The Schnauzer Dilemma

(This article originally appeared on One Flew Over the Church)

I want to share an interesting story from yesterday. My family has recently acquired a full-blooded miniature schnauzer. He is an incredibly smart dog, especially for his age. I was dropping him off to be groomed yesterday when he encountered a larger, unfamiliar dog. He set into full defense mode, ready to defend himself and me from a perceived threat. The other dog’s owner had a comment that has since struck me. “That schnauzer instinct is coming out isn’t it?” You see, schnauzers are very loyal and very territorial. If you aren’t a schnauzer and you aren’t a Burnham, he has to see you be approved by a Burnham or you have to leave. It is a lot like having a 12-pound bouncer around the house. It is just all part of being a full-blooded schnauzer.
My dog lives in a box – a schnauzer box.

I looked at that example and then thought to myself about the boxes we put ourselves in. I wondered about what box I am prone to climb into. You have big boxes labeled “Baptist”, “Methodist”, “Catholic” and so on. I guess I have one labeled “Reforming Emergent Calvinist Covenant Theologian who is a member of a rather contemporary Baptist church”. Unlike my now famous dog, I am a mutt. We all have a box to some extent or another. We may not always fall prey to it, but we react to situations a certain way because that is how ______s are supposed to react to those situations.

Now think about the primary reason for putting people in boxes - we put people in boxes we call caskets because they are dead. Jesus called us to life and life more abundant. There is no life, future or abundance in a casket. If this is true, then why do we insist on living in caskets? Why do we continue to follow the crowd around us.

Now look at what happens when someone gets up out of their casket. For that we go back to the schnauzer analogy:

One of my wife’s good friends has a miniature schnauzer as well. It is as solid white as new fallen snow. When they got their dog, they contacted the American Kennel Club (AKC) to look into registering him. Turns out he’s not a schnauzer. He’s a defect. It does not matter that he has full-blooded schnauzer parents. The AKC does not recognize white schnauzers. “Don’t breed him. Get him neutered and enjoy your pet” was what the AKC told them. It doesn’t matter that he is territorial, has the thick eyebrows and beard or that he is full blooded. He broke ranks and now he is out of the shrine.

How many times have we seen that happen to people before?

The point I want to make with all this rambling is that we have been called to life. To truly pursue that life, we need to seek out that life for ourselves. There is a lot of truth to be found in most Christian denominations. There is a lot of error to be found as well. The key is to seek out the truth for ourselves and not derive our opinion simply from what our denominational doctrine says.

As for the schnauzers, one is recognized by the institution and one is not. Both are loved and treasured by their masters. Isn’t the Master’s opinion of us the one that matters?