A Footnote to Animal Stewardship

I feel compelled to give a footnote to my previous post on animal stewardship. I received a very interesting comment to that post, and it shows that I may have been a little missunderstood. And, if someone is going to quote me I would rather that they get a clear understanding of my motives, meaning and position.

Stewardship:
--Wikipedia:

Stewardship is a sense of personal responsibility for taking care of something that is not one's own. The term stewardship has different interpretations depending on the context of the word. It can apply to environmental resources, commercially-made products, finances, land claims, or organizations, among other things.

--Wiktionary:

Etymology: From Old English stiward, stigweard

Pronunciation: The word is pronounced "stew-urd".

Noun

steward (plural stewards)

1. A person who manages the property or affairs for another entity.
2. A ship's officer who is in charge making dining arrangements and provisions.
3. An attendant on an airplane. [syn: flight attendant]
4. A union member who is selected as a representative for fellow workers in negotiating terms with management. [syn: shop steward]
5. A person who has charge of buildings and/or grounds and/or animals. [syn: custodian, keeper]
6. In IT, somebody who is responsible for managing a set of projects, products or technologies and how they affect the IT organization to which they belong.

Therefore, animal stewardship is the taking of responsibility of the animals (and creation) that God has given to us; caring for them and managing them.

Why did God give us animals?

Genesis 9:1-7

1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.^[a] 2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. 4 But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. 5 Surely for your lifeblood I will demand a reckoning; from the hand of every beast I will require it, and from the hand of man. From the hand of every man’s brother I will require the life of man.
6 “ Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man. 7 And as for you, be fruitful and multiply; Bring forth abundantly in the earth And multiply in it.”

Let me put this into perspective with animal stewardship.

It is, therefore, our duty, responsibility and honor to care for God's creatures so that we can supply the world with food. We must do it in a ecologically sound manner. It is not in our interest to be cruel, and slaughter every species into oblivion; when they are gone we starve!

Finally, let me put a footnote in about our local seal fishery. In the past, over 20 years ago, the hunt was extremely cruel, however, we have evolved the seal hunt into a very humane respectful fishery. Unfortunately, the opposition is using films, pictures and other propaganda, which is outdated! I didn't say that they were wrong, I said that it is outdated!
If we don't hunt the seals, the seal population will get so large that they will begin to hunt us! They are already eating most of the few cod stocks that are left!

So, in conclusion, I am an advocate for Animal and Environmental Stewardship. Am I perfect? No, I am trying in my small way to make a difference. Will I continue to eat meat? Yes, if I don't eat it eventually it will eat me. God understands that we must curb the animal populations so that they are manageable just read the story about Israel's gradual conquering of Canaan land.

Yours for understanding,
Pastor Fred