Did you know it is a sin to sell a dog?

 

Did you know it is a sin to sell a dog?

It is not by the way, but according to my great grandmother it is. Now we need some context, my great grandmother, Georgia Land Rash, was born in 1902 in Eureka, Texas. Her and my great grandfather were poor cotton farmers in Eureka, Texas.

Her faith was something that she held dear and strove to impart on her children and grandchildren.

My memories of her were limited. She died when I was in junior high. I remember visiting her with my grandmother and my middle brother. I remember her at family fish fries and get togethers. My recollection that has stayed with me the most is one that is a little sad, but I will share. She had Alzheimer’s and I remember my grandmother taking my middle brother and me to visit her in the nursing home. She would pat our hands ask us every few minutes if we picked cotton. We thought it a little funny, not grasping the gravity of her illness.

Now we called and still call my grandmother “Mamaw.” My great grandmother got the nickname “Little Mamaw” due to her being smaller than Mamaw.

I remember her being truly kind and sweet old lady, and I can still picture the Catawba tree in front of her little white clapboard house.

Now returning to the dog and the sin. My grandfather, Papaw, and my uncle Cecil like to tell us this story. One of Little Mamaw’s sayings was that it is a sin to buy or sell a dog.

Cecil would tease her by telling her, “You know Mamaw, I was reading my Bible the other day and I just couldn’t find that passage where it says it is a sin to buy a dog. Do you know where it’s at?”

Of course, she couldn’t find it and would retort, “I don’t know exactly, but I know it is in there.”

And of course, they would tease her about it. One day, Cecil told her, “Hey Mamaw, I found that verse you were talking about, but it wasn’t talking about a dog, it was talking about a prostitute!”

In case you are wondering, they are referring to Deuteronomy 23:18 that says:

18 You shall not bring the hire of a harlot or the wages of a dog into the house of the Lord your God for any votive offering, for both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God.

Where it says ‘dog’ in some texts, it says male prostitutes instead of dogs.

They said she puffed up. Cecil had committed two sins. First, he said ‘prostitute’ which is something that is just not said in company, and he had made her question something she had thought or known for years to be true.

I have already established that my great grandparents were cotton farmers in Eureka. My grandfather, Emmett, had an old cattle dog, a good dog. I don’t know how he got it. I don’t know if someone gave him the dog or it just walked up or what, but a rancher from town knew about that dog. He drove out to Eureka and asked Emmett if he could by that dog from him. Emmett would only retort that “it is a sin to sell a dog.”

Well, Emmett had a black man that worked for him and that dog got in the habit of following the man home, then walking back to their house. A week or so after the man asked about the dog, the man ran back one evening after work telling how the rancher picked up that dog down the road and stole him.

Emmett’s response was, “If he wants him that bad, he can have him!”

Now selling a dog is not a sin but stealing certainly is!

It is funny to think about the things we hold dear, the sayings, the stories. I hope this story brought a little brightness to your day.

 

Georgia - Age 16 from 1918