some Christians I personally know (I don't know how widespread this idea is) but it's the idea that God doesn't care about animals. I even had one young man tell me straight up that he doesn't care if an animal is endangered; he still wants to hunt it. Pardon, but if that's true, why does Scripture tell us that did God told Noah to spend 100+ years building a boat big enough to hold two of each kind of land animal? Think about it: according to Scripture, God let all but eight humans die. (Technically, he gave them all a chance, but they refused it.) That's a lot of death. Yet He made sure to protect His animals. And you want me to believe that He doesn't care about them? If God created all these animals and plants and called them good, and then went to such lengths to protect them, do you think He enjoys watching them be killed for fun?

There are also several verses which clearly display how God cares about animals and how mankind must not abuse them.




Proverbs 12:10 (KJV): "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel."

Here, God is condemning cruelty to animals. He associates wicked people with people who are cruel to animals.




Luke 12:6-7 (KJV): ^"6 Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? ⁷ But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows."

Here, Jesus describes how God never forgets even one sparrow. When you see a sparrow flying around outside, do you care about it or even remember it? God does.
Verse 7 continues on to use the value of sparrows to show that humans have value. In order for what Jesus is saying to have impact, sparrows must be valuable to God. Try writing a Valentine to that special someone in your life and tell them that they're more valuable to you than dirt. "I love you more than dirt." It probably won't go over well. In order for a phrase like that to have any meaning, the thing you are comparing the person to must have value. Therefore, Jesus believes sparrows have value.





Proverbs 12:27 (KJV): "The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting: but the substance of a diligent man is precious."

Here, God is condemning trophy-hunting. He associates slothful people with people who do not eat what they kill.
Trophy hunters will often try to explain away this verse by saying it's metaphorical of people who don't work or of people who don't use what they're given. However, whichever way you choose to look at it (metaphorical or not), the fact still remains that this verse disproves of wasting meat. Why would God use an example of something He supposedly agrees with as a metaphor for something He disagrees with? Whether or not this is a metaphor does not change the fact that wasting meat from an animal that you killed is being painted in an unsavory light.




Deuteronomu 25:4 (KJV):  "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn."

Here God is telling the Isrealites not to frustrate oxen when you work them. Don't prevent the ox from nibbling at the corn as he works the field. Obviously this must be taken with a grain of salt, because anyone who works with animals (especially large ones) knows that they may take advantage of you, but there's not sense in being inconsiderate to them. So basically, God is telling us to be considerate to animals.

Does the Bible codemn all forms of eating meat?

Short answer: no. It's not required, but God very clearly allows it, similar to how the Bible "allows" indentured servitude/slavery. Animals have value in God's eyes, but they are not made in His image.

While Proverbs clearly commands us to be compassionate and kind to animals and while Genesis does tell us that God cares about His animals, humans were allowed to eat meat. I believe this is because people in those days didn't have the ability to have solely plant-based diets. They didn't have the wordlwide trade system that we have today. Many people lived off of a maximum of four meals (bread, meat, and occasionally nuts and fruit) sometimes fewer. God would have been giving them a death sentence if He told them to go vegan. Nowadays we have a choice to eat meat or not, and there's nothing wrong for a Christian to decide not to eat meat.

A common mistake is to read the Ten Commandments and see "Thou shall not kill." The original Hebrew Fifth Commandment does not read "Though shall not kill," but rather, "Thou shall not murder." There are different words for "kill" and "murder" in Hebrew, just as in English, and for good reason. God forbids murder, not killing.

Jesus also ate meat. The Bible tells us that he followed the Jewish Law completely, and Jewish law required eating lamb at the Passover. Jesus also ate fish that was given to him by his disciples when they thought he was a ghost after he rose from the dead. People have said that the fish he ate in that passage was "fish weed," not actual fish, but the people who say that don't base it on anything reliable. Whatever Jesus actually ate in that particular passage, it can't be denied that Jesus ate lamb meat at other times.

That said, many people mistakenly believe that current translations of the Bible can't be trusted because the Bible has passed through many translations and the meanings have been twisted.

However, the truth is that all current and accurate English translations of the Bible start with manuscripts written in the original languages - Greek in the case of the New Testament and Aramaic in the case of the Old Testament - which are then translated directly into English. Instead of multiple "iterations," there is only on step in language from the original Greek and Hebrew to our English versions.

 

 

Acts 10:

"About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray. He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles of the earth and birds of the air. Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”

“Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.”

The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” "

 

Genesis 9:

"Then God blessed Noah and his sons and told them, 'Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth. All the animals of the earth, all the birds of the sky, all the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the fish in the sea will look on you with fear and terror. I have placed them in your power. I have given them to you for food, just as I have given you grain and vegetables. But you must never eat any meat that still has the lifeblood in it.

“And I will require the blood of anyone who takes another person’s life. If a wild animal kills a person, it must die. And anyone who murders a fellow human must die. If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in his own image. Now be fruitful and multiply, and repopulate the earth.'"

 

Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-15:

According to the Gospels, a large crowd had gathered and was following Jesus. Jesus called his disciples to him and said:

"I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way."

His disciples answered: "Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?" 

"How many loaves do you have?" Jesus asked.
"Seven," they replied, "and a few small fish."

Jesus told the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was four thousand, besides women and children. After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.

 

Psalm 8:

"When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,

what is man that you are mindful of him,

the son of man that you care for him?

You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings

and crowned him with glory and honor.

You made him ruler over the works of your hands;

you put everything under his feet:

all flocks and herds,

and the beasts of the field, 

the birds of the air,

and the fish of the sea,

all that swim the paths of the seas.

 O Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!"