Bait Dogs & The Cross

One week ago, we adopted Otis from the local Humane Society. Later, I noticed a tiny green line tattooed on his belly. Several people told me he'd been marked as a Bait Dog.

Bait Dog? I had no idea what that meant, so I researched it. People who want to teach aggressive dogs how to hone their skills at mauling and killing take bait dogs, duct tape their mouths shut (to protect the aggressive dogs from injury) and tie this dog to a pole on a short leash. Then the aggressive dogs are set loose to tear up the bait dog. Yes - tear up. Few bait dogs survive the experience and those that do would probably be better off dead.

Every time I look into the gentle eyes of my Otis, I see submissive love with a huge desire to please.  Perfect qualities for a bait dog. When I see the tattoo on his belly, I think of the overwhelming injustice and cruelty that takes place on our planet every second of every day.

Children exploited in sex trade. Children raped by family members. Babies aborted. Elderly slapped around, and in parts of the world where it's legal, euthanized without their permission.

Evil pervades our planet. And yet we are taught unless we believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins we will burn in hell forever.

First, I know the Bible fairly well and I can't find any verse that states that exact thought. The goal of "going to heaven" isn't a concept I can find in the Bible.

Second, take Lydia (a fictitious person). She is born into a single parent home. Her mother's boyfriends routinely abuse and rape her from the time of her toddlerhood until she runs away at 14.

The people at her mother's church tell her God loves her.

Really? Then why doesn't he stop my hell?

On the streets, she gets hooked on drugs, the only thing that blocks the hell of her past, even if only for a few hours. She OD's at 22 and dies.

Now, is God going to roast her forever in the lake of fire because she 'turned her back on him'? What kind of a God would create humans with free will, knowing that decision would unleash unfathomable cruelty in his creation and then consign the vast majority to everlasting torment?

Salvation must be much, much bigger, vaster than our trite little doctrines. Believe Jesus died for you to go to heaven. Don't and you go to hell. I've observed that those who hold so firmly to that doctrine are already "in" and true compassion for the "outs" cannot exist in this mindset.

The grace of God has dawned upon the world with healing for ALL mankind. Titus 2:12

As in Adam all men die, so in Christ ALL will be brought to life; but each IN HIS OWN PROPER PLACE. 1 Corinthians 15:22.

God's salvation is as vast as God. Let's stop cheapening it with such a tiny interpretation: heaven vs. hell.