Zone1 Why Are Dogs Spoken About So Negatively In The Bible?

[Road Runner]

So many questions came on my mind today. First I started wondering what Jesus really looked like, then what His childhood was like, then I started wondering if He had a dog when He was a kid. Then after that I wondered if dogs and cats were even around back in His time like working animals more than pets. Afterwards it occurred to me that every Bible verse I know about in the Bible speaks negatively of dogs and I wonder why that is when dogs are considered man's best friend. The top one I know of is Matthew 7:6. "Do not give dogs what is sacred: do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces." How can the animal with the biggest heart be referenced so badly?

 

[Likkmee]

The dawgs they had over there were brought in.... from Germany
Rock weilerz. They were going to bring Doberman but thought the nose comparison might appear "antisemitic"

 

[Baron Von Murderpaws]

As for looks...................if there was a real Jesus, he would have looked something like this..........

He would have been very dark skinned and weathered from years of working in the sun and dry terrain.
He would have had calloused hands and feet from working in carpentry or livestock to afford food and clothes.
And he would have been very poor, so his clothes would have been the basic of what men wore back then.

Jesus would have much more resembled a Mexican peasant, than a clean, happy, smiling white guy with Fabio hair.


As for the animals..........animals were a means to an end back then. There was a class system for people AND animals alike.
Horses, sheep/goats, and donkeys were at the top of the animal class system, because the horses and donkeys could pull and carry.
Sheep and goat, as well as ducks, geese, and chickens were secondary on the class list, as they were important for food.

Sheeps and goats gave milk, meat, and bones for tools. Chicken gave eggs and were easily farmed and bred.

Dogs and cats were after that. As dogs could be trained to help with chores and keeping wild animals away from livestock and villages.
Cats were important, because they kept the rodent and insect populations down.


You want to do well by your animals, but you don't want to treat them as people, simply because they could get used to it and expect it........becoming lazy and worthless to farmers and and home owners. So, you don't give your dog what is sacred, as the dog may expect sacred all the time and fail to be the working animal it was trained to be. You don't throw your pearls at swine, because they are slovenly creatures that are bred for food.

Animals were a tool, not a luxury pet, and not member of the family. They were working class. They either learned a trade or were left to fend for themselves out in the wild. You gave them enough to eat and drink, and some shelter, but thats all they required.


Hope that makes sense.

 

[norwegen]

Dogs and pigs were Gentiles.

 

[Road Runner]

Baron Von Murderpaws Yeah, but a lot of kids are born with blonde hair and blue eyes though.

 

[Baron Von Murderpaws]

Baron Von Murderpaws Yeah, but a lot of kids are born with blonde hair and blue eyes though.

Maybe Jesus got tired of his look and bought some Miss Clairol.

I don't remember anybody ever teaching that Jesus was a buff, blond, blue eyed adonis.

If he worked outside without the benefit of head coverings, his hair could have been bleached out over the years, but I doubt it would be blond. It would be more or less a light dirty brown color.

 

[Road Runner]

I don't remember anybody ever teaching that Jesus was a buff, blond, blue eyed adon

LOL I know all I meant was I just wondered if He could have been blonde and blue-eyed too.

 

[MarcATL]

The Bible gives a physical description of Jesus...

Bible Gateway passage: Revelation 1:13-15 - King James Version

And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass...

www.biblegateway.com

Hint: He wasn't white and blonde, nor blue-eyed.

 

[norwegen]

Apparently, the OP was off topic.

 

[Baron Von Murderpaws]

The Bible gives a physical description of Jesus...

Bible Gateway passage: Revelation 1:13-15 - King James Version

And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass...

www.biblegateway.com

Hint: He wasn't white and blonde, nor blue-eyed.

Hmmm. White hair and red eyes.
Sounds like a wild party he went to.
LOL

 

[Bob Blaylock]

So many questions came on my mind today. First I started wondering what Jesus really looked like, then what His childhood was like, then I started wondering if He had a dog when He was a kid. Then after that I wondered if dogs and cats were even around back in His time like working animals more than pets. Afterwards it occurred to me that every Bible verse I know about in the Bible speaks negatively of dogs and I wonder why that is when dogs are considered man's best friend. The top one I know of is Matthew 7:6. "Do not give dogs what is sacred: do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces." How can the animal with the biggest heart be referenced so badly?


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As far as being used as food, dog would have been “unclean”, because they are carnivorous. Cats, too.

Perhaps it was deemed unseemly even to associate with “unclean” animals. I tend to have a sense that pigs, at least, were considered not only unfit to eat, but unfit even to associate with. Perhaps dogs were seen similarly, for the same reason.

