From where do you draw your thesis that animals have no souls? Thomas Aquinas discussed this issue at length. Everything in God’s creation has a soul in that it shares with the creator the one quality that human beings share with Him. Existence. Aquinas goes on to explain the difference between souls that merely exist, and those that share in God’s immortality, human beings. Animals do not have immortal souls in Aquinas’ theology. And he leaves it at that. I take it upon myself, as a loving dog owner, to believe that the love we give to and receive from our pets will follow us to our hoped for reward in heaven, because, after all, all love in the end is God’s love. All that side, your bifurcated body-soul theology doesn’t seem very familiar either. Our souls animate our bodies. We are body-soul creatures. “Both-And” not “Either-or.” The Nicene Creed held in most Christian traditions professes “the resurrection of the body.” That’s generally interpreted literally by Protestants and Catholics alike. I’m not familiar with the idea of a new body in heaven. That’s not a Christian understanding.
I respectfully disagree with the opinion animals have no souls.
How can my dog not have a soul, when he clearly loves me with all his heart, comes to me to console me with his love each time I feel upset (he does feel it somehow each time), feels always SO happy to see me?
My cat lies under the covers with me and keeps purring each and every night, you can see the love and bliss on his little face! Animals do feel love, fear, pain, boredom etc. exactly like we do. Some animals are deliberately and knowingly mean, some are kind and loving, they each have little personalities like we do. Some are intelligent, some are not so intelligent, etc. just like humans.
The Western belief that all souls must either forever burn in hell or forever live in heaven falls apart when one ponders where the animals fit.
Such questions are the reason why I believe the part of the Eastern teachings proclaiming souls move on from one body into another as life forms evolve, with God realization being the pinnacle of evolution.
There are 4000 recognized religions in the world, in a universe containing 1 God!
My logic has thus required me to search hard for the Truth instead of believing my parents mindlessly and unquestioningly. I've refused to let my faith be confined to a box, I've refused to limit it to any particular set of ancient scrolls discovered by God knows who and pieced together by God knows who hundreds of years ago.
I’ve studied all of the main religions looking for the original Truth common to all buried in them. I’ve searched and searched for more than 30 years, it’s taken me this long to fit most of the pieces together.
Feel free to judge me if you would, all I care is what I think of me and what God thinks of me.
I've always imagined heaven being filled with our pets.
It may not be, but the same loving God who saved animals in the Ark also knows each sparrow who falls, and surely He cares for them all. Jesus said it was fine even on the Sabbath to rescue your sheep from a pit.
I like to think God gives us pets to demonstrate His love for us through our love and care for them. And so we learn love Him in some manner as pets love us.
My hope is our Father restores us with those we've loved and lost here in yet another way we never stop being awed at His amazing grace.
Such a timely subject, as we just lost our beloved chocolate lab, Cocoa, and my youngest daughter was absolutely disconsolate. She and Cocoa grew up together and were best buds! The only thing that gave her comfort was feeling in her heart that Cocoa will be in heaven to greet her. I don’t personally believe that, but I did not want to discourage her. She cited the verses in Isaiah that talks about animals and humans living harmoniously. I didn’t know how to answer that, because I didn’t realize that that was part of Jesus’ reign here on earth (Millennial Kingdom) and not heaven. At any rate, I will continue to let her be comforted by what she believes regarding Cocoa and heaven. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this topic. 🙏🏾
Love for our pets is great to have. They give such love and affection back to us also, and they not judgemental at all!.
God made them to help us and to enjoy, but deep and meaningful relationships with other people is what God expects us to develop- and the lack of love for other people is going to be a sign of the end times:
And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. (Mal 4:6)
Too many people I know care more about their pets than other people.
They are also often superficial and emotional about their pets, yet lack any real empathy for people.
God expects us to love our fellow man and to do good to them, not to ignore them because we have to entertain our cat or dog!
