by lurkernomore 44 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Two stories on this, first was a young guy about 14, his JW mom went through the WT article on this, and reasoned with him, she asked if he understood, he said "Yea" and promptly went off fishing, for sport, not to eat.
Good kid ! He took no notice LOL
The second was an Elder went on holiday to Norway a while after the WT had railed against Huntin' Shootin' and Fishin', and his NorwegianJW hosts took him out on various days doing one or the other, they took no notice of silly JW rules either !
The 3 activities mentioned involve
Now I will never be able to talk about golf or fishing in a decent way :-p
I was talked to once about my practice of catch and release.
I pointed out to the brother that it was a conservation effort. That I caught so many fish, it would be reprehensible, and in some cases illegal, if I were to keep everything.
After that, I was never hassled about it again.
I am a fly fisherman as well.
Utter rubbish. Whilst people may have frowned on it there was no ban. Hunting (shooting esp) as a sport is another matter.
For what it's worth the man responsible for all of the U.K. Inland waterways, including issuing the rod licence, at the Environment Agency was an elder and an active fly fisherman.
There's at least two elders in my old Hall who regularly used to fly fish so never came across this prohibition.
I suppose it's another case if going beyond what's written as well as imposition of self importance in some cases.
One thing I found over the years was that it all depended on the Congregation. Where we lived the elders in North Michigan around Petoskey, Indian River and especially Vanderbuilt would have put you in a bag and dumped you in a river if you said you could not hunt or fish. I would listen to them go back and forth on who got the biggest fish deer ect. They would always preface it with "I do this to put food on the table" It was as lie. I grew up hunting and fishing and can tell you pound for pound it costs a hell of a lot more to get your food by hunting then by going to the store and buying it. You have at least 500 for a rifle, 20 bucks for cartridges, 18 for a license, time off work for two to several days, gas and oil for your vehicle, and all the other things like boots, cloths and camping equipment if you stay over in the hunting area. When your done you get a few pounds of fish or if the fishing is bad nothing for the money spent.
Then other congregations or people from them such as down state Michigan, some would feel that hunting an animal was not showing respect for gods creating as I was told several times. My dad gave up deer hunting before I did saying he did not like shooting an animal he loved to watch in his field only to get about 40 pounds of meet off a good sized animal so that he could try to make it taste like beef. He had a point, every time some elder hunter would shoot a rabbit they would try to make it taste like chicken, or deer like beef, so why not save the money and buy chicken and beef?
I have an uncle in Pinedale Wyo that is a rabid hunter. He has spent many thousands of dollars over the years shooting elk, Bighorn, and other animals to put on his wall. He is a small minded man who fancies himself some kind of modern mountain man. He is an elder in the hall even after he moved from Michigan to get away from his affair with his secretary. The society is full of hypocrisy. I am not against hunting or fishing I just have other interests, but I am not for hunting or fishing for sport of anything that is endangered or to hang on the wall. Catch and release fishing is a great way to keep money rolling into conservation of the animals.
There is no official jw rule against fishing and hunting. Don't believe everything you hear.
However I think it is good to ask yourself why fishing or why hunting?
I think it wouldn't be morally right to do it just for fun. That is my opinion and has nothing to do with JWs.
There are twisted, personal opinion driven decrees by individuals and congregations. One congregation in my area allows sisters to have two piercings in each ear; one on the other side of town forbids it. The WTS lets BOE have discretion to make their own rules. Then there are the COs that breeze through and make rules.
If it is not in print in a WT publication, you can bet it is not official.
I can see catch and release coming under scrutiny, catching game fish not for consumption just sport, spending too much time fishing and not enough time preaching, etc.
@Daniel1555
I totally agree with you, JW opinion aside I don't agree with hunting or fishing for sport. I've always fished to eat. The fact that I found it enjoyable was a bonus.
