Dog "parents" do not exist. Dog owners do.

Placing pets on the same level as children is perverse and an insult to the image of God in man.

The primary error of our day is the rejection of Christian anthropology. Man is made in the image of God, and was given a mandate by the Creator in Genesis 1:28 to "subdue" the Earth, and to "have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Extreme environmentalism rejects this premise, and even many Christians have latched onto this heresy to some degree.

This brings me to this post on X:

i still love my dog but i worry/care about her a lot less since my baby was born. she gets all of her needs met but the affection i feel for her has decreased. i think it's perfectly normal to feel this way and most of my friends do.

People became enraged by this Tweet, spewing hatred at the woman who authored it. But the Tweet that angered so many and produced thunderous damnations is in line with basic Biblical anthropology. The natural affection of parents should be primarily for their children, not for pets.

This is not to say that God does not care about animals, or that He does not want us to be compassionate to His creatures. In 1 Timothy 5:18, the Apostle Paul quotes Deuteronomy 25:4 - a compassionate mandate to ensure beasts of burden are fed. When God spared the wicked city of Ninevah after they repented, He cited the innocent cattle as one reason not to destroy the city. (See Jonah 4:11.)

But you simply cannot raise animals to the level of humans, because man is made in the image of God and animals are not. (See Genesis 1:27, Genesis 5:2 and Genesis 9:6.) You can, however, lower humans to the level of animals. This has led to many horrible things throughout history. Hutus described Tutsis as "cockroaches" before a mass campaign of brutal slaughter and mass rape resulted in the murder of 800,000 in three months. Nazis famously described Jews as rats in the years leading up to the Holocaust.

Dogs are not children. There is no such thing as a dog "parent." In fact, we are so deep into Clown World that some people even describe themselves as "plant parents." It is perfectly reasonable to have affection for your pet and to make sure she has everything she needs and plenty of affection, but placing pets on the same level as children is perverse and an insult to the image of God in man. If you are part of a church where this truth is spoken, then praise God for shepherds who love you and your family.

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