Thrill of the kill

How is it considered normal or healthy to enjoy killing anything?  i.e., hunting for sport. I can understand someone hunting out of necessity.  This was probably far more common in the past, at least in the United States. Someone lived out in the deep woods and had to grow, hunt down or prepare their food. If you failed to gather or kill enough, you simply went hungry or even died of hunger. Or worse yet, you watched your family die of hunger. But that really is not the case any longer. No one "needs" to hunt in order to survive.  
And it cannot be argued that hunting is less expensive than buying groceries. I suppose that someone could argue that literal "wildlife" hunting/poaching is less expensive, if one is not picky about what one eats. But typically, the hunting that takes place is the "take one week of work off, pack up all the hunting/camping/hiking gear, buy a hunting license and ammunition" type of hunting. Which is not an inexpensive endeavor.
But to enjoy killing? Simply for the thrill of the kill? "Hey, look at that beautiful animal!  Let's kill it and hang its head on our wall."  Personally, that sort of mentality seems antithetical to the Christian faith. Man didn't eat meat until after the Great Flood. The animal sacrifice that took place in Old Testament, during the Old Covenant, was a direct result of and temporary covering for, sin.
I don't understand the enjoyment of taking the life of something else.

Deciding

When one deeply examines the world of philosophical debate, it simply comes down to faith.  Yes, one can argue about a myriad of philosophical details, but beneath all of one’s philosophy is faith. Eventually, digging down deep enough and asking the right questions, we believe something or some things that we do not prove nor do we seek a proof, we simply believe them.  Some things (probably many things) are embraced at the presuppositional level and thus, not questioned.

What do we do with this?  The first thought, for me anyway, in response to this, is to recognize the futility of debate and argumentation.  If someone holds to view contrary to our own and they are someone who has worked through the many philosophical questions that plague certain people, then arguing those philosophical beliefs will lead to nowhere, as there are presuppositions underlying those beliefs, that need to be addressed first.

My second thought has to do with learning to think presuppositionally.  We must learn to think down deep. In other words, we have to learn to ask the questions that lie beneath and behind the philosophical argumentation that so often takes place.  We need to learn to identify and find the rationale for those questions, so that, when interacting with others, we can construct and direct conversation to a fruitful conclusion.  

In short, we must decide to believe.  The questions that lie at the bottom of who we are, do not have answers constructed from fine, logical argumentation.  We decide to believe. This is where prayer comes in. We can argue all we want (but shouldn’t) about philosophy. But it won’t go anywhere.  We must, instead, lead to the deep questions, with no answers, and then pray that God would reveal himself and the futility of life without God, to those with whom we interact.  

Only prayer can change a man’s heart.

Preparation

Most people follow some sort of general cyclical pattern in their lives.  I'm thinking of a yearly pattern. We have our basic holidays and summer vacations.  We have birthdays, weekends and schooling schedule.  And without fail, we plan for these things.  Most people do not simply "wing it", when they go on vacation.  They make not necessarily make a list of specific plans, down to the miniscule details, but they do plan.  Airplane tickets, hotel reservations, car rental, possibly some key places to visit.
But what about eternity?  We plan our schooling, we plan our vocations, we plan our retirements, but practically speaking, this is really only about about a 50 year period.  What about eternity?  What planning are we doing to be prepared for eternity?  Does sitting in a pew, once a week constitute preparation?  Does our thoughts about eternity or even simply things spiritual take place only on Sunday morning, for about 45 minutes?  And even at that, how often do we sit though a feel good sermon that we typically don't even "hear" anyways?
We plan an exercise regimen.  We plan a vacation.  We plan a retirement financial approach?  But do we plan for eternity?
Do we even have any idea what it means to prepare ourselves for eternity?  We have a basic understanding of what it means to be in shape, to exercise, to have a healthy heart, but do we have any idea what it means to have a healthy soul?  Do we do ANYTHING to feed/care for/ prepare our souls?
Or are we simply focused on the here and now?

Too hard?

The subject of “being too hard”on your kids, in regards to religious practice, seems to come up quite often.  There are many examples of this taking place, always with really bad results. A few notable names come to mind, such as Maynard Keenan (from the band Tool) and GG Allin (from the band, The Murder Junkies).  Both of these men were raised in very strict religious homes and both men reacted strongly in rebellion against that religiosity that was foisted upon them.

I have to wonder what exactly is taking place.  On the surface, the child is raised in a situation that stifles, controls and suppresses them, rather than challenging, maturing and loving them.  Everyone has a different personality and to force religion, something that is supposed to fulfill, upon them, in a manner that drives them away is, in my opinion, about the worst action one can take.

So my question is this? What does it mean to be "too hard" on your kids? Scripture does speak of this when it says, "Fathers do not exasperate your children." (Ephesians 6:4). One of the biggest problems with this passage is the way that it is handled, according to personal interpretation. In the world of Protestantism/Evangelicalism, one can interpret Scripture in whatever way one seeks fit. I can guarantee that no father guilty of being too hard on his children even sees himself that way. 

