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      • 18. The Motivation of a Sucide Terrorest
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      • 40. One of the Greatest Need America
      • 41. Your Memorial Table
      • 42. George W. Bush Verses Saddam Hussein
      • 43. Learning to Listen
      • 44. The Problem with Gambling
      • 45. Memorial Day
      • 46. My Ecounter with an Orthhodox Jew
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      • 48. What My Auto Accident Taught Me
      • 49. The Decline in Family Living
      • 50. Give Me a Problem
      • 51. Decoding the Da Vinci Code
      • 52. Thanksgiving is not a Holiday
      • 53. What a Christmas Present!
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      • 54. What Do You Mean by that?
      • 55. What are Parents to Do?
      • 56. "The Passion of Christ"
      • 57. Martha Stewart's Greatest Lesson
      • 58. Same Sex Marriage
      • 59. A Tribute to a Servant
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      • 62. Kerry's Logic
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      • 67. Tribute to My Mother
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      • 79. The Redemption of Tookie Willaims
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      • 80. Is Religion a Problem?
      • 81. The Rights of the Born
      • 82. Did You Hear What She Said about Muslims?
      • 83. Judas: Betrayer or Best Friend?
      • 84. Weekend or Week--Beginning?
      • 85. A Tribute to My (Spiritual) Father
      • 86. Your Relationship to the Word of God
      • 87. What an Opportunity!
      • 88. America's Four Gods
      • 89. How to Deal with Your Enemies
      • 90. The Case for Systematic Exposition
      • 91. Don't Miss the Message
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      • 92. I can Afford it!
      • 93. The Gospel according to Patricia
      • 94. The Functional Church
      • 95. Who wants to Deal with a Taxman?
      • 96. Vital Virtures
      • 97. Have You Grown up Yet?
      • 98. A July 4th Reminder
      • 99. The Volume of Silence
      • 100. Biblical Illiteracy
      • 101. A Modest Political Propospal
      • 102. How to Handle Credit Cards
      • 103. When it is Tough to be Thankful
      • 104. Romney's Religion
    • 2008 Articles 105-114 >
      • 105. Continue
      • 106. A Tribute to Jack
      • 107. Why Good Ftiday?
      • 108. Happy Birthday
      • 109. The Most Important Room in the House
      • 110. The 80-20 Rule
      • 111. Be Sensible
      • 112. To Be Like Christ
      • 113. Sweet Reasonableness
      • 114. The Other Benefit of Christmas
    • 2009 Articles 115-126 >
      • 115. What Determines who Obtains Eternal Life?
      • 116. The Healing Touch
      • 117. The Function of Dysfunction
      • 118. When Your World Falls Apart
      • 119. 24-7-365
      • 120. To Complain or not to Complain
      • 121. "Suggestions"
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      • 123. God's Timing
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    • 2010 Articles 127-138 >
      • 127. Don't Ask; Don't Tell
      • 128. A Forest Dark
      • 129. The Rule of Law
      • 130. The Hits and Miss of Grace
      • 131. People Need the Lord
      • 132. Examples Worthy of Notes
      • 133. A Hassle Reduction Strategy
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      • 137. "Don't Spare Me"
      • 138 The Unseen Message of Christmas
    • 2011 Articles 139-147 >
      • 139. What Parents Should Teach their Children
      • 140. How to Avoid Having to Serve
      • 141. What Happen to Mike?
      • 142. An Atheist Recommends God
      • 143. Surprise
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      • 146. Get in the Way
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      • 148. Truth or Consequences
      • 149. Don't Leave Home without it
      • 150. Take a Break
      • 151. The Worth of an Individual
      • 152. A Tribute to Nana
      • 153. Jesus Crossed the Line
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      • 161. How to Finish Well
      • 162. Rewards
      • 163. Spiritual Binging
      • 164. There is no way out of this one
      • 165. Half Empty or Half Full
      • 166. Nones
      • 167. Greet One Another with a Holy Kiss
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      • 173. Lies
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      • 175. Teaching Children How Money Grows
      • 176. The Principle of Delay
      • 177. By Their Fruit
      • 178. Sermons that Changed My Life
      • 179. If Paul Harvey were the Devil
      • 180. The Principle of Practice
    • 2015 Articles 181- >
      • 181. In Wrath Remember Mercy
      • 182. Choosing the Right Shepherd
      • 183. The Lord's Requirements
      • 184. Your Ear Lobe. Thumb, and Big Toe
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                    OWNERS OR GUARDIANS?

 The city council of the city of West Hollywood, the homosexual epicenter of Southern California, voted 3 to 0 to amend the city’s municipal code to remove all references to “pet owner.” From hence forth and evermore, pet owners in the two-square-mile city will be officially called “pet guardians.” The only other city in the United States that has such a code is Boulder, Colorado. According to the Mayor, Jeffrey Prang, “There’s a tremendous amount of power in words. Choosing the term ‘pet guardianship’ connotes a much greater sense of responsibility and care for your pets. The resolution has a symbolic purpose” aimed at reminding those with pets that animals have rights.
The ordinance has more bark than bite. Violators who slip up and use the O word won’t land in the doghouse.

Reaction was mixed. According to the Los Angeles Times, “Many in the city’s large gay population have dogs and cats they consider members of their families.” One man, who is not a resident of West Hollywood said, “To me, I think it’s kind of silly. If you have a pet, you are the owner.”

When I heard about this, two thoughts came to mind. First, if what they are doing is expressing compassion toward animals, they have a point. God is compassionate and uses His compassion toward animals as an illustration. When Jonah was angry that God spared Nineveh (Jonah 4:1-3), God had compassion on a very uncompassionate Jonah, giving him a plant to shade him from the burning sun (Jonah 4:6). Then, to teach Jonah a lesson on compassion, God prepared a worm and an East wind (Jonah 4:7-9) and pointed out  “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left, and also much livestock?” (Jonah 4:10-11).

God’s point is simply this: “Jonah, if you could have pity for one small shrub which you neither planted, nor labored over, nor caused to grow, can I not have compassion on creatures I created, innocent creatures, that is, the children. Besides, look at all the livestock. Are not sheep superior to shrubs? If you can grieve over the loss of one mere plant, can I not be concerned over hundreds and thousands of animals and humans?”

Secondly, they are right. We are not owners; we are “guardians.” From a Biblical point of view, we are stewards, not just of pets, but everything. The problem with the unjust steward in the parable Jesus told (Lk. 16:1-13) is that he forgot that he was a steward and thought he was an owner. Thanks, West Hollywood, for the reminder.

                                                  © G. Michael Cocoris, 2/22/2001
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