Humans are not Dogs
We have a mutt, named Dusty. He is a pretty good dog, even though he is not trained to do anything. Everything he does is natural. He does not bark a lot. He jumps straight up when he gets excited. He’s a medium sized dog. He also stays outside most of the time (even in Michigan winters but don’t worry, God gives him a special winter coat every fall!).
Sometimes our anthropomorphic view of Dusty gets the better of us and we let him spend the night in the garage. However, sometimes, for selfish reasons (like it’s 3:00 AM), we put him in the garage! He begins the night outside. Then a rabbit, opossum, squirrel or other animal runs through the yard. As I said, normally, Dusty does not bark. My guess is that if someone were to try to break into our house, they would get little resistance from Dusty. He would more likely hide.
But he does bark if a rabbit, opossum, squirrel or other animal runs through the yard. Then, Dusty barks. He has to bark. He’s a dog. It’s in his nature. A strange animal runs through the yard and the local pet has to bark. He cannot do otherwise. It’s in his genes. It’s practically pointless to yell: “Dusty! Stop barking!” He’s going to bark until the animal is gone.
Humans are not dogs. While we do not, and may never know, just how much our personalities are influenced by our genes, we always have control over our behavior. One lesson my mom drilled into my head is that I always have control of my tongue! That’s been a hard lesson to follow.
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Some people practice sinful behaviors so long that they have a hard time stopping that behavior. “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil” (Jeremiah 13:23). The Hebrew writer warns, “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance” (6:4-6).
Why is it impossible? Not because the sin is genetic but because their “consciences are seared” (1 Timothy 4:2). We must keep a tender conscience before God and humbly submit to any teaching or correction that His word offers.
Which means that if we are committing sin, we can stop it. God would not command something that we could not do. We are not dogs.
–Paul Holland