In order to keep this practical, we can say two things. One, never make the faith a matter of grief, animosity or disdain. Going to church or church related events should not be a pain point for kids. If it is, we are doing something wrong. This is not to say that church/religion should be fun and games. But it is our responsibility to make our faith real to our kids.

It really comes down to love. If we are loving God and loving neighbor
 (ie, our kids), like we should a relationship of open communication should 
be natural. Yes, children will rebel and want to define things for themselves. 
But that is a progression that should take place. Our kids must embrace
 faith for themselves and not simply mimic us. And this may mean a different 
path to come into a faith for themselves.

What to do

It is the feeling of helplessness that is so bothersome.  The older I become, the more I realize just how powerless I am and how little I know.  As an idealistic youth and young man, the world was black and white.  What the pastor said in his weekly sermons were true and defensible. But now, as I have reached middle age, life is much more complex, every incomprehensible at times.  Sure, there is black and white, but the gray area in the middle continues to grow.  Circumstances change everything.
What then are we to do, when we are essentially powerless to really make any difference in the world around us?  Governments are corrupt, sex drives everything, people have become objects to be used and thrown away.  Abortion is common, abuse is common, euthanasia is common, neglect of reality and a focus on the temporal rules the day.
As I've mentioned in a previous post, the physical world around us, that everyone focuses on, to the neglect of the other 90% of reality, is painful to live in.  There is so much wrong, so much messed up, so much going the complete wrong direction, that I have to ask, "What to do?"
We cannot become fatalists, for we truly believe that prayer makes a difference.  We cannot simply stop caring, for we have loved ones that need us and that we need.  As Jesus said, "the poor you will always have with you."  So we have to get used to the idea of the persistent nature of evil and suffering.  As long as we are on this side of the final judgment, life is suffering.
The only answer I can offer, the only answer the church has to offer, is that of prayer and repentance. We pray for those in need and we strive after holiness, repenting as we go.

Maturation

One of the responsibilities of the parent is to help and guide their children to grow and mature.  Obviously, the physical aspect of maturation is unavoidable. Children do grow, under normal circumstances, into adulthood. But what about the mental, the emotional and the psychological?  These things do not simply happen, environment and genetics are both influential in these maturation processes.

One aspect, particularly interesting to me, is the psychological part in connection with entertainment.  The things (at a very foundational level) that we, as parents/adults, find interesting and entertaining, will be passed on to our children.  If we love sports, most likely our children will as well. If we love the outdoors/hiking/camping/exercise, most likely that will influence and direct our children into the same interests.  While the influence we have upon our children in this regard is not necessarily a one-to-one, the basic categorical influence is, I believe, unavoidable. So if we as adults like watching movies, of any particular genre, while it is probably unavoidable that our children will enjoy watching movies as well, what is not necessarily true is the genre they choose as their preference.  This is where deliberate training comes into play.

So what happens when our interests and entertainments are childish?  Are we not then hindering/handicapping our children? So the important thing to see here is not so much our attention to what we direct our children into, but our deliberate training in how to think about their preferences.  Whatever our interests, our children will follow, but we must be attentive to the fact that their own sinful inclinations may take those interests into areas and genres that we never would have considered.

We must lead our children, not by trying to control them or keep them blind to reality, but by raising them up to think clearly about what it is they are doing and why they are doing it.  Maturation is about freedom and handling it with wisdom. If we try to control our children, with rules and regulations, they will only rebel. If we train them to understand reality, they can think rightly about their own thoughts and actions and through our prayers and the sacraments of the church, live rightly.

Productivity

I was about to make a comment, to one of my children, about being productive, when the thought struck me.  Why do we always think of productivity in regards to things temporal/physical/monetary?  When one stops and considers to what the term actually refers, it simply is about producing.  And producing something that one considers valuable.  So clearly, an underlying definition is being exposed herein.
When we have accomplished our day and have been "productive", it means that we have produced that which we intended or hoped to produce.  Whether it be widgets or sales figures or a trailer full of crop x, y, z.  But what about things spiritual? Do we ever think of a visit to a monastery as "productive"?  Do we every finish our Lenten fast (or any fast for that matter) and looking back, consider the time "productive"?  I would think that we probably do not.
But in this I think we are exposing a serious flaw in our hearts and minds.
When we look at the length of our physical life, in comparison to the eternity that stretches out before us, it is almost nil. But the time that we do have, as free will agents of 80 to 100 years, the time is very important.  For this short time we have in our struggle against sin, is the only time we have to form our souls, to seek after holiness and to fight against sin.
So really, we have a tiny sliver of time to prepare ourselves for eternity.  And that is something that we really must strive in and be productive.