Knowing Your Own Viewpoint

My human turns on internet radio quite frequently.  She enjoys the hosts and the varying points of view expressed by their guests and people in the chatrooms.  I must admit that Patton and I get a kick out listening ourselves and watching her reactions.  Last night was no exception.  We did get a little worried about it though when people started using the Bible scriptures in their debate.  Sure enough, her reactions to the comments got interesting as they took scriptures out of context and/or twisted them for their own personal point of view.

I cannot for the life of me understand why people are so eager to start quoting ONE scripture from the Bible without referencing what comes before or after.  Of all the books my human has read to me, the Bible is one in which I KNOW you must use more than just one scripture to understand what is being said.  You have to take in and absorb the ENTIRE context of what is being discussed.  What is so bleeding difficult about that?

Nothing gets under my human’s skin more than for people to use one verse to forward their own agenda.  It isn’t that easy.  Just because you only like that one verse doesn’t mean you can throw the ones that go with it out the window.  If you truly abhor deceit and search for truth, you’ll acknowledge ALL the truth and not just one part of it.

I agree with her on most things but there is one thing she said last night that will stick with me for the rest of my life.  “How can I believe what you say regarding another ‘religion’ when you can’t even understand your own any better than that?”  She has a valid point.  Why would I trust anyone’s thoughts or opinions on another belief system if I know for a fact that they haven’t studied their own beliefs and therefore don’t understand why they believe what they do.

This philosophy is used in our home regarding ALL things, but especially religion and politics.  It isn’t enough to only go with what “feels good” or what we “want to hear”, we are encouraged to go beyond that and into the realm of uncomfortable so that we can discover the real truth for ourselves.  We are not allowed to just regurgitate information or even “cherry pick” what we like.    

Here is a little canine advice for all of you.  Before you speak on one subject from one viewpoint…make sure you understand your point of view first.  I guarantee that if you do your own research, study and/or ask for help from an expert, people will be more willing to listen to you because you’ll have more credibility.  I swear humans could definitely use a little more canine common sense!