A rector of a local Episcopal Church blessed dogs as part of the Kansas Humane Society’s Woofstock event Saturday. Many churches throughout the country also blessed pets Sunday as part of St. Francis’ feast day. Rick Hamlin, executive editor at Guideposts magazine, noted on a Washington Post discussion blog that prayers for pets are consistently among the top 10 prayer requests at OurPrayer.org.
What do you think? Are such blessings and prayers natural and appropriate, given God’s concern for His creation?
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33 Comments
Well sure they’re “appropriate”. Utterly useless of course, but certainly prayer for animals is as valid as prayer for the promotion, big raise, etc.
if we would only pray for the aborted
Why bother, “wichhick?”
Aren’t they already in Heaven?
“if we would only pray for the aborted”
Does “Please GOD don’t let her be pregnant!” count?
I believe it is okay to pray for our pets. God says to bring everything to him in prayer. We have that right. As a matter of fact our rights come from God. Here is a link that says it all.
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=112101
Sorry forgot to tell you which one to click on. It is the one that says Remove God ….
monkey, we agree………they were and not given an opportunity for life…………and yep they are probably in heaven……………….
bj…..you praying now?…….selfishly?……by the way i thought they left via the window
I want to take my video camera when some twice-born preacher tries to baptize my kitty.
The HORROR! The BLOOD!! The CARNAGE!!!”
So long as the pets in question aren’t an abomination unto the Lord, I don’t have a problem with this.
/I’m looking at you, you butt-sniffing canines.
/I’m looking at you, you butt-sniffing canines.
===========================
Don’t forget vomit eating and rolling in rotting carcasses!
Yummy!
Daniel,
I’ve never prayed for my cats, but I’ve threatened them occasionally.
hick,
Early christian theology allowed that a soul left unfleshed (the soul being inspired with the baby’s first breath)is a soul untouched by original sin and therefore spends no time in purgatory, but goes directly to heaven. Many early christian women got pregnant for the express purpose of having an abortion and freeing a soul to go to god.
Remember now, that these early christians were culturally, linguisticaly and temporally light-years closer to Jesus than you are. Now try to figure out why some theologian centuries after Jesus time and speaking Latin and living in Rome decided they were wrong.
Early christian theology allowed…blah blah blah.
=============================
Puppy hater.
I pray for the dogs in the header pic to grow longer legs.
Poor sawed off bastids.
Led: When I was a kid the Catholic
Church said that God breathed a soul into a child at the moment of birth. What I had to believe, under pain of mortal sin, was that was unless you were baptized, thus washing away orignal sin, you would be consigned to purgatory or hell. The introduction of a soul’s timing to birth “covered” the unfairness of still birth, miscarriage etcs. which meant eternity without seeing God sans a trip to hell. That is why newborns who seemed sickly were immediately baptized by anyone present, Baptism being the only sacrament the Church allowed to be performed by a layman. Convoluted Roman dogma is forever presented to fit their evolving needs, fiscal and political, not the salvation of souls.
Sursum,
Curiouser and curiouser! In 1869 Rome issued a papal opinion that the soul was infused at the moment of conception. This was supposed to bring it in line with the biology of the day. Of course the biology of the day took no sides in the soul issue, as they had (and have) yet to locate and observe said soul, and science is only relevant to observable phenomena.
Previously the church didn’t even admit to conception as we know it. Their position was that the male genetic contribution consisted of a homunculus; a microscopic, fully-formed baby that the woman simply nourished with her menstrual blood. Baby was daddy’s, mama’s not really related, just feeds it, has no real say in the matter. Inheritance laws of the time reflect much of that thinking too, as is most of the sexism that pervades church thinking. I hadn’t heard of any official reversal of the 1869 position, but the catholic church is chock-full of all sorts of die-hards- I suppose you might have had one there.
As for church thinking being convoluted, the church can’t avoid addressing the conventional wisdom of the day, but it has a real problem with admitting error, as that would negate any infallibility in its current position. The only option they have is to convolute, and they’re past-masters at convoluting. Lotsa practice!
At the Second Coming of Christ, the Christians will be riding down from Heaven on white horses for the long-awaited stomping of the grapes of wrath.
If there’s a valid blessing for horses, we might also be seeing Trigger and Silver and some other equine pets in the herd.
