Animals are people too...repost

Animals Are People Too

Let me start this by saying I'm venturing into waters probably best left unstirred. I hesitate to write this even as the words and the need to put them to 'paper' tugs at me. 

This morning I came across an article that I did not read. The article was about New York City requiring people transporting dogs on the subway to put their pets in a bag and it showed a man with a pit bull riding in a bag slung across his shoulder. I did not read the article but for some reason I did look at the comments. 

It was no surprise that 99% of the comments were an outcry of how wrong it was to have to put your dog in a bag to take it with you because 'dogs are people too'. About another 9% of the comments were aimed at the 'my dog would never fit in a bag' and 'we should do this with Fido' thought process. About a half a percent of them were people trying to draw someone else's attention to the comment. That left about a half of one percent of the comments to try to be the voice of reason, speaking of animals not belonging in public places, people being allergic to animals, people being afraid of them, and generally just not wanting to be exposed to someone else's ill behaved dog because that person wants the freedom to take their pet, 'because dogs are people too', everywhere they go. 

I firmly fall into the 'leave your mutt at home' catagory. I cannot stand the site of a dog in the grocery store, unless it's wearing a service vest and meets the behavior requirements of a service dog (and yes, I well know what those are because I trained one). I also can't stand to see a dog wearing a vest with a patch on it proclaiming the dog to be an emotional support animal, contrary to popular belief, emotional support animals are not service dogs and do not get the same protection by law as service animals do. Therapy dogs are not, by law, given the same protection either but I don't mind seeing them in the grocery store or other public place. Therapy dogs have gone through intense training and they are generally well behaved and not just a pet being passed off as something they are not. 

To be perfectly honest I am not a pet person. I don't mind, for the most part, having them about. We have a cat, and chickens, and... but our pets are just that, pets. They bring joy in seeing them in the yard. They are fun to pet or watch. They are not family members. When we had to flee our home from a natural disaster heading right toward it, we left the animals at home in our rush to save us. Did we think of the animals? Yes. Did we put ourselves at risk to try to save them? No. They are animals and they need to fall into the proper category. We saved ourselves and those in our care and we did not spare the time to save the animals.

Now, that said, our home was fine and the animals are all still here, well fed and cared for. 

But we kept them in their proper perspective. We put them behind people in their importance. If given the chance I would save the animals over the houseplants and before the furniture, simply because they are alive and by getting them as pets we did take on certain responsibilities to them. They are part of the Lord's creation and they have been entrusted to us so we should be good stewards of them. But I will not endanger myself or my loved ones to save them. I would not run back into a burning building for an animal and I would not give up precious seconds in what could be a life and death situation to grab the animals. 

That obviously is not the case for many of the people commenting on that article. 'Pets are people too' seems to be the overall consensus among the majority. And it's a consensus agreed on by a good majority of America. 

I remember when dogs were dogs, when pets were just that...pets. They weren't called babies or children. They weren't referred to as family members. They were pets. Now, 'pets are people too', dogs are 'my children', 'my babies', even 'my grandbabies'. 

I have to ask...

WHAT is wrong with people's minds? 

How can anyone see an animal on par with a person? How can you look at a human baby, ever, at any time in your life, and see a dog as 'my baby'. How can you think of an animal as your child? Does not the very nature of parenthood remove all thought of seeing an animal as your child? 

And yet, the majority of the people commenting on that article fell into that category. Where are their minds? Where is their common sense?

I will return to those questions in just a minute. Let me first say, I don't much care if people in NYC take dogs on the subway. I don't mind if people in...pick a place...carry their dogs around in backpacks, and eat at the dinner table with them. I've never been to NYC and don't have any plans to go there, and honestly, if I ever do go there, navigating a city of that size will be a much bigger issue for me than where dogs are. And dog bites probably fall lower on the scale of worry than the crime rate would. 

I can also say that if I ever did live in NYC, I'd probably want a dog. A BIG one. The biggest dog I could find. And it would be my constant companion. Because...well, because crime is real and dogs do deter crime, to a point anyway. 

But back to the above questions, where are their minds? Where is there common sense? 

Gone.

It flew the coop about a few thousand sins ago. Some of these same people said they'd rather go to San Francisco than to go to NYC where they'd have to restrain their dog. And why do they prefer SF? Because in SF dogs are allowed everywhere. In SF you can get a companion certificate for your dog and legally take it everywhere. 

