A Theology of Hunting

Showing my kids the movie Bambi yesterday, for the first time, I found myself trying to explain why people hunt.  To make everything clear, I am from a very pro-hunting family, and have hunted myself.  I hope that both my boys grow up to do so also.

I didn't want my boys to get the wrong idea about the hunters in the movie, so I explained that only really bad hunters would kill a Mama Deer who had a baby.  Good hunters only kill Papa Deer or old mamas who don't have babies.

That seemed to do it for them, but I was struck by something else.  When the hunters start approaching the forest all of the animals start freaking out; screaming, running, and hiding.  Realistically, that happens when humans go into the woods anyway, so why did God make it that way?  Hunting wouldn't be part of the original creation--man wasn't commanded to eat meat until after Noah--so is it good, or bad?

I realized that the way the animals behave toward humans is exactly the way that Adam behaved toward God after he had sinned.  He heard God approaching in the garden and he ran and hid, afraid of God's judgment.  Even in a fallen world, man still has dominion over creation and creation has sinned.  When the fuzzy little forest creatures hear their lord coming, they run and hide, just like we did.

I also got to thinking about God's sovereignty, even with animals.  God rightly judged Adam for something he really did wrong.  God still rightly judges humans for their wrong-doing.  So as those who have dominion over creation, does God use man's judgment to judge His animals?  Some fun thoughts could be had along this thread...