[Dr. Eckleburg]

However it leads to equating man with "everything else"...It leads to looking at ourselves the same as a dog

Nonsense. If we belong to God, we belong to God. As His children, we are loved by Him so much He sacrificed His Son for us.

"Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." -- 1 Thessalonians 5:24

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"Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:

To the one we are the savour of death unto death; and to the other the savour of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?

For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ." -- 2 Corinthians 2:14-17

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"But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." -- John 10:26-29

No canines anywhere around.

[MarkBsnr]

Nonsense. If we belong to God, we belong to God. As His children, we are loved by Him so much He sacrificed His Son for us.

We all belong to God. However some refuse Him:

1 John 3: 1 1 See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed 2 we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 Everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure, as he is pure.

Hope, not assurance. We are His children - we all are according to Jesus - and we do have the ability to refuse Him. The prodigal son is a case in point. However, he came back. How many do not? How many since the Reformation are lost since they have been blinded by the sins and the religions of men? Who knows? Perhaps God will be merciful. We can only pray for that - which is useless under the Reformed umbrella, right?

[D-fendr]

>>>However it leads to equating man with "everything else"...It leads to looking at ourselves the same as a dog

Nonsense.

I agree. That's why your post: "There is God and then there's everything else." is poorly formed, nonsensical.