{"id":2808,"date":"2007-07-25T00:20:02","date_gmt":"2007-07-25T05:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/25\/a-theology-of-pets\/"},"modified":"2007-07-25T00:20:02","modified_gmt":"2007-07-25T05:20:02","slug":"a-theology-of-pets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/25\/a-theology-of-pets\/","title":{"rendered":"A Theology of Pets?"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p>Because of a recent letter, I have a few questions today: Do you have a theology of pets? Do you find some are so committed to their pets they are incapable of serving humans? What kind of theology of pet-care do you espouse? Here is a picture of our dog, the Bichon, and Luke and Annika\u2019s two dogs, and then the letter: <!--more|inline--><br>\n<a class=\"imagelink decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jesuscreed.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/07\/100_0588.JPG\" title=\"100_0588.JPG\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.jesuscreed.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/07\/100_0588.thumbnail.JPG\" alt=\"100_0588.JPG\"><\/a><br>\nHi Scot,<br>\nI enjoy reading your blog. A topic that could be interesting is a Christian understanding of the value and role of pets. As a pastor I have dealt with the question of pets in heaven several times. I am thinking more along the lines of the emotional and financial requirements of pets and their impact on discipleship.<br>\nI have observed the incredible love and tenderness shown for a dear family pet which is wonderful evidence for the good in God\u2019s creation.<br>\nConversely,  the impact of the love of a pet on ones willingness and ability to love another. What happens if our love for our pets impacts our willingness to love and serve our neighbor?<br>\nI realize that the above is rather simplistic and love is not a zero sum game, but with the incredible growth of pet keeping in our country, I for one would be interested in a discussion of a theological view of pet keeping.<br>\nJust a thought, do with it what you will!<br>\nI appreciate your books and ministry,<br>\nD.M.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Because of a recent letter, I have a few questions today: Do you have a theology of pets? Do you find some are so committed to their pets they are incapable of serving humans? What kind of theology of pet-care do you espouse? Here is a picture of our dog, the Bichon, and Luke and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[337],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theology"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Theology of Pets?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Because of a recent letter, I have a few questions today: Do you have a theology of pets? Do you find some are so committed to their pets they are\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/25\/a-theology-of-pets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Theology of Pets?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Because of a recent letter, I have a few questions today: Do you have a theology of pets? Do you find some are so committed to their pets they are\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/25\/a-theology-of-pets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-07-25T05:20:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.jesuscreed.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/07\/100_0588.thumbnail.JPG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scot McKnight\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/25\/a-theology-of-pets\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/2007\/07\/25\/a-theology-of-pets\/\",\"name\":\"A Theology of Pets?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-07-25T05:20:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2007-07-25T05:20:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jesuscreed\/#\/schema\/person\/5919e847c58ffe6efb5899fb61797252\"},\"description\":\"Because of a recent letter, I have a few questions today: Do you have a theology of pets? 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