Can Christians enjoy hunting?

Hunting season is here. Duck hunters are rising early to go shoot mallard ducks. Deer hunters are climbing tree stands to harvest a whitetail deer. Bird dogs are running through the tall grass for a cubby of quail. The more adventurous types are scouring the mountains of Montana for a giant bugling elk.

For many, the hunt is on.

Growing up in Alabama, I hunted during most of my childhood and early adult life. Then I moved to Washington, D.C., and later New York City where I had next to no opportunities to hunt. Recently, I made the move to Atlanta where hunting is much more accessible.

Since my conversion to Christianity in law school, I have scrutinized my former pursuits in life. My life does not look as it once did. Many of the activities that filled my time in the past are gone and my time is stewarded much differently now — the local church, billing hours as a lawyer, and loving my wife — take up most of my time now.

But what of hunting? Whenever I see my bow at my parent’s house and the whitetail buck mounts on the wall from hunts long ago, the memories return to me. I feel moments of joy, and longing to be back in the outdoors, a man on the hunt again. Despite those feelings, could I do it with a clear conscience?

I argue yes — with a clear conscience and joy.

Taking the life of animals is morally permissible

“And then there came a voice to him: ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat’” (Acts 10:13 ESV). Here, God is bringing an end to Old Testament dietary restrictions and commanding the Apostle Peter to kill what was formerly unclean to him so that he may eat it and live in unity with the Gentile believers. In the Gospels, Jesus Christ not only explicitly approved of this practice — the killing of animals for food — but actively participated in it Himself. Jesus helped His disciples catch 153 fish in one cast of the net (John 21: 11). The catch was so miraculous that His disciples knew He was the risen Christ (John 21:7). He did not command them to release all of them back into to the sea, but to “[b]ring some of the fish” that they had just caught (John 21:10). For Jesus, God in the flesh, wanted to have breakfast with His disciples (John 21:12).

Further evidence of God’s approval of killing animals for food is seen in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. When the Prodigal Son returns to his father, after having squandered his inheritance on worthless things, his father welcomes him home and calls for the fatted calf to be killed so that they may “eat and celebrate” (Luke 15:23). Jesus speaks of killing the fatted calf in an approving way and something that was fit for the occasion of a lost son having come home to his father. In this parable He does not describe the breaking of bread, or the eating of the vegetables, but of killing the fatted calf and eating it as the occasion demanded. It would be inconsistent for Jesus to say that the joyful return of a lost son demanded the slaying of the fatted calf if it were sinful for the father to do so.

How about the Old Testament? We go back further to God speaking to Noah after the subsiding of the flood waters. “Everything moving that lives shall be food for you” (Genesis 9:3). God is abundantly clear here that Noah and those after him may kill and eat the animals of creation.

This practice begins with Noah in Genesis, continues with Jesus in the Gospels, and with the Apostles after Jesus’s ascension to Heaven.

Christians may sports hunt

Now that we have established that Christians may take the lives of animals for food, what about hunting for sport? Is that ok? I’ll address two known objections: 1. hunting is no longer necessary for survival, and 2. hunting for enjoyment is wrong. 

Truth is, Scripture never mentions Christ or the Apostles hunting. Although, other areas of the Bible allude to the practice, such as Proverbs 12:27: “Whoever is slothful will not roast his game, but the diligent man will get precious wealth.” “Game” refers to an animal slayed in the wild. In Genesis we see Isaac commanding his son Esau to take his “bow and go out to the field and hunt game for me, and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love” (Genesis 27:30). Though there is no verse that states “Hunting is lawful,” the leap from farming and fishing is quite small.

In the face of some who object without a verse to point to, I comfortably take that leap.

But hunting is no longer necessary, some may say, unlike in the time of Isaac. We have modern farming. We have Costco. We do not need to take up our bow and kill game for ourselves. Speaking for myself, I love Costco. I doubt I will ever give up such a convenience. But the advent of convenience in our time does not mean that choosing the harder way to find dinner is somehow morally wrong. Nowhere in all of Scripture do we see a principal expressed that new conveniences outlaw the old ones. Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

Before going to my last point, I want to state that many of the best conservationist organizations are funded and led by hunters. Ducks Unlimited, National Wild Turkey Federation, and the National Deer Association to name a few. Having known members of these organizations, they are filled with people who love God’s creation and are seeking to preserve it.

And so, what if we hunters have fun when we hunt? It makes no sense to say that enjoying the hunt or doing it for fun makes what was permissible, impermissible.

The Christian life is to be one of joy. We labor with joy. We eat our food with joy. So too, we may step out into the wild and hunt with joy.