Thursday, August 28, 2008

On Canine Faith

I'd like to preface this post by saying that we love our dogs and they are very well behaved as canines go.... and I know that Kelsey has some separation anxiety issues that we're trying to work through as a family - so the following tale is more or less my fault.

Today I came home from work to find that my Study Bible had been shredded. I did not request that it be shredded - although I didn't explicitly tell the dogs not to shred it either so I can see their side of the issue.

We talked about it: My point of view is - While books are in fact for consumption (especially the Holy Writ) this consumption is more mental than physical. Battlecat and Kelsey disagreed...

To date they have consumed a fair number of books that I really liked. Here's a sample:

Reformation Study Bible (ESV)
NIV Study Bible
MacArthur Study Bible (NKJV)
Bavink's Reformed Dogmatics: God and Creation
Chapell's Christ Centered Preaching
Raymond's New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith

Together they have consumed a pretty significant amount of theological works... including three translations of the Bible... and it makes me wonder. Are my dogs burgeoning prophetic agents? Am I going to get thrown down upon Balaam and the Donkey style (Num 22)?

Right now Kelsey is sacked out on the couch and Battlecat is asleep on the Love Sac.... I found various portions of Haggai strewn about the room and no doubt eating the Old Testament will make one drousy....

In addition to various texts on faith - the dogs have shown they have a remarkably diverse palate when it comes to VHS. We went through a phase where both dogs roamed the house freely while we were out... this phase didn't last too long.

We have a box of old VHS tapes that we keep behind the TV and each time we returned we'd invariably see pieces of their cinematic fare distributed across our floor. I think the girls secretly yearn for a more old-school reel type of format and were eating VHS out of protest.

One of their first VHS meals was: Beaches. This was the first indication I had that they were in fact agents of the prophetic. Beaches is like a multi-hour trip to the craft store... the one where Erin just wants to look around for ideas. My Mom liked to watch Beaches when I was little and I believe we had the soundtrack on tape because the first time Erin put in the movie - I... to my complete horror - knew all the words to all of the songs.

We tried to duct tape the VHS box closed but to disastrous results. Mallrats and BASEketball were also eaten and I came to appreciate the inner-turmoil that rages within a canine. The constant struggle of light vs. darkness... chick flick vs. movies that don't suck. At that time they'd only eaten two of our Bibles and I'd like to think that after today's feeding they'd make better decisions if presented with the VHS box.

All in all I'm sort of bummed out about my Bible but I take great solace in this passage:

Matthew 5:6 -
Blessed are those hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.


Clearly our dogs are hungry....

6 comments:

The Bearded said...

"The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away..."

Simcah Reid said...

Love it. Can you sing some beaches and post it? I don't think I even know all the words!!!

Anonymous said...

amazing! Aly shredding my Dale Bruener commentary on Matthew...what holy pups we have!

Dmaland said...

Because you didn't take the opportunity, I certainly will:

Notice, please, that one of the books consumed was "Bavink's Reformed DOGmatics" (emphasis mine).

Seriously. The dogs are just being smart alecky. The other texts must have some sort of attachment to canine culture, it's just that the reference is more obscure.

Their consumption of "Dogmatics" was just a hint.

Anonymous said...

So it appears the dog like the big books, weighty works of theology. They have left your vast collection of Max Lucado, Beth Moore, and Chicken Soup for the (Christian) Soul books untouched.

And at least they spared your copy of Your Best Life Now.

Erin said...

That's pretty dang awesome. Not so much the eating of the books, but your take on it. And clearly, you sound not quite as ticked-off as much as you sound like a pleased parent, like your dogs are hiding a burgeoning gift that's part naughty and part miracle. Well, we'll see what they start saying.

And yes, I also noticed the "dog"matic book...so I'm seconding the comment about your dogs being smart alecky.