Dekker responds to questions about God
Dekker writes about God
Dekker is a service dog who writes with wisdom from his oversized heart as he responds to the questions and concerns of his readers. Today Dekker tackles questions from his readers about God in the following areas.
- The existence of God
- Prayer
- Heaven and hell
- The meaning of life.
- The right to die.
Dear Dekker,
I have always wondered if dogs believe in God.
Do you?
Always curious, John
Woof John Woof— What do you mean by “believe in?”
If you mean ‘to think about and study and woof to others about’, then the answer is no. That makes little sense to me. What I know comes through experience.
I know I am loved. (And I really really love people and dogs and trees and water!)
I am taken care of even when I am naughty. I always have something to eat and a place to sleep. And I have a purpose. I happen to be a service dog.
I love everything I do and my person loves me for it. However there are a lot of pups in my neighborhood who aren’t service dogs, and their only job is to love and be loved.
I don’t know “God”. But I do know Love! I believe in Love!
Dear Dekker,
Do dogs pray?
And if so, who are they praying to?
Wondering, Joe
Woof Joe! As you know, dogs do not use words. We understand a bunch of them, even if we choose to ignore them, but words just get in the way of communication.
For me, everything I do is a prayer.
When I rest my head in my person’s lap I receive peace. I come when I am called and I experience the rewards of discipline and obedience.
When I do my wiggle dance after supper I trust that a bone is coming. If I get a chance to run in an open field I can feel the wind in my fur and my joy is full.
My whole life is my prayer. And to answer your question about ‘who’, I never think about a ’who’. I just pass it on.
Dear Dekker,
Do you believe in heaven and hell?
I was taught that good people go to heaven
when they die and bad people go to hell.
I have a hard time with this.
Kirsten
Woof, grrr, woof. I would too, Kirsten. From my perspective, and I understand I am only knee-high to your world, people are not good or bad.
Like puppies, they sometimes stick their noses where they shouldn’t, tear up things that are important, and leave messes along the way.
A pup who does these things isn’t bad. Perhaps untrained. Maybe anxious or even wounded.
His actions may be distressing, but punishing him never works in life.
Why punish him in death?
No, I believe the Love that didn’t reach him when he was was alive will surround him when he dies.
Dear Dekker,
I find that the older my friends and I get,
the more we think about life and its meaning.
Is this true for dogs?
Thank you, Erin
Woof Woof, Erin
I don’t think so. You see, we dogs don’t think a whole lot.
But we do listen to our bodies and live in the present moment from the day we are born.
Humans are born with wisdom in their bodies too, but somewhere along the way, they stop listening.
So then they go to school and try to learn from someone else.
They spend the rest of their lives searching for wisdom.
Watch a new puppy play with his littermates and you will see what I mean.
When they are awake they play. When hungry, they eat. When tired they sleep. Pretty basic stuff!
I don’t think humans listen to their bodies at all, and then as they get older their bodies have to scream to be heard.
Dear Dekker,
I have a very old dog, “Whiskers” who has wobbly legs and his hearing is going,
but I love Whiskers with all my heart. The truth is I also have shaky legs
and I don’t see as well as I used to. I guess that makes us pretty well matched.
I know when he begins to suffer I will take him to the vet and end his agony.
Why is this OK for dogs but not for people?
Thank you. Troubled Terrie
Woof Woof Terrie, this is a good question. Humans in general think too much from my fur-brained perspective.
It seems like their thinking causes more suffering than either old age or disease, but what do I know?
Because dogs (and cats, too) live only in the present moment, we don’t add the burdens of thinking about what happens when we die.
As far as I am concerned death is just another step in the only life I have ever known, except it smells different.
I am glad you are willing to listen to your dog for he will tell you when the smells change and will look at you with gratitude to be allowed to go check it out.
Why this is not OK for people beats me. Perhaps if they could listen to each other the way they listen to their dogs they could tell when the smells have changed and feel better about chasing them.
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