Fishing, Jesus and the anti - part one

In the previous two articles, I shared my thoughts - or at least some of them anyway - about the anti. I made reference to the fact I had visited a number of anti-fishing web sites. As can be expected, they are a combination of inaccuracies, misrepresentations and downright lies. However, there were a couple of web sites run by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) that really do demand a response.

These sites attempt to occupy the moral high ground by invoking God, Jesus and the Bible as being on their side. Reading through the sites I was absolutely amazed at their exegesis. (That is, the way they interpret the Bible). At best their interpretation displays a theological naivety. At worst it is a deliberate ploy to mislead people. Read on and make your own mind up.

One of the cardinal mistakes that they make time and time again is the failure to differentiate between animal rights and animal welfare. I could write a whole article on the Biblical perspective on this, but suffice it to say we should all be for animal welfare. But animal rights? A lot of people don’t see the massive differences that exist between ‘welfare’ and ‘rights’, but I believe that it is crucial that we do.

On a pragmatic level for us as fisherman, animal welfare involves the proper care of the fish we catch and a desire to apply environmentally friendly methods to our angling. For as much as the PETA web sites attack us as anglers for being cruel and not interested in our environment, the truth is that without anglers the waterways of the country would be in a lot worse state than they are now.

The first PETA web site I checked out portrayed Jesus as a vegetarian. Jesus was actually a Jew, who participated in the Passover. To those who are unaware of what the Passover entails, it means the killing of a lamb, and then the subsequent eating of it. There is nowhere, I repeat nowhere, in the Scriptures that even gives the slightest hint that Jesus or any of his disciples did not partake of the Passover. But in fact, the opposite is true. Jesus and his disciples not only participated in the killing and eating of animals but they did so with a clear conscience.

Now let me say at this point that I have no problems with vegetarians. If one doesn’t want to eat meat, live and let live, I say. But don’t try to force others to adopt your way of life. And please don’t twist and misquote the Bible to back up your argument.

In the previous articles I wrote about how society has changed considerably over the last 30 years or so. One of the changes that has been evident has been the secularisation of our society. This has spawned the notion that man and animals (and fish) are the same. The Bible does not support this though, instead it teaches that there is clear water between mankind and the animal kingdom.