Is Life A Trophy Hunt?
By Joe E. Trull, Editor
At the funeral I conducted last week, a devoted daughter`s eulogy included: "He loved hunting, but he only killed for meat!" She said it twice. In her mind, her father was a true gentleman of Texas-he only killed animals for food, not for fun.
I thought of a conversation two years earlier outside of the Methodist Community Church just south of Austin, where I preached for the Baptists every other week. An old-timer, but not a native Texan, shared stories of hunting coons at night, vividly describing how he enjoyed seeing his dogs tree and finally devour the trapped raccoon. I noticed the story seemed only to please the storyteller.
Yes, I know that `Dan`l Boone kilt a bear` and young David slew both lions and bears in Israel, but it was not for sport, but out of necessity (1 Sam. 17:35). True, the priests in the Temple in Jerusalem sacrificed animals as an act of worship. But killing animals for the fun of it is something different from these examples.
Albert Schweitzer, the famous medical doctor, musician, and theologian of the early 1900s, left the luxuries of Europe to invest his life as a missionary in the heart of equatorial Africa. A dominant theme of his life and teachings was the call for Christians to reverence life in all its forms.
Recently, evangelical thinkers have questioned whether today`s ecological crisis is the result of greed and materialism caused by a misunderstanding of God`s command to "subdue" the earth and "have dominion" over it (Gen. 2:28). It also seems to me that the killing of animals just for the "sport" of it, may be more an evidence of our sinful misuse of God`s creation, than our stewardship of it.
In the beginning, when God created the earth and all life upon it, "God saw that it was good" (Gen. 1:25). In the words of Wendell Berry, "God made the world. He thinks the world is good. He loves it. It`s his world. He has never relinquished title to it. And he has never revoked the conditions that oblige us to take excellent care of it."
It was then that God created humanity in his image, "in the image of God he created them" (Gen. 1:27). Thus the goodness of creation and the sanctity of life are based on these twin revelations. However, from Genesis 3 onward human sin has twisted the image of God in humanity out of shape and corrupted God`s good creation.
One of the original acts of God was to take the man and "put him in the garden of Eden to till and keep it" (Gen. 2:15). This command is the basis for our stewardship of the earth-our obligation to take good care of God`s good world. In addition, we are to recognize that all life is a gift from God and that human life bears the image of God and should be treated with reverence and respect. According to Paul, we are partners with God in setting free all of creation from the effects of sin (Rom. 8:18-25).
The question I wish to raise is this: Is there a connection between the way we treat God`s good creation and the way we treat humanity, the culmination of God`s creative work? I think so.
Let me illustrate. I learned recently that a prominent minister is an avid "Trophy Hunter." Big game safaris are his passion. He is a featured speaker for Hunting Clubs. Those who have visited his "Trophy Room" tell me of an amazing collection of animals-a giraffe, a leopard, a lion, and several varieties of deer-his present quest is for an elephant, I am told. One recent kill sits stuffed on a table-a baboon reading Darwin`s Origin of the Species. A good laugh, but at what cost?
Now some of you at this point think I am majoring on minors-with war, famine, and pestilence on our doorstep, why bother with such a minor issue?
But consider this. The more I have reflected on the killing of animals for sport, the more the ironies, analogies, and connections between this practice and the treatment of fellow humans began to merge. I have witnessed the way this particular "Trophy Hunter" has treated some people, particularly those considered to be fair game in his mission on earth.
Is there a connection between the two? Is the way we treat God`s creation, especially the animals God has placed on planet earth, a reflection of how we view all of life? Or does the way we treat the rest of creation influence the way we treat humans? Probably both are true.
Sometimes I wonder if Darwin isn`t right-especially when we act more like baboons than like humans.
