I assume that this is asking me which I prefer. As a child, we had plenty of dogs and cats as pets. I also had two white rabbits, a little white mouse, a couple of birds, and some tropical fish. Then, as an adult, I never allowed my kids to keep pets. But I do like cats and dogs at a distance. I don’t really want either as pets. For me, cats are more fascinating to observe. Dogs are more affectionate. How many humans would jump up on the couch and lick your face 😀. However, barking dogs or angry dogs can be annoying. So maybe I’ll vote for cats😀 or even lions.
I generally like to write about my two passions, Christianity and music. But I like to weave these into the daily prompt, but how do I do that today?
Well, I can speak about music. Perhaps I can list my top 10 dog and cat songs
- Dogs – Pink Floyd
- Love Me Love My Dog – Pete Shelley
- Dog Eat Dog – Adam & The Ants
- Daddy, Won’t You Buy Me a Bow Wow – Vesta Victoria
- How Much is the Doggy in the Window – Patti Page
- I Love My Dog – Yusuf / Cat Stevens
- Hound Dog – Elvis Presley
- Black Dog – Led Zeppelin
- Me and You and a Dog Named Boo – Logo
- Gonna Buy Me a Dog – The Monkees
Top of my list is undoubtedly Dogs by Pink Floyd, from their Animals Album. It was the first of three “bitter” Pink Floyd albums. I remember a 1977 review of it being titled “Punk Floyd”. But I always found the song very relaxing, especially the quiet synth bit in the middle. I’m not all that bothered about the lyrics, which rant about unscrupulous businessmen and call them “dogs”. It’s loosely related to Animal Farm by George Orwell.
The Bible also has some angry statements about evil people, who are likened to dogs. I don’t think that people kept dogs as cute pets back then. Perhaps dogs were regarded as aggressive and disease ridden, though they might have had some uses, because people sometimes possessed dogs. Even today, I understand that people of other cultures who come to Ireland, particularly from Muslim countries, are surprised to see dogs kept as pets.
Psalm 22 is commonly seen as a prophecy of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ:
Psalm 22:16
“Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet.”
The next verse refers to Jewish Christian groups who rejected the apostles’ decision to allow gentiles into the church if they didn’t keep ceremonial laws and Jewish practices, such as circumcision. Paul portrayed them as dangerous heretics and compared them to dogs. In Jewish culture, “dogs” was a derogatory term for Gentiles. Just as you kept dogs outside your house, you kept Gentiles at a distance. Paul flips it to describe legalistic Jews who distort the gospel as dogs. And in Galatians, he argues that they;re the ones who should be kept at a distance.
Philippians 3:2
“Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh.”
Paul isn’t being anti-Semitic here. Most of the early church were Jewish, including Paul himself. He expresses great love for his people in Romans 9-11. But you get legalistic people in most religions who want to boss people around with rules they invent themselves. Even Jesus was frequently reprimanded by such people.
The next verse speaks of those who’ll be excluded from heaven. Those who refuse to repent and who continue in sin are likened to dogs.
Revelation 22:15
“Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters…”
I don’t believe that the writers are encouraging us to be cruel to animals. They are just using dogs as illustrations of dangerous or sinful people. Even today, we use sayings that suggest dogs are lower than us; for example, “You’re treating me like a dog” or “Gone to the dogs.”
Scripture encourages kindness to animals:
Proverbs 12:10 “The righteous care for the needs of their animals, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.”
Matthew 10:29 “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.”
So that’s dogs. What about cats? Well, here’s my cat top 10 😀.
Year of the Cat – Al Stewart
Leave My Kitten Alone – The Beatles
Three Cool Cats – The Beatles
Stray Cat Strut – Stray Cats
Cat People (Putting Out Fire) – David Bowie
Lovecats – The Cure
Cool for Cats – Squeeze
Everybody Wants to Be a Cat – The Aristocats Soundtrack
The Siamese Cat Song – Peggy Lee
Honky Cat – Elton John
And does the Bible mention cats? Seemingly not. Domestic cats don’t appear, but you do get mention of members of the broader cat family. There are numerous references to lions. Like dogs, they are seen as scary, but they’re more awesome. They didn’t really look down on lions. And Jesus himself is referred to as the Lion of Judah:
The following passage is regarded as one of the earliest prophecies referring to the coming of the Messiah.
Genesis 49:9-10
You are a lion’s cub, Judah;
you return from the prey, my son.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down,
like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
10 The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until he to whom it belongs shall come
and the obedience of the nations shall be his.
Then, in the last book of the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
Rev 5:5
Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
Hibernia Gospel 