Dogs, Babies, and Other Thoughts
Author: Stan Guthrie
August 10, 2023
I love to sip my morning coffee and watch the pedestrian traffic outside my kitchen window. More often than not I see my neighbors walking their dogs or pushing a baby stroller. I enjoy their youthful energy and will sometimes offer up a prayer for them as they go on their way.
A disquieting thought came to me the other day, however. While I see quite a few young men and women with babies in tow, it seems there are far more walking their dogs. Now I like our canine friends very much. A loving dog named Gus once saved my mother from a dangerous situation. But however much they enrich our lives, dogs are no substitute for sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters.
Casual observations through my kitchen window aren’t the scientific method, of course, but trends in the United States tell much the same story.
The number of dogs is exploding, while the number of babies is cratering. There are lots of reasons for these diverging trends.
On the human side of the equation, delayed or foregone marriage, the availability of birth control and abortion, and the stresses and challenges of modern economic life continue to take their toll. Children, in the minds of many, are no longer seen as assets but as expenses, as more trouble than they’re worth. Despite the Bible’s assurances that children are a blessing, too many postmodern people try to avoid them at all costs—even going so far as to hold child-free weddings.
On the canine side, the human and dog bond created through centuries of breeding cannot be denied. Dogs can be trained to do all sorts of fun and useful things. One thing they usually don’t have to be trained to do is love their masters. That kind of constant, unconditional loyalty comes naturally—certainly more easily than it comes to tiny human beings.
According to the journal Science, “New research shows that when our canine pals stare into our eyes, they activate the same hormonal response that bonds us to human infants.” Says Forbes, “85% of dog owners and 76% of cat owners consider their pets to be a member of the family.” And canine companionship is a joyous source of comfort to infertile couples and those who would otherwise face loneliness.
On a theological level, dogs are a wonderful gift from our Creator. “The dog is the most faithful of animals and would be much esteemed were it not so common,” Martin Luther once said. “Our Lord God has made His greatest gifts the commonest.”
While the Bible is silent on the oft-voiced hope that “all dogs go to heaven,” I agree with the late Billy Graham, who stated, “Heaven will be a place of perfect happiness for us—and if we need animals around us to make our happiness complete, then you can be sure God will have them there.”
I see our pets, and indeed all of God’s creation, as bound up with the fate of God’s children. One day, our sin-induced estrangement from the animal kingdom will be no more, “for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
But however much we love “man’s best friends,” let’s not confuse them with, or substitute them for, God’s even greater gift of children. Dogs and cats, as precious as they are, are not “fur babies” or “grand dogs.” Though marvelous in their own right, they are not created in the image of God.
When Christine and I were fairly newly married, we had a hazy idea that one day we would have children—but we started with a beautiful, blue-eyed Oriental shorthair. We named her Ivory and joked that, like the lamb in Nathan’s parable, she was “like a daughter” to us. Our cat even slept under the covers with us.
Then we had a daughter, and a son, and another son, and we no longer called Ivory a daughter.
It’s true that God doesn’t call everyone to be parents, and it’s no sin to adore our pets, who teach us something about love and our responsibilities as stewards in God’s world. But if our culture continues its current pro-dog, anti-child trend, we’ll soon find out that we’ve been barking up the wrong tree.
Stan Guthrie, NCC’s minister of communications, also blogs at stanguthrie.com.
Photo by Terricks Noah on Unsplash
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