The Bible teaches us not to judge
Years ago when Waikeria village existed for prison staff and their families, a new prison superintendent took over charge of the prison. He invited the village wives to meet with him. Over afternoon tea he told us the Parable of the Puppy Dogs.
A parable is an ancient form of story-telling describing familiar things with a deeper meaning hidden within. Its enigmatic nature stimulates thought and provokes enquiry.
What will you discover in the following parable?
A dog gave birth to identical twin male puppies. When they were three weeks old their mother died leaving the pups to survive the best they could.
Two days later, a family out walking found one of the pups on the street whining and looking thin and miserable. They picked him up and finding no ID took him home with them. They washed, fed and cuddled him; named him Hero, and taught him to obey a few simple rules. Soon he was part of this caring family and grew into a strong, healthy, happy, law abiding dog.
Every time Hero saw human beings he would get excited and wag his tale because he saw people as his natural friends.
His twin continued to live on the streets. To survive he scratched in rubbish bins for food scraps, and trespassed on to properties to eat the food put out by owners for their cat or dog.
When anyone saw this pup at their rubbish bin or stealing their pet's food they and chased it away with a hit or a kick. Sometimes, children teased and bullied him. They called him awful names, threw stones at him and poked him with sticks.
Soon, this unhappy, skinny puppy started to growl, snarl and show its sharp teeth every time it saw human beings because he saw people as his natural enemies Identical twin dogs — one is healthy, happy, friendly and loving. The other — unhappy, angry, suspicious and anti-social.
This, parable brings to my mind Biblical messages as: “Don't judge others.” Why? Because we don't know the full background and life experiences that have helped to shape the behaviour of others. And, just what one's ears hear, and just what one's eyes see is often insufficient information to make a correct judgement. Also, unbeknown to us a person's attitude and behaviour can change.
The Bible asks us to treat others as we want them to treat us. So let's treat everyone with respect and kindness and look only for the good in them.