A Child is born in Bethlehem

 Have you ever wondered why God sent his son into the world?  To teach us?  To show He loves us?  To forgive our sins and reunite us with the Father?  I have been given all those answers and they all make sense to a point.  But God, being God, didn't need to send His son to accomplish all that right?  

As a surgeon I have learned a great deal of science.  Now science teaches you how wonderfully complicated and orderly every thing in nature is.  As you learn about all this wonderful stuff that explains how everything works you can look at it in one of two ways; either " see there is no magic.  Science can explain everything." or " look at how complex yet orderly God set everything up."  

As we learn more and more about the universe we are learning just how BIG it really is.  It staggers the mind.  Scientists calculated there are 50 billion planets, that is billion with a "b".  When I read this I thought of God as a scientist with 50 billion petri dishes each as a special experiment.  " Gee I thought Earth was big but it is not even 1 in a million.  What does that make me?"  Then I remembered, "God does care about this particular planet.  He sent his only son here to save me!" I get it now.  As we learn more and more how small earth is and how vast and magnificent God is what better way to say,

 " No, this is not just an experiment and I am not a heartless force of nature.  I am a living God and I so loved this world that I gave my only son."  

Thank you God for caring enough to send your son to us this Christmas!

     Merry Christmas!

Joe

Do dogs go to heaven?

 Shortly after my dog died my mom asked me if I thought Turner was in heaven.  I immediately said "yes".  I admit it was an emotional response rather than a theological one and I have since given it a lot of thought.  If you google "Do dogs go to heaven?" you will find a fair amount out there.  It breaks down into two main thoughts.  

The first is the traditional Catholic view which says "no" at least not on their own accord.  This is because heaven is for mankind.  Mankind has the capacity for greater understanding of God and freewill so therefore has the capacity to either be closer to God [heaven] or farther away [hell] than animals when they die.  Animals, by acting in their nature, praise God automatically and therefore lack the capacity to be closer or father away.  One of my heroes, St Thomas Aquinas, was a big proponent of this in the Summa.  

The second view says "yes" dogs will be in heaven.  The thought here is if we are in paradise of course our dogs will be there; otherwise it wouldn't be paradise.  For people very close to their dogs [ like me] this makes sense and is actually not at odds with the traditional catholic view.  The dog is not there on its own accord, it is there to make us happy.  I think this is what Pope Paul VI meant when he told a little boy that we would see our animals in heaven.  [ Pope Francis is often mis quoted as saying this.]

The bible is pretty silent on this question. We know for humans heaven is suppose to be awesome, hell is suppose to be bad and that the lion and the lamb will lay down together.  Not much to go on.  

So after a week of meditating on the subject here are my thoughts:

When we die we are invited to be closer to God and to praise Him like never before.  If we accept that is heaven and sounds awesome.  If we decline then God grants our desire and moves us far away from His presence. [ hell]  Now if I am that close to God will I need Turner there?  Maybe not, but I think it would be nice.  At the resurrection we will raise bodily so should be able to talk to people and animals. 

But I am not sure Turner would need me there to be in heaven.  If God is all loving and he created Turner, why would he not allow Turner some form of heaven when he died?  If I would do that how much more would a God that knows "when a sparrow falls from the sky."    

So to answer my question, "Yes I am confident dogs go to heaven."  I just can't see how a loving God would not allow animals who have done His will to not continue to experience His love when they die. And my buddy Aquinas before he died said of the Summa, " Burn it, it is straw."  He was referring to the Summa as compared to a personal relationship with God. For theology, like everything else in this world should lead us to God. And I am confident a loving God would love Turner at least as much if not 100 times more than I do.  

Pax

 

Joe

 

My dog died monday; Turner RIP

 I apologize about this blog.  It is suppose to be about helping others but too often it is about what is happening to me.  I apologize because here we go again.  I mentioned in Oct that my dog had terminal cancer and how I was trying to deal with it.  I think I did pretty well realizing that Turner was a gift from God and it was part of God's plan for him to die.  It is still very sad at the end and that is part of the plan too.  To accept the grief and go through it.  

It of course reminded me of Lao Tsu.  In chapter 14 of Tao Te Ching he is talking about the Tao.  What we christians call God the Father, the Alpha and Omega.  He states,

Stand before it and there is no beginning

    Follow it and there is no end

Stay with the ancient Tao

    Move with the present.

 

That is what I am doing, "moving with the present."  Being alive in the moment, accepting the grief knowing I am not going through it alone.  It is still sad though.  

Turner my friend you were a great dog!  I will never forget you.

Pax

 Joe