Forgive Them, For They Know Not What They Do...

To be extremely honest and blunt, this is an issue that angers and stabs me through the heart.

THE ATLANTIC SEAL HUNT

I know that this is an extremely controversial issue according to some individuals, but when you look at the photo above, how can you agree with this kind of killing? What I want to know is how the man in the picture can sleep at night...honestly, what is your problem?

I have stated my very personal opinion, and I am going to back every word of it with the facts.

The Atlantic seal hunt takes place every year in the waters and on the ice flows of Atlantic Canada. The hunt opens usually in the month of April in the Gulf areas surrounding the Magdalen Islands, in Prince Edward Island, and of the Eastern coast of Newfoundland. The hunt lasts approximately until the beginning of May. A whole month of brutal slaughter?! Hooded seals, Harp seals and Grey seals are hunted, but the preferred catch is the Harp seal. You know those cute and cuddly baby white seals? They are also known as Whitecoat seals. Well it is ILLEGAL to hunt them. Yes. There is a law that is SUPPOSED to prevent the killing of newborn harp and blueback seals (also known as hooded seals) The reason this law was passed is because the images were so inflammatory.

Something you should also know is that baby Harp seals no longer have "white coats" after 12 to 14 days after birth. Once they lose their white coats, they become fair game for hunters, infant seal or no. Most Harp seals are killed under three months of age.

I recently watched a video on Youtube on the seal hunt with an Atlantic "Fisherman, " I guess that would be the polite term to aknowledge him, but he said, and I quote, "You've got white snow, pristine snow with blood on it and things like that. It's not nice. Killing any animal is not nice. We just do it humanely as possible. We use high powered rifles, and we conduct ourselves very professionally, you know. We don't want to see any animals suffer."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1Q38I_jqT8&feature=related

As he says the about quote, you plainly see footage playing of a "fisherman" with a long pointed club, also known as a hackapik, run across the ice flows towards a Harp seal, and bash it over the head several times with the blunt end of the stick, and then they flip it over and impale it with the hooked end.

Not even thirty seconds later into the video, a man named Jack, who has apparently been hunting seals for more than fifty years. Now Jacky boy and his colleagues here seems to think that marine mammals are no more than just another type of fish, and can't seem to understand WORLDWIDE opposition. I don't know, why would someone oppose to the barbaric killing strategies these "fisherman" have? Well maybe it has to do with the fact that MANY seals are left to suffer on the ice flows, after either being shot, or savagely clubbed over the skull, also known as blunt force trauma, if you watch CSI. You don't believe this happens? Well watch this video. TRUST ME PEOPLE, they leave them there in agony.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1Q38I_jqT8&feature=related

Start it at 1:50 on the video. Eat your heart out.

The total allowable catch for Harp seal in 2009 was set at 280,000, slightly up from the year previous. Hunters don't always catch as many as they are allowed to, but they are also sometimes allowed to EXCEED the pre-season quota.

The seal hunt is to benefit Canada. It landed the Federal Government more than 16.5 million dollars in the year 2005. The Federal Government also aknowledges that it has laid over 200 charges against sealers since 1996.

This is a quote taken from CBC News Canada...

"The IFAW describes the contribution of sealing to Newfoundland's GDP as "trivial" and says after costs and indirect subsidies are taken into account (patrolling the hunt, upgrading plants, promoting the hunt, developing new markets for seal products and supporting research to find new products), Canadians would "likely find that the hunt actually costs the Canadian taxpayer money."
It's a pointless activity, in the view of the IFAW, which says, 'the only economically valuable part of the seal is its fur, a non-essential luxury product that no one really needs.'"

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2009/05/05/f-seal-hunt.html

There also is the argument that the seal hunt is good because the seals eat Cod. If you didn't know already, Codfish is to be added to the World Wildlife Foundation's list of endangered species. The main reason Cod populations have become threatened is due to overfishing. They have actually launched the program ORCA (the Ocean's Rocovery Campaign) in an effort to save the species.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2000/jul/20/fish.food

Seals do eat Cod, but they also eat other fish that prey upon Cod. Seals don't overfish for profit either. We do.

Honestly, I could write about this issue until the cows come home, but writing about the issue only helps in raising awareness. Preventative action needs to be taken so this won't happen again. I understand that the seal hunt is an important part of the income, livelihood, and longtime tradition of the Atlantic Canadians.

If I am ever battling in my heart with what is right and what is wrong I look for help from the Bible.

