My parents' dog would refuse to be lead past a house in our town that is reputedly haunted. No science textbook can explain these events, but the Bible can. That ticks another box for the Bible being divinely inspired.
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Verily I say unto thee, the canine of Mahershalalhashbaz shalln't be willingly lead past the home in his town, as a lamb shalln't be willingly lead past the slaughterhause, for it is haunted by the master deceiver. (BS 1:23)
This (if true) could be claimed as evidence for any spiritualistic religion, not just Christianity. Science textbooks don't explain such events because science by definition is the study of the measurable, physical world, not the paranormal. You're expecting a book on one subject to explain something of another. That's no different than expecting a math book to explain history. The only connection I see is that you had an encounter with the paranormal (I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt on that), and the Bible happens to talk about similar matters. That doesn't mean what it has to say on these matters is true.
Bah. Only a stray magnetic field.
Um, how does the bible explain, please? chapter&verse, chop chop.
I've never found the bit in the Bible that says that.
There is a bit that says "Outside are the dogs", but it got that wrong. My dog is right here in the house with me.
It could also be that your parents never led the dog past the house, and instead went a different way because *they* thought the house was haunted. Dogs can be creatures of habit, and if a specific path is followed during walks, dogs can remember and follow it. I don't know if all dogs do this, but I know that my parent's dogs can and do. Maybe the dog just remembered the path it was supposed to follow, and didn't want to deviate.
Or you could just be making shit up.
"No science textbook can explain these events, but the Bible can."
Given that the dog has much better senses of hearing and sound than you do I would guess the dog hears/smells something it either doesn't like or is unfamiliar with coming from the house. Whatever it is, it sure isn't a ghost.
@Poisoned Rationality
Or it could have picked up on said person's apprehension of the building. Animals are excellent, I find, at reading body language, and if the dog sees that the "alpha" has reason to fear, the dog will fear, too.
My choc lab (all dogs actually) lives her life by smell and hearing. Especially smell. The house probably smelled of something horrible, or of other animals and it was something that the dog didn't care to investigate.
I've spent time on farms and the animals do seem to sense storms before we do, I think they may be more in tune to nature then we are.
Nothing biblical.
a) is that dog afraid of going near any other houses that are reputedly haunted?
b) is that dog afraid of going near any houses that are reportedly NOT haunted?
c) are any other dogs afraid of going near that, or other reportedly haunted houses?
Get back to us when you have the statistics.
Dog proves God.
Well, that settles it.
Ahem, there is such a thing as Animal Behavioural Science.
Are vets divinely inspired? They'd have to be, to dealwith mrons like you.
Your dog wanted to go back and make sure that he had claimed that fire hydrant, and the bible explains it? Therefore the bible is divinely inspired?
Why doesn't that raise any red flags for you?
I would like to make a very obscure reference here, but I'm afraid no one would get it, and if they did get it, it would make me seem like a complete geek
And the bible says dogs can see ghosts where?
Seriously, It may smell in a way he doesn't like down that street (dogs evolved a good sense of smell).
There may be other dogs that are hostile to yours near the old house (dogs evolved territorial instincts).
The dog may be picking up on your nervousness at being near a "haunted house" and reacting (dogs interpret the moods and body language of their masters, it's a trait their wolf ancestors used on their pack leaders).
It could be coincidence that the dog simply got into the habit of taking a walk along a route that doesn't include that house!
Your dog is superstitious, so must you be?
My cat won't go out into the street. Probably righteously fears all those iron chariots out there. I'd better just stay indoors this life.
Dog trainer here.
1. According to the bible, dogs are unclean. They're only mentioned in vile ways such as returning to their own vomit and licking up the blood of massacred towns.
2. The leash is like a telephone line between you and your dog. If you tense up when walking past that house, then the dog will also tense up. He doesn't know why, but if another pack member is tense, they obviously have some information that he doesn't.
3. I would lay money that I could walk that dog past that house and he wouldn't so much as twitch, because I wouldn't change my attitude while walking.
Even if your logic was right (which it fucking wasn't), shouldn't the house have to be PROVEN to be haunted, not REPUTEDLY?
In other words, SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN?
God damn.
My sister's dog refused to go near her old furnace. That proves the furnace was haunted...or it could just be that the dog was near the furnace while it was being worked on and a flame shot out of it and that's why she was scared of it.
Occam's Razor: it slices, it dices, it removes unnecessary supernatural explanations!
I'd have the police search that house for a body (that your dog can smell) or an illegal squatter (that your dog can hear). The dog, having never read the bible, is a lot more perceptive than you are.
“My parents' dog would refuse to be lead past a house in our town that is reputedly haunted.”
Oh, look, you have an anecdote! How cute.
“No science textbook can explain these events,”
Events? There’s one dog and one place it won’t go. How many dogs would have to be walked past that house, and how many houses would have to be subject to test, before it makes it into a textbook?
We’d need a series of tests, including tests for dogs that are deaf, and those that cannot smell, and so on, to isolate all the possibilities science might accept before we get to GHOSTS
“but the Bible can.”
Not really. It doesn’t explain ghosts, it just says there are some, if you have a necromancer to call them up.
“That ticks another box for the Bible being divinely inspired.”
Your anecdote supports your rumor and WOW, it supports the belief you already held… How unsual.
Still suspect there’s a smell, there.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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