God's Hunters? - Comments by Joe Classen - 31 Jan 2010
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By Joe Classen

In Reference to the Article: God's Hunters?

Hello Frank and Mary.

Individuals who are emotionally hurt or offended by those who respectfully harvest of God’s creation to feed themselves and others (farmers, hunters, fishermen, etc.) simply have no reason to be so. Their hurt is unfortunately based on massive amounts of misinformation and misunderstanding. I have personally found that after addressing the root of this hurt with objective, factual information, and not that of subjective, emotional driven misinformation, that the “hurt” is healed and the “truth sets them free!”

Now…about Jesus (God) and His followers eating meat and fish….it is an indisputable fact that Jesus, His apostles, and many of His initial followers were Jews. It is in indisputable fact that during the celebration of the Passover meal a lamb is slaughtered and eaten. It is also an indisputable fact that the New Testament mentions Jesus’ association with and/or celebration of the Passover meal 27 times! The bottom line is that Jesus and His Jewish followers did in fact kill and eat lamb. And His non-Jewish followers were most likely eating every critter (“clean or un-clean”) they could get their hands on! Fish and herd animals were a major staple of food for those of that region. And while Jesus prayerfully expressed gratitude for the meals He shared, He never expressed any remorse about the fact that they were killing and eating a once living, breathing creature. Any reputable scripture scholar on earth will testify to this!

About the eating of fish….there is 38 references in the New Testament that concern fish. These include the calling of fisherman to be disciples, the eating of fish at meals among Jesus and His followers, as well as the eating of fish in general, and, references to the catching of fish with hook and net. We hear of Jesus miraculously multiplying fish (and then eating them!), of Him blessing the efforts of His fishermen disciples to the point of their nets breaking, and of Jesus cooking and eating fish even after the resurrection. These fish were once living, feeling creatures that (besides the multiplication events) were caught, killed and eaten. And again while Jesus blessed and gave thanks for the fish, He did not in any way condemn the eating of them or the catching of them in such manners. This too is an absolute irrefutable fact!

There are many specific details that scripture does not reveal about the life and times of Jesus. Much of these were omitted because it was of no importance to record them or pass them along. Anyone with a lick of common sense or the most basic understanding of the historical and cultural practices of the time of Jesus would be well aware of such things. If our Lord truly wanted mankind to not respectably harvest and eat of His creation (including meat and fish), we can be good and sure He would have directly, specifically preached on the matter with the same forthrightness and unwavering authority that He did on other fundamental teachings of the gospel. But again, both Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition teach us otherwise. To ignorantly deny it is just that…pure denial based on emotional, subjective fantasy.

You stated… “This addresses what we believe is the way we should be living today regardless what Jesus or the disciples did in the Bible.” And there you have it…absolute subjective denial! You hold fast and hard to the scripture passages you feel support your philosophy and then say a thing like that!!!!!???? With all do respect, what “you believe” is of no consequence here. What matters is what Jesus taught by word and example.

Now…about States artificially keeping deer populations high. Here again….this is certainly not based on fact. Any State biologist would laugh hysterically at such a preposterous notion! Just the opposite is true. The deer boom has cost massive amounts of money to control. Not to mention it is the cause of thousands of human injuries and deaths! How about their suffering? The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies reported in a recent study that if hunting were stopped now, there would be an additional 50,000 human injuries as a result of a 218 percent increase in vehicle-deer collisions. States are begging folks to hunt so the State doesn’t have to spend a fortune addressing these matters which far outweigh the funds generated by hunting!

Loss of habitat is the number one cause of deer population increase for starters. States that don’t allow hunting in these areas often end up spending a fortune to later hire “sharpshooters” to balance numbers. As a result, far more animals are killed by the state….not hunters…. who would have kept both the cost down and the animals responsibly in check. I challenge you to speak with any conservation or natural resource professional in the United States to verify these facts. I’ll be happy to put you in touch with some if you’d like! And by the way…most of these folks could care less about any religious motivations in these matters. It is based on objective, factual science.

And about those deer sterilization drugs…the USDA has reported that deer birth control methods costs between $500 to $1000 dollars per deer when it is all said and done. Porcine zona pellucida (the only truly effective deer immunocontraceptive) is extremely difficult to administer effectively…..often causing terrible suffering and death to the animal….but even more hypocritical....this drug is derived from the ovaries of slaughtered pigs!! Killing one animal to thin out others?????

And so my friends the facts remain. Jesus (God) killed and ate fish and meat. God Himself fed others with His creatures, made no qualms about it and certainly did not condemn it. If He did…I’d be a vegan myself! The facts also remain that when it is all said and done (despite what could or should be done), the vegetables we all eat come at the cost of killing animals. There is simply no way to deny it. I’ll be happy to continue this discussion…but unless you can base your arguments on objective fact, there really is no reason to continue…and with all do respect…it’s beginning to substantially waste my time.

God bless.

Fr. Joe

 

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