We need to focus on the important things in scripture, not to be concerned about those things that are so completely unimportant that they are not even mentioned in scripture.
I’ve always taken comfort in this verse knowing that the original Righteous Man is Jesus.
About a year ago my wife and I traveled from the East to Boise for some R&R. We had plans to raft the Boise River, to ride horseback in McCall, and I bought tickets to a Boise State football game.
The day we arrived both of us got covid. We spent the week sequestered in our nice AirB&B house recuperating.
So, no rafting or horseback riding, and I had to give our Boise football tickets away (ironically, to the Admissions Nurse at the walk-in facility that diagnosed and treated our illness).
We spent every day on the pleasant back patio overlooking a beautiful park, resting and recuperating. On Day-1 a beautiful cat walked into our presence and plopped down at our feet.
As cat lovers we were thrilled with our furry little visitor. She was very friendly and spent hours on our laps luxuriating in the abundance of patting and ear scratching we doled out.
We named our little friend Nightengale after the famous WW2 era sisters of the French Resistance (because our new little friend stayed with us from morning till bedtime for the duration of our stay).
Upon reflection, we believe that our Lord sent the cat to comfort us tactically — obviously knowing our great love of cats. Clearly a Gift from God for two disappointed and sick travelers.
Does this mean there will be animals in heaven/eternity? Our own special friends long deceased?
I don’t know. But it would be consistent with the Goodness and Kindness of Jesus who created them in the first place.
Hey Jim - Good subject to ponder. I've thought a lot about this question over the years as we have had some very beloved pets, especially dogs. Here are my thoughts:
1. It's true that pets don't have souls, so they cannot "be saved" as humans must be.
2. On the Flip-side of that. It's exactly because they have no soul that they do not/can not sin against God, therefore they do not need to repent and be saved.
3. Animals, as humans, and all of creation are under the curse since the fall of man. Animals played no part in the fall. They only suffer the effect of the fall.
4. As you said, the Bible states that there will be animals in the millennial kingdom. It doesn't say much about whether animals will be in the eternal "New Heavens and New Earth".
5. But, we can infer that, if the new Earth is a recreation of God's perfect kingdom, and he created the first Earth with animals (which had no souls) in a perfect environment to be companions of and enjoyed by humans, why would He not do the same in the new Earth?
6. Will our own pets be made perfect, recreated, and be forever with us in the new Earth? That's a great question to ponder. All I know is that God is good and loves us. He knows how close we are with our pets and how much joy they bring us. He delights in his children, so why not bless us in that way. He certainly could do that if He wanted and I can't see that it would violate His word.
7. Did Adam & Eve and their family have domesticated pets? I would think so, since Abel sacrificed one of his lambs (not that this lamb was his pet, but that he probably did have at least a favorite). Surely they had pet dogs.
8. We can hope and trust God for all of our needs (physical, emotional, spiritual), both here and in eternity.
9. Finally, pets, especially dogs (dubbed "man's best friend" for a reason) are an excellent picture of the unconditional love and devotion that God has for us and that we should have for Him.
As I was studying this, I came across Randy Alcorn's book, Heaven. He devotes a couple of chapters to the subject of animals in general and pets specifically.
This makes me think of the 1962 Twilight Zone episode called THE HUNT, where a mountain man refuses to go to Heaven because Satan tells him dogs are not allowed into Heaven.
Well, I don't know what Heaven would be like. I suspect that both the Buddhists and Christians are saying the same thing when the Buddhists say we'll be reincarnated for eternity and some Christians believe we will be tortured for eternity.
We can learn unconditional love from dogs and I wouldn't want to live in a "heaven" where Peanut the Squirrel wasn't there to greet me.
Very well put. The most important part is to make sure you are going to heaven. Once we are there, everything else just won't matter and we will be in a perfect place.
