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Merry Christmas, I’ve had (2) golden retrievers. One is alive today (Libby). I understand what you are saying & believe you should take your dog to church. I never understood why people were attached to their pets (especially dogs) until we got our 1st (Molly). Some of my strongest spiritual experiences have been when I was alone with my dog out in the woods for a walk. A service dog has gone through a lot of training to deal with people. There is no downside. If the experience is bad or uncomfortable, don’t do it again. I wish you were in my Ward. You would be mobbed by all the children. Maybe that’s the downside. Its worth a try.
Honestly, I think it’s a bad idea, for purely practical reasons. Theoretically, in a perfect world, there is no downside.
Practically, there might be people in church who have panic attacks when around dogs (like a couple of people I know who were attacked by dogs), there might be people in church who are allergic to dogs (like another couple of people I know), you might be considering this simply to make a point of some kind (which can have all kinds of negative consequences, both for you and for others), it might cause a confrontation of some kind, etc.
My advice: Initially, enjoy the dog’s company outside of church and work on the root cause whatever is keeping you from enjoying church – and there are lots of other things you can try to do in that regard. Consider finding a way to take the dog to an activity, or volunteer to be the main speaker at an activity aimed at explaining service dogs to members of the ward. If they react well to it, and if there are no negatives for future participation, perhaps you can start taking the dog with you – but don’t count on it. That is an incredibly slippery slope for a church leader to authorize, since the next person will want to bring their beloved cat, then a parakeet, then a llama. (OK, the last example was over-the-top, but, seriously, I pity the poor leader who has to try to decide which pets are allowed and which ones aren’t.)
Apparently the OP has been edited, the responses, therefore, make no sense. Actually I self edited. This was about what may have been my lifeline to the church and then, in a display of lack of empathy or even modest sympathy, a brother tried to slam the door shut. It was terribly personal I now realize and to delicate a thing to share–I oopsied a boo-boo. So I withdrew it.
Quote:This was about what may have been my lifeline to the church and then, in a display of lack of empathy or even modest sympathy, a brother tried to slam the door shut.
If you are talking about me, I didn’t try to slam the door shut. I honestly expressed some concerns I had and then suggested you ease into it to see if it would be appropriate in your ward. I actually tried to support you, by suggesting an approach I think might work better than simply showing up one Sunday with a dog.
We all see things differently here, but the main thing we share is honesty and sincere attempts to help. I’m sorry if you saw my response as unsympathetic. It was not meant to be so.
I actually have a federally protected right to bring a service animal with me. Unless you know of a religious object the point of if I can is moot. I have a legal right. You were looking to close the door by placing obstacles in the way and, in classic TBM fashion, looking for the lose, not the win. To quote a famous LDS t-shirt you looked to thee classic place “I’m mormon I
can’t“ Part of my worry in posting on this forum at all is that it isn’t administer by folks who have felt the fire of a trial of faith, lack of empathy is on of the problems TBMs face. I realize now as YMP, and EQP and B1 I wasn’t as in touch as I should have been and probably cut a few lifelines in my day.
The greatest moral failure OF MY LIFE was when in an attempt to keep my sons active I Asked a rule bound SP to allow us to attend a ward with their peers from their (the wards rival) high school. When the SP said, sure–just hand over your temple recommend–I did not. Since then I have realized that the culture (not doctrine) of TBMs is build on a foundation of, well, lack of vision, perhaps of fear of change.
Taking a dog to church, to hold onto the spirit, to cling to the spirit, to cast out the darkness and bathe in the light?
That’s just freakin nuts. We’re Mormon. We can’t.
I do not know your history. I do not know your struggles. But if your crisis of faith hasn’t come yet I pray you’ll find compassion and empathy and some looking to save you by any means necessary. Someone who will say, I’m a child of God
and I can.Your comments, though innocent play to the stereotype that has broken me. I know there’s no proof of the BOM, not a lick of it anywhere–but I believe an all powerful God can change our DNA and hide all evidences
because he is God. I believe that blacks were denied the priesthood due to nineteenth century racism, because there’s no doctrine to support the practice. I believe in miracles from the laying on of hands. I have faith in the unknowable, the unprovable and the unseen. But the spirit bails on me when I walk into my own humanity riddled ward.
