I never could see why a man should be imbued with a blood-thirsty desire to kill and destroy animal life. I have known men—and they still exist among us—who enjoy what is, to them, the ‘sport’ of hunting birds and slaying them by the hundreds, and who will come in after a day’s sport, boasting of how many harmless birds they have had the skill to slaughter, and day after day, during the season when it is lawful for men to hunt and kill (the birds having had a season of protection and not apprehending danger) go out by scores or hundreds, and you may hear their guns early in the morning on the day of the opening, as if great armies had met in battle; and the terrible work of slaughtering the innocent birds goes on.
“I do not believe any man should kill animals or birds unless he needs them for food, and then he should not kill innocent little birds that are not intended for food for man. I think it is wicked for men to thirst in their souls to kill almost everything which possesses animal life. It is wrong, and I have been surprised at prominent men whom I have seen whose very souls seemed to be athirst for the shedding of animal blood.” (Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed., Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1939, pp. 265–66.)
Parley P. Pratt wrote:We must lie to support brother Joseph, it is our duty to do so.
I never could see why a man should be imbued with a blood-thirsty desire to kill and destroy animal life. I have known men—and they still exist among us—who enjoy what is, to them, the ‘sport’ of hunting birds and slaying them by the hundreds, and who will come in after a day’s sport, boasting of how many harmless birds they have had the skill to slaughter, and day after day, during the season when it is lawful for men to hunt and kill (the birds having had a season of protection and not apprehending danger) go out by scores or hundreds, and you may hear their guns early in the morning on the day of the opening, as if great armies had met in battle; and the terrible work of slaughtering the innocent birds goes on.
“I do not believe any man should kill animals or birds unless he needs them for food, and then he should not kill innocent little birds that are not intended for food for man. I think it is wicked for men to thirst in their souls to kill almost everything which possesses animal life. It is wrong, and I have been surprised at prominent men whom I have seen whose very souls seemed to be athirst for the shedding of animal blood.” (Gospel Doctrine, 5th ed., Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1939, pp. 265–66.)
But ... but .... didn't I read somewhere that the CoJCoLDS owns a lot of land on which it is possible to hunt if you pay them an appropriate fee?
Either I am making that up (and hey! would I tell you if I was?) or there is some misunderstanding here. I suppose the explanation is that the guy who wrote that stuff is dead, so it is all (in the word made famous by Nixon's press officer) 'inoperative'.
Zadok: I did not have a faith crisis. I discovered that the Church was having a truth crisis. Maksutov: That's the problem with this supernatural stuff, it doesn't really solve anything. It's a placeholder for ignorance.
For more than two years, he and his wife, Beth, have been serving God in a most unusual way.
They operate a private hunting preserve owned by the LDS Church.
What you may have not remembered is that Lords one true hunting preserve on earth today was staffed by full time, unpaid, volunteer missionaries.
Let's see if any LDS want to have a go at justifying this in light of the OP....
“We look to not only the spiritual but also the temporal, and we believe that a person who is impoverished temporally cannot blossom spiritually.” Keith McMullin - Counsellor in Presiding Bishopric
"One, two, three...let's go shopping!" Thomas S Monson - Prophet, Seer, Revelator
I shot a few birds and frogs and such with my pellet gun when I was a young teenager. I was exposed to this teaching though, and I felt guilty about it, and stopped doing it, and have pretty much believed in not killing animals who didn't need to be killed ever since. It's probably one of the very few truly moral teachings I think I have maintained from the LDS church, if not from a great deal of its membership.
edit: I need to add, though, that I do eat meat, and in times other than in cold or famine.
Mormonism ceased being a compelling topic for me when I finally came to terms with its transformation from a personality cult into a combination of a real estate company, a SuperPac, and Westboro Baptist Church. - Kishkumen
Sethbag wrote:I shot a few birds and frogs and such with my pellet gun when I was a young teenager. I was exposed to this teaching though, and I felt guilty about it, and stopped doing it, and have pretty much believed in not killing animals who didn't need to be killed ever since. It's probably one of the very few truly moral teachings I think I have maintained from the LDS church, if not from a great deal of its membership.
edit: I need to add, though, that I do eat meat, and in times other than in cold or famine.
+1.
SWK got two things right: (a) lifting the unrighteous ban against blacks receiving the Priesthood, and (b) this directive about hunting.