Thought for the Day

It is not wrong to hunt; but hunting for mere sport, in order to just hang a stuffed animal's head on a wall as a trophy of one's prowess without using the meat for food, is slothful. A diligent man considers game a precious possession providing food for his family's table.

While some people wastefully destroy animals, others consider it evil to kill them for food and become vegetarians. This is a nobler viewpoint, but the Bible does not forbid killing animals for food at this time. In the beginning, man was given a vegetarian diet of fruit, grains, vegetables, and seeds (Genesis 1:29-30, NIV). Apparently, all creatures of the earth were herbivores until after the great flood. This could have been one of the reasons that Noah was able to easily gather them into the ark and that they did not attack each other while in it. After the Flood, God blessed Noah and his sons and told them, "Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, now I give you everything" (Genesis 9:3, NIV). God had already established the difference between clean and unclean animals in Genesis 8:20, and now told them that they could eat all clean animals as well as plants and fruit. He also told Noah that the animals would now fear man; something that apparently did not exist in the pre-flood world.

A possible clue to why God saw fit to allow some of His creatures to feed upon others after the Flood is that it somehow changed the order of things. God had created a perfect world. Earth's atmosphere and vegetable life had provided a perfect environment and perfect nutrition for man and animals. This perfect earth was first cursed because of man's sin and destroyed when man's wickedness reached its fullness. After the flood, Noah and his family began all over again like Adam and Eve, but in an imperfect world. Perhaps God allowed the eating of meat - so familiar a part of our existence today - because the original order of things had now changed due to the influence of sin in the world.

By choosing to sin, man lost his position of authority over God's creation. The loss of man's proper position on earth caused the rest of creation to lose its proper position. Creation has now been tainted by the wicked one's perverted character. Certain animals and humans now prey upon each other.

This will change. We will all be able to truly enjoy the earth when Jesus returns. He will restore it to what He originally planned it to be, when He reigns during the millennium (Isaiah 11:6-9). The animals will once again eat plants and not each other. Man will enjoy the original foods that God made for him without any desire to hunt or kill. Satan will no longer be loose on earth, and all creation will be free from the atrocities of sin. All the earth groans and waits for the day when Christ will return as King.