Jack’s Winning Words 12/15/14
“Pope Leaves Pearly Gate Open for Dogs!”  (News Headline)  Some of us would like to have “do-overs” in our life.  A confirmation student came to class with tears in her eyes.  Her dog had died that day, and she asked me if dogs go to heaven.  I made the mistake of trying to answer her theologically.  Recently Pope Francis said to a little boy whose dog had died, “Paradise is open to all of God’s creatures.”  That was a caring answer, not a doctrinal one.    ;-)  Jack 

FROM TRIHARDER:  Suddenly, Heaven is a little more like home. I hope angels don't have allergies.====JACK:  Do suppose there will be fleas in heaven?  They are God's creatures, too. ====
TH:  I haven't heard the pope speak to that. I suppose that there will be no need for food, no need for parasites to be parasitic, no predators, no steaks or lamb chops or lobster or any other animals that will have to give their lives to feed others.====JACK:  Earthly questions beg for answers that can be understood in earthly terms.  "From the beginning of the world they have not heard, nor perceived with the ears: the eye hath not seen, O God, besides thee, what things thou hast prepared for them that wait for thee."  Isaiah 64:4====TH:  I just posed your "flea" question to Frank.  He laughed and laughed.
 
FROM FACEBOOK LIZ:  wouldn't be heaven w/o animals...====JACK:  The lamb will lie down with the lion.

FROM MICHIZONA RAY: Who knows...maybe even doctrine has been misunderstood too!====JACK:  The Vatican theologians attempted to say that the Pope was not making a doctrinal statement.  Most of us recognized that he was just trying to comfort a little boy.  ====RAY: I guess my point is related to "doctrine"....maybe man is and has been inaccurate all these years. Certainly, his comment was meant to be comforting. I am suggesting that just maybe he was accurate too! ====JACK:  Doctrine is man's attempt to explain the inexplicable.

FROM DR J:  When I was roughly six years old our new Orthodox Priest was coming to our home to visit and "bless the home and those living in it." Yet when he arrived, I kindly asked him if he would bless our dog. He said he could not do that. I was so upset, thinking that would mean my dog couldn't join us in heaven someday. I crawled under the table with my dog and said if the dog wasn't blessed, then I didn't want to be blessed either. My mom supported my decision and just let me be. Needless to say, I was happy to hear the pope's caring words! ====JACK:  I wouldn't be surprised to learn that your mom crawled under the table with you.  You were wise beyond your years...and remain so.

FROM HONEST JOHN:  I heard a debate on that one time.   It was between a Jesuit priest and an anthropologist.   The Jesuit got him into Aquinas's philosophy and killed him.    My sympathies are with Pope Francis.====JACK:  Would it disappoint you if there were no debates in Heaven?

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  Sometimes all the answer has to be done in love.  God loves us and He loves the creatures He made.  The Pope gave a wonderful answer.====JACK:  I guess there has to be room for theological search and discussion on this earth in our search for an understanding of God.

FROM GUSTIE MARLYS:  I like that answer.  And I believe it!====JACK: I imagine the little boy, whose dog had died, liked it, too.

FROM TARMART REV:  That is the type of an answer I would want to be giving inquiring broken hearts over the death of their pet as well. They were spoken of as "good" in the first creation, why not think the same in the new heaven and earth?====JACK:  What might the Pope say to one who is brokenhearted over the death of a loved one who has lived a sinful life?

FROM CHESTER THE GOOD:  After all, Dog spelled backwards is God!====JACK:  There is room in heaven for dyslexics, too.

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  Well we know He sees each sparrow who falls.  Must love them all.====JACK:  As the song goes..."The hills are alive with the sound of 'living things...smaller and larger than sparrows.'"

FROM PEPPERMINT MARY:  i have always believed that all creatures go to heaven unconditionally.  they are here to make the world more real, primal, and innocent.  we follow them.  we learn from them.====JACK:  I've often said that if God had wanted to reveal himself to horses, he would have come to earth as a horse and talked to them in horse language.  Who knows?  Perhaps he did.

FROM RS IN TEXAS:  Yeah - I read Francis' comment.  I guess in the end we'll find out.  Sure not for us (or at least me) to say -  who knows what God wants.  I just trust that whatever it is, it is right.
====JACK:  There's an old Gospel song..."We'll understand it better by and by."

FROM SON DAVID:  See the correction at the end of this article.  Different pope said it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/12/world/europe/dogs-in-heaven-pope-leaves-pearly-gate-open-.html?_r=3====FROM JACK:  If Pope Francis didn't say it, I'm sure he would say it, given the opportunity.