Dogs are one of The Loving Programmer’s programs. Why did God download “The Dog Program”?
We are The Loving Programmer’s beloved Human Programs. We have a great affection for the Dog Program. And, we have been programmed with the ability to modify the Dog Program. Human “dog programmers” have programmed and downloaded variations of the Dog Program that include dachshunds, sheepdogs, and St. Bernards and hundreds of others.
The Loving Programmer gave us the ability to “program” dogs to guard sheep, find rabbits, and guide the blind.
Catholic Fundamentalism answers “Why did The Loving Programmer go to all the trouble of programming us with the ability to program the Dog Program?”
The Loving Programmer wrote and downloaded the Dog Program so that we human programs would have something handy to remind us of how to deal with Him! Dogs have some degree of free will. They can decide to make a mess in the house or go outside. They can decide to chew up things or not. They decide to obediently heel or run off to chase a cat.
Most of a dog’s problems come from disobeying its master. If a dog disobeys its master, it may end up in The Pound, or worse. If we disobey our Master, we may end up in the human version of The Pound. Or, worse!
We study Scripture, The Church, the Catechism, and the Saints to learn our Master’s will. The more we know, the more we pray, the harder we try, and the more obedient we become to our Master.
We look up to God, and down at our dogs. As we do, we see why The Loving Programmer provided us with our beloved Dog Programs.
One of the highest planes of human existence is choosing to use our free will to love and obey God as much as we want our dog to use his free will in choosing to love and obey us.