Playing God in a Healthy Way


They say “imitation is the highest form of flattery.” I believe this to be true in most cases, but there are some I have trouble with. “Playing God is actually the highest expression of human nature. The urges to improve ourselves, to master our environment, and to set our children on the best path possible have been the fundamental driving forces of all of human history. Without these urges to ‘play God’, the world as we know it wouldn’t exist today” (Remez Naam). But do somethings people do that I would argue qualifies as “playing God” really qualify as a good expression of human nature and a form of flattery. For example, hunting and fishing. I am a hunter and a fisher, but I eat all the fish I decide to keep, and I don’t hunt deer unless I plan to eat them. As I understand it from the bible (through the internet, because I have never read the bible) it is okay to do that as long as you are using what you kill. But I am more referring to people who hunt and fish for sport. Is that type of “playing God” a healthy form of “playing God?” I struggle with this question. Because either way, an animal dies. But the way I do it is “biblically okay,” though there is hardly a difference.


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