I did not double check the validity of that. I am going only on the comments on that article. I have no reason to believe them but to be honest, I do. I suspect those statements were made in total truth. 

As I read that I found myself thinking of Romans 1:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 

19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 

 

20For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 

 

21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 

 

22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 

 

23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. 

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 

 

25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator,who is blessed forever! Amen. 

 

26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 

 

27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 

 

28And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 

 

29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 

 

30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 

31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 

 

32 Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

Nowhere in those comments did I see anything about Scripture. Nowhere in them did anyone mention the proper order of things...God first, man second, the world and it's creatures third. Nowhere in there did anyone say 'you're claiming wisdom but are fools'. Nowhere in there did anyone point out the futility in their thoughts and reasoning or the fact that they have, as shown by their statements, elevated animals, the creation, into gods that they are worshipping, putting them above God and even above their fellow human's. 

The few people that tried using common sense, pointing out that some people are allergic, that others are afraid, etc, were shot down instantly. Told to stay home, stay off the subway, take a cab, get a car, etc, if they did not want to travel with dogs. 

Really?

Where is the sense in any of that. We are going to deny people the right to transportation made for people simply because someone wants to travel with their animal? These animals are granted the 'right' to travel when we would suppress the same right for people for no other reason than 'pets are people too'. 

As I read those comments, when I came across the ones speaking of the freedoms given to animals in San Francisco, I couldn't help making the leap from SF is the homosexual capital of America to it's the dog friendly capital of America. And I thought, 'God gave them up'. 

Whether it's homosexuality or animal idolatry, God gave them up. He turned them loose to wallow in their own sins. They rejected Him and he threw his hands up and turned them over. 

Logically, I know that's not really how it happened. The majority of them are probably reprobates, vessels of wrath destined for destruction (Romans 9) and yet, God gave them up. 

Before the foundation of the world God made a choice. Somehow, in his all knowing, all powerful, all controlling, all...God...way, he looked at all of eternity, at all the people that would ever live, and he played eeny meeny miney mo. He chose this one and not that one. He granted salvation to some and destruction to others. 

And somehow in all that choosing, many poor souls were denied the pardon granted to others through God's mercy. 

Only the Lord knows the eternal condition of the animal idolaters and the homosexuals, as well as every other soul through all of eternity. I'm not about to speculate on the condition of any of their souls so far as their eternity is concerned. But I will say that as a whole, the people promoting 'pets are people too' are lost, given over to their own debased minds, just as much as those lost in homosexuality, murder, or whatever other sin consumes them, are. 

Our souls are a funny thing and I don't begin to fully understand them. What I do know is that our souls long for the Lord and for those that don't have the Lord, there is an empty spot within their souls that cry out, that beg, for the Lord but are never filled with His presence so they attempt to fill that void with whatever is at hand. No matter what they fill that void with, be it good or evil, it all becomes sin because it is an idol in their life. 

And for some, animals are that idol. It seems that animals are becoming a bigger and bigger idol these days. So many people have lost their objectivity where animals are concerned. Instead of seeing an...animal...they look at their fur covered critters and see babies. They see their roles as keeper, or caretaker, good stewards, as that of a parent. They see natural animal tendencies to be total adoration and unconditional love. They see loyalty as complete acceptance of them without 'judgement' as one of those comments said. 

In other words they are somehow fulfilled through their animals. Not because their dog guards their home or keeps their chickens safe from predators...no, in fact their dog must be protected from the evils of predators...but because that furry face somehow looks like the essence of...life. Of importance. Of everything that matters in the world. 

I have had a family member leave my home in a hurry because I refused let their dog stay in my house. I've had friends talk to me of their 'fur babies'. I've seen dog pee in the floor at the grocery store. Why? Because people have lost their objectivity. Their minds have crossed over. They no longer live in the world of sane, rational thought where animals are concerned. 

People plan vacations around their pets. They give up things they would like to do to keep their pet happy. I have no doubt that there are many families where kids and spouses take second, or lower, place to their dogs. 

I've met people that say their dogs sleep in bed with them, between a husband and a wife. I kind of had to wonder if that sleeping spot didn't actually signify the role that dog played in that marriage...coming between husband and wife. 

