Posted on 11/25/2011 7:54:32 AM PST by mk2000
Beautiful.
Tears being shed.
The context does argue strongly for the pride-pricking rhetorical theory, addressing men who would too easily assume glorification above the beasts. We do know from other references that man has a privilege, which is creation in God’s image, but with that privilege came a responsibility which is not defined for the beasts, which was to keep righteous rather than become evil by sinning. (And we do not commonly think of even the most “vicious” wild animals as inherently evil, but as things that have been affected by evil.) But the collective fall of man made that impossible without the services of a sacrificial savior.
According to Animal Planet's president in describing the series, "We know that the connection between humans and animals is our link to something important and rich in ourselves...We live with animals, we want to save them, and they redeem us. Those connections make for great stories."
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The Power of the Dog
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| THERE is sorrow enough in the natural way From men and women to fill our day; And when we are certain of sorrow in store, Why do we always arrange for more? Brothers and sisters, I bid you beware Of giving your heart to a dog to tear. Buy a pup and your money will buy When the fourteen years which Nature permits When the body that lived at your single will, We've sorrow enough in the natural way, |
“Biology’s greater divisions are at first sight self-evident. Men and chimps are close kin, each is less related to worms, and bananas and bacteria are quite separate. However, the new taxonomy has transformed the tree of life into an exotic plant. Men and chimps are indeed more related than are men and bananas, but humans, insects and plants are, the DNA shows, all mere twigs on the same branch. Its trunk has suffered some radical changes of shape.
Living beings were once divided into five kingdoms of more or less equal size (animals, plants, fungi, protozoa – such as the familiar amoeba – and bacteria). Bacteria were out on somewhat of a limb, as their genes are not contained in a cell nucleus. They seemed otherwise not much more distinct from other beings than plants were from animals. Now, a radical new logic has emerged. The DNA reveals that plants and animals lie close together. Mushrooms deserve a branch of their own, closer to animals than to plants. Most of the tree belongs not to the lords of creation, or even mushrooms, but to bacteria and their previously unrecognized relatives. They put humankind in their place, near bacteria.”
There was a French scientist, Dr. Jerome Lejeune, who said “Spirit animates matter”. His quote has been used in debates about when does the soul enter the body?
And the bible creation account has God crafting men of earth, which some might argue is an extreme shorthand for some more complicated procedure that began with earth. But either way, so what of this humble nature? It’s God’s action with it which is what counts.
http://www.israelect.com/reference/CliftonAEmahiser/studies/The%20Power%20of%20the%20Dog.pdf
More metaphorically speaking, I believe Spc. Rollins may have been delivered by the *dog-people* who would destroy all of us.
Psalm 22, with verses 7, 13, 16,
20: “ 7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head ... 13 They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion ... 16 For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet ... 20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.”
Even stiff-upper-lipped Kipling had a soft spot for dogs, and I think in his stoic nature vainly half-tried to reason his way out of it. (I see this poem as ironic.)
Senator Vest’s “Tribute to the Dog”
It is strange how tenaciously popular memory clings to the bits of eloquence men have uttered, long after their deeds and most of their recorded thoughts are forgotten, or but indifferently remembered. However, whenever and as long as the name of the late Senator George Graham Vest of Missouri is mentioned it will always be associated with his love for a dog.
Many years ago, in 1869, Senator Vest represented in a lawsuit, a plaintiff whose dog “Old Drum” had been willfully and wantonly shot by a neighbor. The defendant virtually admitted the shooting, but questioned to the jury the $150 value plaintiff attributed to this mere animal. To give his closing argument, George Vest rose from his chair, scowling, mute, his eyes burning from under the slash of brow tangled as a grape vine. Then he stepped sideways, hooked his thumbs in his vest pockets, his gold watch fob hanging motionless, it was that heavy. He looked, someone remembered afterwards, taller than his actual 5 feet 6 inches, and began in a quiet voice to deliver an extemporaneous oration. It was quite brief, less than 400 words:
“Gentlemen of the jury: the best friend a man has in the world may turn against him and become his worst enemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become traitors to their faith. The money that man has, he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it the most. A man’s reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads.
The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous... is his dog.
Gentlemen of the Jury: a man’s dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master’s side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounters with the roughness of the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert he remains. When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journey through the heavens. If fortune drives the master forth an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him to guard against danger, to fight against his enemies, and when the last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in its embrace and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by his graveside will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even to death.”
The jury deliberated less than two minutes then erupted in joint pathos and triumph. The record becomes quite sketchy here, but some in attendance say the plaintiff who had been asking $150, was awarded $500 by the jury. Little does that matter. The case was eventually appealed to the Missouri Supreme Court, which refused to hear it.
A statue of “Old Drum” was erected on the Johnson County Courthouse Square in Warrensbug, Missouri, where the trial occurred. The statue still stands there today.
Not all dogs are pets. Feral dogs were known in biblical days. This is known by Christians as the psalm of the Cross, presaging what Jesus Christ underwent.
He does leave the door wide open at the end, doesn’t he? One has to keep front of mind the fact that this is the Old Testament, under the law, hence the emphasis on works, but the truth does ring out, bleak and beautiful by turns.
Back to the question at hand, following up with the Apostle Paul in Romans 8:19-22 and then I Corinthians 15:36-44 lays it to rest. Creation was subjected to sin and by sin death, by the actions of man, through no fault of any other earthly creature. Those with the breath of life have a spirit just as surely as they have an earthly body and will be freed from their temporary bondage of corruption just as man by faith will be freed.
This is sound Biblical exegesis, albeit quite controversial within certain denominations. It’s been called drivel and confused doctrine. I fail to see how that could be so, given the ample scriptural basis, spanning from Genesis to Revelation as it does. But, some do take quite an offense. I suspect we’ll be able to observe it on this thread before too long.
Well, we’re made of dirt according to Christianity and Judaism, more specifically Adama, red clay.
The whole creation is groaning.
Some narrow interpreters refer this back to the “new creation” that God has made through Jesus Christ in believers. But that would be an odd place for this interpretation to kick in, because it isn’t mentioned anywhere nearby. I read this passage out load in the veterinarian’s office when it was time to put one of my sick cats “to sleep.” It seems way too apt an explanation of what is going on in general in the universe, why it is falling, to justify narrowing it to only the “new creation” even though that is groaning too.
This a a great story. I only wish I could be so profound in my stories in life. Thanks for sharing.
out load => out loud
Yes, the story does not seem to rule out the presence of all manner of beings in what elsewhere is called the New Jerusalem, all busily praising God in their redeemed state. Perhaps one would hear a celestial chorus of woofs, meows, fish splashing, hallelujahs and lots of “harping on harps.”
Even Jesus Christ, who if nothing else is God walking and talking, gave a nod to the special meaning of pets when he challenged the Gentile woman that he should not be giving the children’s food to the “dogs” (that was a common metaphor among Jews for the Gentile peoples, to liken them to feral canines) and the woman, obviously inspired beyond normal, replied that even the puppies under the table eat the crumbs! Jesus Christ praised the woman’s faith as being better than that shown by Israel and granted her request. (I hope I haven’t inadvertently mixed up two gospel accounts.)
Wow is right. That is incredible.
Very moving-—thanks for posting it.
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