Lets look at Genesis. In verse 1, you see the start of creation. God starts to develop the relationship between animal and man. As rulers of the Earth, God gives us the authority of all the Earth. But if you have seen Spiderman, you know that with great power, comes great responsibility... Man is to use, and take care of the earth. This means that man is to assume the control and protection of all that God had created.

However in Genesis 9, there is a change in the relationship between man and animal. Animals were not food before the fall of mankind. God also instills fear into animals at this point. Animals are used to fill the needs of men. However, God continues His command in verse two to watch over these animals.

lets take a look at Proverbs 12:10...

"A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel."

If man truly understood the command to be caretakers of the earth, animal cruelty would not exist.

The Rose without Thorn

For the longest time I have pondered about God's love for me. For us.

It only sounds too simple to say He created the heavens and the earth for our pleasure. True, God made us rulers over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and over all creatures that moved on the ground. He even went as far as to give us our free will. To have the aptitude to process our own thoughts, and communicate with others.

We can sense the majesty of the Earth encompassing us with every cell of our anatomy with just five priceless tools bestowed upon us. Sight, smell, touch, taste, and sound. But what about matters of the heart? Love is more than just a feeling. It is everything and nothing at the same time. It is rooted and spreads throughout every fibre of our soul like wildfire, leaving nothing as it was before. Love takes many forms and is bestowed by people in unique means. It asks the question why? Why are we so blessed to be so beloved by our Creator, and our Father? He created man in His own image. We are created in the Holy image of God. That is huge. We are of His image to be like Him. To love like Him, and to live like Him. Love is the key to life, is it not? Take note of this passage of scripture from the Bible...

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountians, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing." (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

When asked which is the greatest commandment in the Law, Jesus replied;

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it:'Love your neighbour as yourself.' All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:37-40)

Jesus sacrificed himself and was nailed to a tree to cleanse mankind of its irreversible sin. In the old testament, sin was forgiven with the shed blood of an animal without defect. When the Son of God was crucified, all the sins of the world had become forgiven and a blood sacrifice was no longer necessary. The love Christ beared us was the same love that placed Him on the cross. That love was necessary to save our souls from the eternal and certian damnation that has haunted us since the fall from grace.

I leave you with these for thought...

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:8)

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. (1 John 3:16 )

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. ( 1 John 3:18)

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:8)

A Notion for Thought

Just about everyone has heard once before, the old rhyme about the six lamented queens of England...You know, divorced, beheaded, died, divorced beheaded survived? All (except the lucky Anne of Cleves) were deflowered and then devoured by the infamous loose cannon known as Henry VIII, king of England, Ireland, and France. Tudor history is my thing.

I don't know if anyone out there has read the book called "Outlander" by Diana Gabaldon? Well, my mom and nana have for the last six months been pestering me to read this book. I do enjoy historical romances, don't get me wrong, but I just wasn't that into men in kilts for some reason... that is until I read this book and became aquainted with the virile, and enticing seducer known as Jamie Fraser. Wowee! Talk about a head and page turner... I read that book practically non-stop from front to back cover and Jamie has single-handedly changed my perspective of scotsmen, and Scotland for life.

So, to understand my next thought, you first have to have a basic idea of what the novel is all about... So it's the year 1945, a former young nurse named Claire Randall is on her second honeymoon in Scotland. Claire is visiting an ancient stone circle formation when she randomly touches the stone and is transported back to the year 1743, still in Scotland, dazed and confused while only wearing a scant summer dress... back in those days you would have alot of explaining to do if even just you had exposed ankles! So she runs into the classic "prince charming" who happens to be the above mentioned Jamie Fraser and eventually falls in love with the guy...honestly I don't blame her, as I found myself doing the same as the pages turned.

Now me, being a radical dreamer, I often fantisize what I would do, and who I would be if somehow was absconded back in time like the auspicious Claire Randall... honestly, I would have a hay day. {"Hay Day" goes back to an Anglo-Saxon use of 'hey' as an expression of great enthusiasm and happiness. So a person's 'hay day' is the period of his greatest vigor and success." From "Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins" by William and Mary Morris (HarperCollins, New York, 1977, 1988)}

Which location and time period would I select? I can definately say that prior to reading "Outlander," I would have immediately flocked to the court of King Henry VIII, but post of reading the book I am not so sure anymore. Scotsmen definately hold this new allure to me! I think it may have to do with my new found attraction to burly, seductive, and self reliant men. You know who you are.

So I have been musing... England or Scotland? Henry and his court of dangling puppets wrapped in damask, silk, lace and pearls... or roughing it in the wild and untame beauty that is Scotland, possibly harvesting my own potatoes?

Scotland all the way.