It's All Relative - But No, It Isn't

Look - it's Tilly.  In my car.  With deadly poinsettias.

Amazingly, she lived to tell about it.  She's lived to tell about many car adventures because - when the weather is right - she loves to go places with me and hang out in the car.

Yet this rather simple activity has recently been the subject of hot debate on local social media.  To spare you, kind reader, the details, suffice it to say that when you see a picture of a dog in a vehicle when it's hot outside, you assume the dog is suffering and may expire at any moment.  If you see the post on a cold day, you may think it's perfectly fine.

This post was taken on a day that started with frost on the yard and the highest the temperature got was in the low 60s.  However, this was enough to put the poster on the war path, as she posted the picture and wrote rather nasty things about the person who'd imprisoned the poor dog in the boiling hot car that - this poster believed - would easily sail to an internal temperature of 100 degrees.  Perhaps if the temperature had been a low of 60 and on its way up to 80, the person would have cause for concern.

I made the terrible mistake of saying that was not the case in this situation.  What happened?  Two people wanted to imprison me in a hot vehicle.  I so wanted to explain that I absolutely love the sensation of the interior of a car on a sunny cool day.  Despite the original poster advocating violence to free said pup, my rebuttal of facts seemed to confuse many.  Someone even accused me of being incompetent to care for animals when I mentioned my professional experience not only with a local humane organization, but with my kennel business of 17 years.  At one point, I wanted to list further credentials, but it seemed this wasn't good enough.  No, no.  It's better to believe the random person in the super store parking lot who took the picture, who commented that if she didn't have a felony record, she would have put a brick through the window of the vehicle.

On a sixty degree day.

There's just nothing like the anonymity of social media to make people brave and live out their adrenalin.  When I finally tried to refer to SCIENCE as the reason the dog was safe, I got no more arguments.

We can have opinions, but having them influenced with science over emotion is how a person has an INFORMED OPINION.

But what is the spiritual parallel?  I know  you're wondering.  There are a myriad of social issues that are influenced by emotion.  And while that is a factor, God's word tells us the Truth.  We can disagree all day, but that's not going to change what God says about a matter.  And because God is wonderful and full of grace, He allows us to disagree. He still loves us.  He knows what's best for us, but we can make our choices because He is no tyrant.

I appreciate a thoughtful discussion on a variety of matters.  I don't think God minds one bit when we ask questions and wrestle with complicated issues.  The important thing is to seek Truth.  And if a disagreement erupts, it's always best to keep the emotion out of it and part friends.  Sure, that isn't the easiest thing to do, particularly on social media.  Just remember who you belong to and make Him proud with words and demeanor.  That's how He treats us, but only so much better.