Cat and Dog Theology for the Wealthy

Have you ever watched the behavior of cats and dogs; very interesting and revealing! Are you a cat or a dog? Be careful before you answer. To build a business, a large retirement account or simply to have become financially independent is a huge undertaking and typically takes a lifetime. What did it take for you to accomplish it? What was your attitude along the way? How did you treat others? How do you feel now as a result of your accomplishments?

Is the answer to these questions dog theology or cat theology? (Thanks to Bob Sjogren and Gerald Robison for their book Cat and Dog Theology for these ideas.) I will tread softly when I reveal the answers because you may not like the results. It is easier when you put them in cat and dog terms. Dogs say, “Lord, you love me, you bless me abundantly, you must be God.” Whereas Cats say, Lord, you love me, you bless me abundantly, you gave your life for me, I must be god.”

I used a small “g” for god when I referred to cats because cats, or people with this theology, never really say,“I must be God.” They know better than that. That is never preached or taught. What they do say or think is: “It’s all about me” or “It’s all about us!” “God did all this for us! Life is about us! I must be what God not only died for but lives for too!”

Both Cats and Dogs want obedience in their lives but in different ways. Dogs learn to obey their masters. Cats want their masters to obey them. This might be a joke, but it is also true. That’s why it’s funny.  Dogs have masters, but cats have a staff. Theologically, Dogs want to obey God, but Cats want God to obey them.

DeBern Fromke, in his book Unto Full Stature, says it this way: “Today we are reaping a harvest of man-centered conversions because we are more concerned for man than for God…We are more interested in God serving man than man serving God.” You can see that in a Cat’s prayer life. The focus is on their lives, their needs, and their wants. Their prayers contain lots of “me” and “my” in them.

Cats are in it for themselves. Unfortunately, they would never say it, but if someone or something could give them a better life than following Christ, they would seriously consider it. Why? Because it is primarily not about God, it is about them.

It is hard to admit you are a Cat. You’ve most likely worked all your life, accomplished and achieved so much and have seen great success. It is very hard to give all the glory to God. The temptation is to say, “what a good job I did” and to believe that it was your effort, talent, and hard work.

If life was really about us and not glorifying God, then why are there sounds our ears can’t hear? Dogs’ ears can hear them, but we can’t. If this life and creation were all about us, why would God have done that? Why did God create the eagle to have better eyesight than us? Why can a baby horse walk at birth and we can barely crawl at nine months? Why do our bodies wear out? Why did God create us to need sleep? Did you know that a giraffe sleeps for only five minutes at a time, totaling less than two hours a day? Why are there galaxies that we can’t see?

God created it just the way He likes it because it’s not about us! It’s about Him, and He does it all because it pleases Him!


“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things and for your pleasure they were created and have their being”



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joe-sturnioloBy Joe Sturniolo
Christian Family Legacy and Wealth Planning

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