It's your nature

This will be somewhat familiar to those who have had cats for some time. We have had many cats (we're down to one now) and there has been one thing that puzzled me. Why do they always bring dead critters and leave them just outside the door? I mean, I've headed out the door without paying attention and stepped right in a mess of guts or feathers many times. Why?

Well, being the young thing that I am, my first thought wasn't "Hey! I know, this is why they invented Google ." No, what I did was start looking through the reference books I have on a LOT of stuff to see what I could find; needless to say, I finally did what my grandkids say to do and just "Googled" it.

I found a LOT of anecdotal information and opinions about why (ever notice there are people who have opinions and information on virtually EVERYTHING?) and then spent some more time before finally finding some solid research into why cats do such things.

I was quite surprised to find that I am, according to one researcher a bona fide member of the cat family (I've been told before I'm "The Top Dog," "The Duck," "The Alpha Male" and "The Bull" (I know, I've just really dated myself) but I never thought of being "a kitten" -- just tell any of my family I'm a "kitten" and they'll laugh at you or look at you like you're nuts or walk. slowly. backwards. out of range. or all three). And the reason our cat does such things is 1. in the opinion of the researcher I was reading, this phenomenon was more common among spayed cats (ours is) and since she has no kittens to teach how to hunt, we are elected, adopted, considered or whatever to be the de-facto family of our cat and so 2. she has elected, as her family, to teach stupid humans how to hunt because it was obvious to the cat we don't have a clue as to how to do so. The evidence? We don't bring dead stuff up on the front porch, in the house (outside cat, now!), in the bed (we did have a cat bring a live mouse to bed and drop it on my stomach one night) and sundry other places cats like to hide their dead prey in. (Did you ever try to get out of a water bed while escaping cat and a mouse? I still get creepy crawlies thinking about that -- but that's another story for another time.)

The researcher said there really isn't any way to change or stop a cat from doing that because "IT'S THEIR NATURE!" I've been teaching something for 30 years that just doesn't seem to impact people. I haven't quite figured out why yet; I have some idea but it's still much a mystery to me.

You can tell me how much you love God, how sweet Jesus is to you, how forgiving you are all you want. I will see the truth in that (if there IS any) by how you treat ME (who tells you things you DON'T want to hear) and how you treat those society says are unlovable, unrecoverable, you fill in the_____.

You see, what we say as Christians doesn't matter so much as what we do as Christians. We want to be known as Christ's disciples and reject the criteria He gives: "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." (John 13:35).

We say we are "the friends of Jesus" yet will not do what He says: "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." (John 15:14).

That cat I mentioned that brought the mouse to bed thought she was human; when we brought another cat home and she found out she was a cat, well, suffice it to say it was some time before she recovered enough to grace us with her presence. However, her believing she was human did not make it so and just thinking we are Christians and disciples does not make it so any more than her thinking she was human made it so.

What does show we are Christ's? How we act. Why do I say that? What we do will show whose we are -- and before you get all bent and start accusing me of pushing works hear this: It's not works, It's your nature. To adapt an old saying: Nature will out. You can't stop it even if you want and try to. (See John 8:42-45.) Only changing your nature can.

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Editor's note: Charlie Newman is pastor of Avoca Christian Church. To contact him, e-mail [email protected], or write in care of The Times at [email protected] or P.O. Box 25, Pea Ridge, AR 72751.

Religion on 11/18/2015