Letters
Letter from Maureen DeLorme - 13 Jul 2008
RE: Comment on Juli's Pain
Hello!
I just found your site, and am rejoicing over it. I have struggled
with the issue of animal suffering since I was a small child -- one of
my earliest remembrances was of being out in the country with my
parents, seeing two hunters go by, and yelling at them that I hoped
their guns backfired and killed them!. I was 7 years old.
Both my husband and I are born-again Christians and have come up
against the issue of hunting amongst our friends, our fellow Christians,
and our pastor [with whom, I had to write a letter against on this
issue]. It has caused us a great deal of pain, depression, and
isolation, especially amongst the people we SHOULD feel closest to - our
fellow Christians.
Our most recent experience was seeing a full-page layout in our local
paper, complete with photos of trophy kills and little children beaming
from ear to ear while holding guns at a "Christian Outdoorsmen" event
held here last year. The event was professedly to "share the gospel"
[yea, right], recruitment, and bonding between men and their children
while reveling in the torture and deaths of the animals they killed.
I wrote an open letter to the Christian Outdoorsmen, objecting to
hunting for eating or pleasure, as well as their abhorrent practice of
teaching children to kill animals; I also wrote a lengthy rebuttal
column on scriptural admonitions about Christian stewardship of
creation. It unleashed a torrent of nasty, virulent hate mail directed
against us, even including death threats. The newspaper editor told me
that several of these "Christian" men had contacted him and tried to
keep us from being able to express our opinion in the paper in the
future, and had made death threats against us.
We have learned that when it comes to hunting, nothing, including
Biblical truth, will stop these supposedly "Christian" men from their
blood-lust.
We continually write letters to Christian organizations protesting
their support of hunting, including Promise Keepers, Saddleback Church,
and others. We often feel lonely and sometimes I get so depressed I cry
for all the animal suffering. I try to remember that God is just and
there will be a day of reckoning, and I cling to Phillippians 4:8, and
Rev. 5:13, among others for comfort. Still and all, it is hard,
especially when in social situations where these men [often obnoxious
with their braggadocio] feel it necessary to regale everyone with their
animal-killing talk. At those times I often speak up and pointedly ask
them to PLEASE STOP or walk away. I have to fight to keep myself from
being bitter and angry, and remind myself that there are SOME good men
in the world, like my husband.....
Anyway, thank you for listening...and for your wonderful site!
Love
in Christ,
Maureen DeLorme
Reply from Frank and Mary Hoffman
Dear Maureen:
Thank you very much for writing to us and telling us about your
unchristian-like experiences within the church, and in the name of
Christ. We also have been fighting against this hardness of heart for
many years.
We we are born again, the Holy Spirit is supposed to enter into us
and give us the unction to do everything in our lives according to the
will of God. And since there was no death or killing in Eden before the
Fall, and there is no death in heaven, both of which reflect God's
creation and heavenly will, then we should not be causing suffering and
death in this world. Furthermore, Jesus taught us to pray for our
Father's heavenly will to be done here as it is in heaven, and to be
perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. This, we have a hard time
believing that these people are really born again, despite what they may
profess to the contrary.
We would also like to see your letters and responses, and publish
them on our web site. The more of us who speak out, the sooner the
suffering will end.
In the Love of the Lord,
Frank and Mary Hoffman
If we REALLY want God to bless America and the earth, GO VEGAN!
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