(Revelation 19:11-15)
Sursum,
Also, regarding baptism, the purpose of baptism is the at least partial washing away of Original Sin. As the church’s position was always that Original Sin is the sin of the flesh, a soul that is never inspired has no opportunity to become infected with it and remains pure. The 1869 doctrine seems to fail to function for miscarriages and stillbirths, and I’ve always wondered how they got around that particular stumbling block; in fact I’m a bit shocked that they didn’t seem to see that coming. That may very well be why your priest adhered to the older position, and why sexism is still so prevalent in the church.
Troyboy,
Does this mean you’ll have to give up your beloved SUV? I guess this means I as a nonchristian will be just as well off, since horseback riding makes my butt hurt!
I once read Revelations, and it seemed to me to be an account of a particularly vivid episode of starvation ketosis. Them’s some halucinations!
Jed shares with us that “Many early christian women got pregnant for the express purpose of having an abortion and freeing a soul to go to god.”
Please share where you got this little tidbit Jed. You are just a fount of wisdom or BS one. Show me one thing that would back up this absurd statment and I will think you might have a brain afterall.
“parkay”
Posted October 7, 2009 at 5:04 pm | Permalink
At the Second Coming of Christ, the Christians will be riding down from Heaven on white horses for the long-awaited stomping of the grapes of wrath.
If there’s a valid blessing for horses, we might also be seeing Trigger and Silver and some other equine pets in the herd.
(Revelation 19:11-15)
Oh my.
Nothing crazy about that.
Granny,
“Please share where you got this little tidbit Jed.”
I read books, and my mother had an abiding interest in comparative religion which we discussed to no end. That particular tidbit is mentioned in numerous letters to Rome by numerous priests of the day in various eastern christian communities including Phyrigia and Ephesus, to name ones that might be familiar to you. It’s also mentioned in most of the uncensored histories of the early church. Those written or edited by the church somehow fail to mention that fact, even though the evidence resides in the Vatican Library and been reviewed by many historians. Try your local library or the internet. There’s a wealth if information out there for those who want it.
While you’re at it, you might also look up and read the Malleus Malificarum, one of the most influential documents in the history of the church, and see if you agree with its indictment of women as the instigators of all sins. Its basic premises are so ingained that they still influence churches of many denominations here and around the world regarding the status of women.
I really don’t care if someone prays for their pet. What I’d like to see happen is those same people who pray for their pets care as much about the suffering of non-pet animals too.
or better yet, other human beings.
Many churches of various denominations, have a “Blessing of the Animals” Service annually, usually coinciding with the Feast of St. Francis — often portrayed holding a frog, and surrounded by critters of various types… Nothing unusual here… And, Woofstock would be a most appropriate event for such a Blessing to take place.
God bless all of the animals!
Jed : This concept of women being the origins of sin is a constant in all the middle-East religions, Judaism, and it’s two descenants. Women were a distraction for men, distracting them from their dialogue with god, hence a near occasion of sin. Original sin was introduced by Augustine a North African cleric in the 3-4th century for he had seen so much bad in his surroundings caused by the collapsed Roman Empire he assumed and proved with logic to an uneducated society that man must be evil in his natural state and the reason was original sin….ie Sex in the Garden of Eden. Now we’re back to women again.
Sursum,
Did you really expect men in power to admit to being the source of at least half the sin in the world?
Another totally worthless Brownlib topic.
A topic on alligator farts would be equally interesting.
BTW, you can tell from the bubbles…..
Jimbo,
“A topic on alligator farts would be equally interesting.”
I never once considered that topic, and I doubt it occurred to any of the others here either, but I guess you have the right to be a creepy as you wanna be. Just don’t stand next to me in the elevator!
Funny you say that Jed….
Elevators are fun spots to let one rip, but you hope nobody you know is getting on just as you get off.
Revolving doors are more discreet, as nobody knows for sure who was in that particular door section, even if they see you go thru it.
One favorite location is the Gateway Arch in St.Louis.
Those lil elevator cars are so cramped, and the ride is so bumpy, sometimes you can’t help cutting loose. (Especially if just visited the local Busch Brewery and had several samples each of every one of their varieties of beer. Wheat beer is the most productive.)
And with all the clankin and clunkin going on in that ancient elevator car, nobody really can hear anything, much. I usually just frown and stare sideways at the person sitting next to me.
Baby, you are trapped in that car for several minutes too!
The top of the arch isn’t a bad spot either, especially if you sit on that ledge by the windows. The vibrations rattle the entire arch, going down both the north and south legs if your location and velocity are just right. (There ain’t no opening those windows either!)
Jimbo,
“Elevators are fun spots to let one rip,…”
Didn’t you ever emotionally mature past the age of 6? This is kindergarten humor! You need to take some time off and grow up.