On Sunday evening, I
discovered my pastor has named his German Shepherd "Luther" after the
German reformer. Well known by many in our church, Martin Luther is one of my
Christian role models or heroes of the faith. So, naturally, I have teased my
pastor about naming his DOG after the good doctor! How dare he?!
Hopefully, he, and
others, understand I am simply teasing on this matter. I could care less what
he calls his pet. "Luther" is certainly to be preferred over
"Arminius", "Pope anything", or "Hitler"! But, in
reality, Doctor Luther would, likely, be honored to know a dog has been named
for him.
Luther had a dog named
Tolpol (with an umlaut over that first "o"). In English, the word
means "fool". A German dictionary defines the word with the German word
"dummkopf"! While that may not seem like a very nice name for a dog,
the good doctor loved dogs. He wrote:
"The dog is the most faithful of animals and would be much
esteemed were it not so common."
In his "Table
Talk", Luther notes a time when, while he was eating some meat, his dog
sat by the table, eyes fixed on his master, mouth open, waiting for a bite from
the good doctor. Luther saw a Biblical lesson in his pet's actions.
"Oh, if I could only pray the way this dog watches the meat!
All his thoughts are concentrated on this piece of meat. Otherwise he has no
thought, wish, or hope."
Naturally, not all dogs
are created equal! Martin Luther often saw his enemies as wild or mad dogs.
Concerning the Turks, Luther said, "The whole Turkish empire is nothing
else but a crust cast by Heaven's great Housekeeper to His dogs."
Luther also viewed the
Jews with a spirit that was anything but Christian. "We must drive them
out like mad dogs...".
When the peasants in the
land revolted in the 1520s, Luther called for punishment, including
death. He said killing them was "like killing a mad dog".
Finally, he used the dog
in his explanation for dealing with the heretics he saw all around him.
"Over against the devil
and his missionaries, the authors of false doctrines and sects, we ought to be
like the Apostle, impatient, and rigorously condemnatory, as parents are with
the dog that bites their little one, but the weeping child itself they
soothe."
Since I
do not consider my pastor (or his dog!) to be a Turk, a Jew, a peasant, or a
heretic, I have no problem with him naming his dog after my idol!
"Good dog,
Luther."
May God be glorified in
all of this.
