[redforever]

What you originally said and i took issue with in regards to religion is that pets and the sadness you would feel in their passing is equal to that you would feel for your immediate family members.

As I have mentioned before, as far as I am concerned, owning a pet, or any other object above the basic needs of necessity has nothing to do with religion whatsoever. I have never been speaking religion, you have. I have been speaking humanity. And I do not feel immoral for going through a deep grieving process when I lost my faithful companion of 12 years. She was a part of my family and I loved her. Do you have a problem with the act of love? Being able to love is good so why should grieving for a lost love automatically be bad if that object of your love was an animal and not a person?

Are you a vegetarian? (Just curious)

No I am not and dont go trying to go out on a limb and say that if I eat meat, how can you possibly own a pet. I find no relationship between owning a pet and eating meat. By the way, I have children and and I dont eat people either!!! And I have houseplants and I dont eat them either. I find no correlation whatsoever in that kind of ideology.

But assuming it is just 'your pets' whose death would make you so sad, it seems you are obsessed with the personalized ownership aspect of pet ownership. That means that the sense of ownership over a living object and the loss of that control is as emotionally tramatizing as losing a loved family member. While this type of thinking seems pretty normal these days it seems to be pretty far removed from any sense of a moral compass. It is a perversion of humanity away from what i can see as Jesus' teaching. Lifestyle products like pets should never ever equal the value to you of living people.

I never said it was "just" my pets that I grieve for. I grieve for my family and friends as well, I grieve for all of humanity that is suffering. Just because I mourned the passing of my faithful "furry" friend, does not mean that I am incapable of compassion towards my fellow man and it does not make me immoral as you imply. Dont even try to preach to me that my morality is off the normal compass because I have pets, because I love my pets and because I mourn my pets on their passing. Who sets the compass - you?

Would Jesus prefer you feel ownership over what essentially amounts to a consumer product over human life? Maybe, but i personally doubt it.

As I said, you brought Jesus into this whole thing, no one else. I see no way to bring Jesus into the argument of owning a pet than I do bringing in Buddah, Mohammed or Jehovah. I see the matter as totally different. My life in enhanced by pet ownership and I do not feel my morals are compromised by that fact.