Maybe it's safer to be a dog.

We get used to hearing stories these days about the animal rights crowd at PETA, the "People for Ethical Treatment of Animals", as they go to great lengths to protect animals of all sorts against "unethical" treatment. But normally we think of the Humane Society as more within bounds that the rest of us non-PETA types can agree with.

That opinion may change for some, after reading in today's Omaha news about a man being ticketed for animal cruelty, after the Humane Society followed up on a veternarian's concerns about the man taking his sick dog home, rather than paying for the animal to be treated or turning it over to the HS folks, who would have euthanized the dog.

According to the World-Herald reporter, "The Humane Society and Omaha police, acting on the veterinarian's concerns that Palmer might kill his own dog, went to his home Sept. 8 with a warrant, used a battering ram on the door and dug up the dog's body in the backyard." After determining through testing that the animal was not killed, but rather died of its "treatable" disease, the owner was issued the citation.

One wonders what the HS would do about farmers and other rural people, who in times past (maybe not really past) used their own form of "euthanizing" on a terminally sick or otherwise unwanted animal, in the form of a bullet that sent Rover packing to doggie heaven. To be clear, I have been grieved as any dog lover would be, to have taken two of them at different times to a vet or the Humane Society for their departure from this world. And now I see that it was a good thing for me that I didn't leave them at home on "dog hospice", thus running the risk of an unwelcome visit from the authorities.

I sympathize with those who would want us to have laws to protect dogs from cruelty, but why does it seem that many of the same folks who stick up for the "rights" of animals are also in the same political vein with those who deny such rights to an unborn child. I don't see anyone following a pregnant woman home to make sure she doesn't abort her child. No, that's her choice, says the group of people eager to defend a woman's right to choose.

It looks like it's safer to be a dog than a fetus. At least then you have people in governmental authority ready to fight for your well-being. This dog owner didn't have a "choice" over his own animal, while a woman can legally do whatever she wants with a human being inside her womb. What a world we live in!

What would you do if you were God?

Obviously, asking people to pretend they're God, and then imagine what they might do with the various problems of this world and its people, is a nonsensical proposition, because no one really knows the mind of God enough to make an intelligent answer. But some might venture to say what they would like to do if they were the One to call the shots

For example, someone might say, "I'd get rid of all the bad people"; which, according to the Bible, would have totally cleaned out the place by now (including the speaker), since we read "there are none good, not even one." Or another might suggest, "I'd get rid of all sickness and war and poverty." But that too would be problematic, since all those bad things and more are the result of mankind's sinful condition, which, as already stated, includes us all.

So, what's a God to do? If He just took us all back to Eden where everything was perfect, besides hearing a lot of complaining because there's not a McDonald's in sight or a mall or cars and all the rest, He would have to do something with the human race, since we're at heart just like the ones who got expelled the first time around.

If He permanently altered our nature to make it impossible to disobey Him, we'd end up like the rest of the animal world, with no independent will and mind to do our own thing. We maybe wouldn't know the difference once the change was made, but He would know, and the whole purpose for making mankind in His image, to have a true relationship on the spiritual level, would be lost.

But if He just made us promise to be good this time, and then we showed we couldn't do any better than Adam and Eve, we would either be right back where we are now, or God would have to suspend the whole rules thing, and just let us be. And that would be far worse, if you can imagine a world where there are no laws, and hence no justice to enforce those laws, no barriers on human behavior to hold back unchecked human nature... well, that sounds a lot more like Hell than Heaven to me.

We may not be able to fully understand why God chose to let His image-bearing creations disobey Him and totally mess up a world He pronounced as "good", but, as any all-powerful and all-knowing Creator might do, He has a plan and a purpose in all of it. And, if He has allowed this world to go on its pathetic condition this long, it must be because He has a really great plan and purpose, especially for those who accept His mercy and forgiveness made available through His Son, Jesus Christ (which was part of the plan even before He made mankind). So I'm really glad He's God, and not me. I'd have made it even worse by now - how about you?