Return To Eden
Kathy's Blog
Kathy's Blog
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When my eyes opened to animal suffering from animals we use for food, entertainment, sport, in the wild as they lose their habitat, to those we call pet cats and dogs, and more, I felt my calling then and there is to take the Gospel, as it relates to the WHOLE creation, to a secular world as a bridge to animal welfarists; and to remind the Church of its Biblical responsibilities to animals. ~Kathy Dunn
When my eyes opened to animal suffering from animals we use for food, entertainment, sport, in the wild as they lose their habitat, to those we call pet cats and dogs, and more, I felt my calling then and there is to take the Gospel, as it relates to the WHOLE creation, to a secular world as a bridge to animal welfarists; and to remind the Church of its Biblical responsibilities to animals. ~Kathy Dunn
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Love: A Spiritual Challenge
Love: A Spiritual Challenge
This is a page from the book A Treasury of Living Faith published by Living Faith. It is really good. I found it posted on John Abel’s Facebook group, Animal Apologetics. John says, “ Animals are our neighbors too.” He is right, they are:
Whom should we love and how much should we love them? The Old Testament gives the answers: you are to love your neighbor, normally meaning those who are in close proximity to you. The amount of love you are to give your neighbor is as much as you give to yourself. That obviously is a high degree of love. It’s the love that keeps us alive through self-preservation. It may be difficult to love some neighbors and very difficult to love any as much as you love yourself.
The New Testament offers an even greater challenge. Jesus told us to love one another - everyone without exclusion. The degree of loving is also intensified. We are asked to love as the Lord loves us; a far greater love than our love for ourselves, because God’s capacity to love is infinite. So how are we ever to love one another as God loves us? It’s an ideal for which we can strive, even if we never fulfill it. To love in this exalted way is the deep spiritual challenge of being a follower of Jesus. Through God’s grace, we can continue to strive toward perfection.
Dear Lord, help me to be mindful every day of the lofty ideal of Christian love to which I am called. ~Fr. James McKarns
And Jesus goes on to say love your enemies. Who are our enemies? For those of us who love animals, perhaps the factory farmer or the Christians who's hearts are so callously hard towards the animal kingdom. And what is Love? Love is "patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." (1 Corinthians 13:4-7) We don't bow down and accept evil, but in Love, we stand up to it; we don't pit ourselves against those with callous hearts, we stay and do the tedious work of educating in Love the reality of God's covenant not only with us but with all creation - His Love is indivisible, as ours should be also. ~Kathy Dunn
March 16, 2019 by Kathy Dunn