Comments on: I like dogs better than people, am I off base?

By: Sojrnr

Sojrnr — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 05:40:00 +0000

There are a lot of reasons to boycott Pepsi but this is perhaps the biggest. It also adds to the endless list of why Obama must go.
Mike

By: judeen

judeen — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 12:17:00 +0000

a dog love us unconditionally , mostly… we need to give little back.. they except us for who we are… and will demand us to pet them and love them and even our 1 dog would stand between the kids when they fought and bark at each one to stop fighting.
she also would go to the corner of the room and stand at attention then beautiful perfumn would fill the room.. or go to a cornor and growl with hair raised on her back then stink would fill the room… they have not sinned and so they can see the spiritual world… many have said this… as their eyes watch what is above us moving that we can not see..
people need to love unconditionally.. love as Jesus loved. those who say the love God but not their neighbor are a liers..-gosples – Jesus said this..

By: Sojrnr

Sojrnr — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 06:46:00 +0000

I think your point well taken but it may be slightly off the mark. Love is, as St. Thomas said, an act of the will. Love is “willing the good of the other as other.”

It seems to me that a persons love of an animal, while nowhere near love for another person or especially love of God, is still real enough to leave room for pets in Heaven. The pet owner does desire the good of his pet so, in a sense,does love his pet. I agree that animals cannot love back, though, which very greatly limits the concept of love in this context. We do know that God’s love for us infinitely exceeds His love for lesser things. He cdes not “desire the good” of animals as He desires the good of us for exactly the reason you offer–animals do know have the divine image.

Still while God’s love alone completes us, this does not limit our love for others. If it did then Jesus’ second commandment to love our neighbor would make no sense.

So there is room for the pet owner to love his pet–desire its good–but he cannot love an animal as he does another person.

Maritain said that other persons are ineffable, i.e., so deep that we can never exhaust the richness of the other. If ineffable the key characteristic (a hopelessly inadequate term) of love is the desire to know the beloved more and more and more.

But a dog is not ineffable. A dog is quickly “known” because it is finite and anything finite is fully knowable-at least potentially. Consequently love of animals cannot be compared to love of persons. I can certainly will my pets good but I cannot love it as I love another person.

This is where I agree with Lee Anne that animals may “recognize” their owners, but it will be because the owner treated them well and not because the dog loves them.

There will be an objection that “my dog does love me because…” But our emotional reaction to the dogs attachment, which is born of the instinct to obey the persons who care for them, is not love. A dog is not free in any meaningful sense. A dog does not will, which requires intellect which informs the will. Intellect is the source of thought and knowledge which provides the “information” necessary to choose what is good. Dogs have no intellect, therefore no will, hence cannot love as we love.

Finally, emotional attachment is not in and of itself love. Love may trigger an emotional response which, if properly ordered, serves to help confirm that one loves, but it is not love.

By: Lee Anne

Lee Anne — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:49:00 +0000

Penguins can find their families after being gone for months, bats can find their babies when they come home. Sheep recognize their young after a four year absence. I KNOW my pets (even my iguana) will find ME when I arrive in heaven.

By: Leboeufeugene

Leboeufeugene — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 02:04:00 +0000

The Creation Story Gen 1:24ff – Then God commanded, “Let the earth produce all kinds of animal life: domestic and wild, large and small” So God made them all,and He was pleased with what He saw.

By: I like dogs better than people, am I off base? |

I like dogs better than people, am I off base? | — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 19:49:57 +0000

[...] From Catholic Spiritual Direction [...]

By: poetcomic1

poetcomic1 — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:09:00 +0000

On the other hand a dog can ‘take’ YOU to heaven, so to speak. I’m thinking of those who donate their time taking loving dogs to nursing homes and hospices to bring a smile to the loneliest and most frightened up humankind.

By: danburke

danburke — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 13:48:00 +0000

Dear Friend: At whom are you aiming your rebuke? Maybe I missed it but I don’t recall anyone claiming Church authority or even implying it…

By: Marguerite

Marguerite — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 13:20:00 +0000

Funny thing is, there is no proclamation by the Church or any other document that supports animals going to Heaven, unless you adhere to the dogmatic movie, All Dogs Go to Heaven. Stop pedaling error. Only humans have eternal souls, animals’ “souls” die when they die. Do I believe that some animals deserve Heaven more than humans, you betcha. Still, Christ never said he died for animals on the cross.

By: danburke

danburke — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 11:12:00 +0000

You and I am on the exact same page. “Cold” is not synonymous with “philosophical” – Tantum Ergo indeed.