 

[SweetSue92]

So many questions came on my mind today. First I started wondering what Jesus really looked like, then what His childhood was like, then I started wondering if He had a dog when He was a kid. Then after that I wondered if dogs and cats were even around back in His time like working animals more than pets. Afterwards it occurred to me that every Bible verse I know about in the Bible speaks negatively of dogs and I wonder why that is when dogs are considered man's best friend. The top one I know of is Matthew 7:6. "Do not give dogs what is sacred: do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces." How can the animal with the biggest heart be referenced so badly?


View attachment 755455

Dogs tended to run wild in Jesus' day, like pack animals and probably less like pets.

I think dogs are fine, but I'm concerned about our culture's unhealthy obsession with them. Obsession with pets is anti-human. Sorry, your pet is not really your child. Having a dog is not like having a child. (I'm not saying this to you specifically, but to the culture). Again, I have nothing against them per se--just our unhealthy fixation on them.

 

[Road Runner]

Dogs tended to run wild in Jesus' day, like pack animals and probably less like pets.

I think dogs are fine, but I'm concerned about our culture's unhealthy obsession with them. Obsession with pets is anti-human. Sorry, your pet is not really your child. Having a dog is not like having a child. (I'm not saying this to you specifically, but to the culture). Again, I have nothing against them per se--just our unhealthy fixation on them.

No, you are correct,.. but some people think of their pets like their furry children even if they don't treat them like them. Especially people without children. I agree with you that it's totally one hundred percent different though.

 

[norwegen]

For dogs encompass me;

a company of evildoers encircles me;​

they have pierced my hands and feet.
~ Ps 22:16

In verse 12, David calls these people strong bulls. The enemy is powerful, apparently. And they're dogs.

Dogs are people.

Whoever gave pearls or anything sacred to an animal for the animal to trample it under its feet and then to attack the person for giving it? That's just nonsense. An animal would nearly as soon swallow a pearl as it would a kibble. It doesn't know the difference and it doesn't care.

 

[DudleySmith]

Baron Von Murderpaws Yeah, but a lot of kids are born with blonde hair and blue eyes though.

There is no reason the believe they all looked like Arabs, true. Abraham came from northern Turkey, and to there from probably further north. the northern regions just above Turkey is where most Europeans, Persians, and northern Indian languages originated. Contrary to most myths of the Jewish diasporas, many Jewish tribes did not even originate in the Palestine region. It wasn't until Ezra and the Babylonians return that there developed a 'master race' ideology that developed into today's rabbinical and 'Orthodox' Judaism, essentially a cult. There are no 'lost tribes'; Babylonian Jews just dismissed them and drove them off. See their treatment of Samaritans and 'racially impure Jews' for how that worked; they had an elaborate 'racial purity code' by the the Christian era, one of the reasons the region was split among several factions and alienated sects like the Essenes and Mandeans.. Even the Sephardics probably originated in north Africa, not the ME. Reformed Judaism has done away with a lot of the rubbish.

As for dogs and pigs, there a lot of them around in those days, so somebody was eating those pigs. There were large herds of them roaming around, as mentioned in the NT, so it wasn't prohibited to raise them, obviously. Don't assume everybody followed the priests around slavishly obeying every law in the Old Testament. Most Jews payed no attention to that. Most still don't.

 

[DudleySmith]

Dogs tended to run wild in Jesus' day, like pack animals and probably less like pets.

I think dogs are fine, but I'm concerned about our culture's unhealthy obsession with them. Obsession with pets is anti-human. Sorry, your pet is not really your child. Having a dog is not like having a child. (I'm not saying this to you specifically, but to the culture). Again, I have nothing against them per se--just our unhealthy fixation on them.

28 Powerful Pet Industry Statistics [2023]: Trends, Facts, And Market Projections – Zippia

www.zippia.com

The U.S. pet industry is worth $76.8 billion.

That is just absurd.

Ending homelessness would cost far less than treating it

I'm calling for a war. This nation seems to love spending its money on wars. Right now it already seems to be waging war on the homeless. I propose we switch targets. Instead of waging war on the

www.streetsensemedia.org

A homeless person costs approximately $30,000-$50,000 per year in supportive services. Two years of that is enough to pay for an entire house in some cities. There are about 500,000 homeless individuals in the U.S. tThe price tag to treat the malady of homelessness works out at least $15 billion per year.

....

People die on housing waiting lists. Six months is the minimum wait for housing that I’ve heard. In D.C., they’re still housing people who’ve been on the list since 2004. I’ve tried living in the shelters. They’re dangerous and crowded and just all around not healthy places to be. Again,our suffering costs more than our comfort and healing would.


Priorities are definitely screwed, even considering a large part of the latter problem is self-inflicted.