Emotional Support Animals on this edition of Truth and Love.

I'm Heath Lambert and you're listening to Truth and Love, a podcast of the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors,

where we seek to provide biblical solutions for the problems that people face.

The staff of ACBC has informed me that we have received a regular and consistent amount of questions

about the issue of emotional support animals and whether Christians should be involved in that practice of emotional support

animals. You know what we're talking about. We're talking about people who use animals to minister to

them in their anxiety, to minister to them in their sorrow. And we want to talk about that this

week on the podcast. Now, this is a very sensitive subject.

As I sit recording this podcast before it will be released, I can see the hate mail from here.

So I want to be very, very clear about what I'm saying and what I'm not saying. First of all, we should be very

clear that animals, dogs, cats, all the rest, are part of the gift of the created order. They are

part of the creation that human beings are to enjoy. And I want to say, if you have an animal that you love, that is a good gift of God.

There's not a thing in the whole world wrong with having an animal that you love. If you come

home from a hard day of work, or if you're going through a hard time and there is an animal

that because of just the connection that you have

with that animal and the love that you feel for that animal, if it gives you some comfort in a hard time,

that is not controversial and that is not wrong at all. This is not a hit piece about animals. It's

not a hit piece on people who love their animals and it is not a hit piece on people who have been made to

feel better by their animals. In fact, it's not a hit piece at all. I love animals. I had dogs growing up

that I loved and have wonderful memories with. We have a dog named Simeon who lives in our house right now,

and he is a cherished part of the Lambert family.

He is not a person.

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