The Lord uses all for His purposes and He makes things work according to His plans. This idolization of animals is not news to Him. It's not going against His plans. It's all a part of it. Romans 9 talks of our Lord suffering vessels of destruction for His glory. I admit my human mind both understands and struggles with this concept. I easily understand that the Lord suffers to put up with, so to speak, some people. So do I. But at the same time the Lord placed them in their life, assigned them to that life, and somehow works things like animal idolatry into their lives then Romans 1 tells us that "He gave them over" because "For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened."

Somewhere in all that is the Lord's plan and animal idolatry works into it. Still, our Lord basically throws His hands up at a certain point and turns people over to their sins. He leaves them to the lusts of their hearts and lets them worship the creature rather than the Creator. 

I have no doubt, reading some of those comments, that many of those people literally do worship animals. They may not put them on a pedestal but they sure do hold them to high standards. They think of animals and their imagined 'rights' more than they do their neighbors. They get outraged at the very idea of supressing an animal while caring nothing for the fears or medical problems of other people. 

One comment on that article even went so far as to accuse people of breed discrimination and breed profiling. Really? Is there even such a thing? Aren't people allowed to favor one type of animal over another for nothing more than their personal preferences? And when did discrimination in regards to animals even become a thought? 

My husband has a friend that wrote something on social media the other day. I sure wish I had a copy of it because what he wrote so clearly summed up the animal problem in America today. And America does have an animal problem. They try to convince us that we have an over population of dogs and cats, maybe we do, and that too many pets are abused and neglected but those aren't the real problems with animals. The real problem is with the idolizing of them. They are animals. Here for a purpose that meets the needs of Earth's human inhabitants. They are for service to us, even if that service includes companionship, but they should NEVER be placed before people. 

But the very real problem is so much larger. Because people do worship these creatures, giving them the status that should be reserved for people, they get outraged at the very idea of an animal, particularly a dog, being slighted in any way, while overlooking the murder of unborn babies, the mistreatment of children and the elderly, even of people lacking basic necessities. 

There is a television commercial that portrays dog after dog, each one looking more pathetic than the next. These dogs are dirty, most of them skinny, some are in the rain or snow, all have big eyes. The video footage of these dogs is set to music designed to tug at the emotions of anyone with the least compassion for animals. To put it bluntly it's a scam designed to part the animal lover from their money. And I'm sure it works. 

People probably call that organization offering up bank account and credit card info, offering to give so much money every month so they can help save dogs while the child down the street goes to bed hungry every night and lives in a home with little or no heat. They donate their money to a 'good cause' that saves those 'poor babies' while women in their town kill unborn babies because they feel ill equipped to provide for one. They foot the bill for surgery on a dog when a child in their town goes without glasses or other medical needs because they have no health insurance. 

Most of these people, if questioned, would say there are organizations to help those kids, organizations to pay bills for those families, government programs to provide food assistance and medical insurance for kids. They are right. There are organizations and programs in effect for low income families. Some of them pay bills, others provide groceries, some cover medical costs but many of those kids fall through the cracks of those programs. Their families make too much to qualify for government assistance or they get assistance but it's not enough to put food on the table all month long. Many medical necessities are no longer covered under government medical programs and doctors can be hard to find for kids (or adults) with government provided medical coverage. Or the child may have aged out of the program, reaching legal adulthood and losing their coverage, but having no other insurance to step in so they go without much needed medical care because there is no money to cover it while millions of dollars is given to 'save' dogs.

Do they not see a problem with this mentality?

I have seen television shows where they rescue dogs, or other animals, and do costly surgeries on them, giving them months of medical care because the dog 'needed' it to live. What of the people that need medical care? What of the ones that need food? What of the unborn babies that never even reach the point of medical care because they are murdered in the womb? 

I know all of this and so much more are in the Lord's control. I know there's no sense in wondering why it all happens because the answer is that it happens because the Lord willed it to be so.

But in His willing it to happen we have multitudes of people loving the creature in the form of animal idolatry. They get offended at the least suggestion that their beloved dog cannot go where people go and now, it appears we have animal profiling and breed discrimination. 

And one needs look no further than the apparent freedom of dogs in San Francisco to see that the Lord has 'given them over' to their sins, to worship the creation rather than the creator, and to wallow in their sins. 

Because 'animals are people too.'