And yes. It’s on me but I’m looking for a force multiplier that will help me deal with it.
Thanks for your concern. Sorry for the rant.
The rant is fine – but please understand that you have misjudged and mischaracterized me – badly. I understand it is from a place of pain, but please understand I am not the person you blasted in your comment. Quote:Part of my worry in posting on this forum at all is that it isn’t administer by folks who have felt the fire of a trial of faith.
That also is incorrect. Period.
Now to get back to your post:
When you say “service dog”, exactly what do you mean? I know a lot of people who use that term to mean a lot of different things, which is why I ask. My answer might be radically different based on yours.
The eight pounds of Cerebus. Goes to a high school every day. Has never barked or growled…or piddled on the floor.
[img]http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j48/CaptCrashIdaho/image_zps0b083e0f.jpg [/img] Gangsters, emotional damaged, 504s and IEPs, and just regular kids seek him out and drink from the well of spirit he packs with him.
Actually, upon reflection and trying to reconstruct the original post from memory, I am bowing out of this conversation. I support fully someone attending church with a classic “service dog”, so if this dog is an official service dog, my previous comment doesn’t apply. Chalk it up to a brain fart and old age – and pretty extreme fatigue. I apologize for the disconnect that caused my first comment.
He is a registered service dog. He is an “alert dog”. Being Diabetic I am subject to the Americans with Disabilities Act and though all dogs are banned from my workplace–my employer sees my right and respects it. To the point of all this: that dang dog is a balm and a healing to countless bruised and battered every day. I’m just selfish enough to want to steal a sip from the well for myself.
No offense intended. I just need more than the ward can give me.
As I said, I support fully taking such an animal to church. Fully. No offense given, even when my brain totally shorted out with the first comment. Seriously, no offense. I’m going to bed now. I really am exhausted, and this malfunction proves it for me. I need to sleep.
I realized you self edited VikingCompass, but didn’t know why. It does occasionally happen here. FWIW, although I’ve only been here a few months I have never seen an admin delete a thread (or even edit one) and I’ve only seen one locked. You have misjudged Ray. We don’t always agree but he has had trial by fire as have many of us, including other admins. Ray does not hold ill intent upon anyone that I am aware of, and while he does dole out the occasional warning to a member he does so in a very polite and loving way. Since I didn’t see your OP, I can’t really answer it. I do agree that you do have the right to bring your bona fide service dog anywhere and apparently your employer agrees. Is it a matter of a church leader not agreeing? If so, that should be pretty easy to fix.
In retrospect I’m very surprised at how the simple wording offended me–and it wasn’t offensive to start with. I think events earlier in the day had set me one click away from Anger/Dispair. I had been on my way to a optional meeting related to other endeavors and the Spirit said “Go to Wally World and get your wife a space heater and some flowers”. So I did. Since she works in the library it made sense.
I got the and found two things: first on of the exterior doors of the building had fallen off and the place was frigid and my wife had a run in with an ultra-orthodox woman who had wound up hollering at my wife.
Score one HG.
I was feather triggered and at a place where I was truly thinking “screw it, I’m out.” Unfairly I unloaded on the wrong person.
VC, you said: VikingCompass wrote:He is a registered service dog. He is an “alert dog”. Being Diabetic I am subject to the Americans with Disabilities Act and though all dogs are banned from my workplace–my employer sees my right and respects it.
To the point of all this: that dang dog is a balm and a healing to countless bruised and battered every day. I’m just selfish enough to want to steal a sip from the well for myself.
I would like to hear more about your dog. Try to give examples. How has he helped you? How has he helped your students?
What reaction do you anticipate at church if you brought him?
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