From where do you draw your thesis that animals have no souls? Thomas Aquinas discussed this issue at length. Everything in God’s creation has a soul in that it shares with the creator the one quality that human beings share with Him. Existence. Aquinas goes on to explain the difference between souls that merely exist, and those that share in God’s immortality, human beings. Animals do not have immortal souls in Aquinas’ theology. And he leaves it at that. I take it upon myself, as a loving dog owner, to believe that the love we give to and receive from our pets will follow us to our hoped for reward in heaven, because, after all, all love in the end is God’s love. All that side, your bifurcated body-soul theology doesn’t seem very familiar either. Our souls animate our bodies. We are body-soul creatures. “Both-And” not “Either-or.” The Nicene Creed held in most Christian traditions professes “the resurrection of the body.” That’s generally interpreted literally by Protestants and Catholics alike. I’m not familiar with the idea of a new body in heaven. That’s not a Christian understanding.
I respectfully disagree with the opinion animals have no souls.
How can my dog not have a soul, when he clearly loves me with all his heart, comes to me to console me with his love each time I feel upset (he does feel it somehow each time), feels always SO happy to see me?
My cat lies under the covers with me and keeps purring each and every night, you can see the love and bliss on his little face! Animals do feel love, fear, pain, boredom etc. exactly like we do. Some animals are deliberately and knowingly mean, some are kind and loving, they each have little personalities like we do. Some are intelligent, some are not so intelligent, etc. just like humans.
The Western belief that all souls must either forever burn in hell or forever live in heaven falls apart when one ponders where the animals fit.
Such questions are the reason why I believe the part of the Eastern teachings proclaiming souls move on from one body into another as life forms evolve, with God realization being the pinnacle of evolution.
There are 4000 recognized religions in the world, in a universe containing 1 God!
My logic has thus required me to search hard for the Truth instead of believing my parents mindlessly and unquestioningly. I've refused to let my faith be confined to a box, I've refused to limit it to any particular set of ancient scrolls discovered by God knows who and pieced together by God knows who hundreds of years ago.
I’ve studied all of the main religions looking for the original Truth common to all buried in them. I’ve searched and searched for more than 30 years, it’s taken me this long to fit most of the pieces together.
Feel free to judge me if you would, all I care is what I think of me and what God thinks of me.
I've always imagined heaven being filled with our pets.
It may not be, but the same loving God who saved animals in the Ark also knows each sparrow who falls, and surely He cares for them all. Jesus said it was fine even on the Sabbath to rescue your sheep from a pit.
I like to think God gives us pets to demonstrate His love for us through our love and care for them. And so we learn love Him in some manner as pets love us.
My hope is our Father restores us with those we've loved and lost here in yet another way we never stop being awed at His amazing grace.
Such a timely subject, as we just lost our beloved chocolate lab, Cocoa, and my youngest daughter was absolutely disconsolate. She and Cocoa grew up together and were best buds! The only thing that gave her comfort was feeling in her heart that Cocoa will be in heaven to greet her. I don’t personally believe that, but I did not want to discourage her. She cited the verses in Isaiah that talks about animals and humans living harmoniously. I didn’t know how to answer that, because I didn’t realize that that was part of Jesus’ reign here on earth (Millennial Kingdom) and not heaven. At any rate, I will continue to let her be comforted by what she believes regarding Cocoa and heaven. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this topic. 🙏🏾
A thoroughly interesting subject and an excellent dissertation of it Jim.
Love for our pets is great to have. They give such love and affection back to us also, and they not judgemental at all!.
God made them to help us and to enjoy, but deep and meaningful relationships with other people is what God expects us to develop- and the lack of love for other people is going to be a sign of the end times:
And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse. (Mal 4:6)
Too many people I know care more about their pets than other people.
They are also often superficial and emotional about their pets, yet lack any real empathy for people.
God expects us to love our fellow man and to do good to them, not to ignore them because we have to entertain our cat or dog!
We need to focus on the important things in scripture, not to be concerned about those things that are so completely unimportant that they are not even mentioned in scripture.
I certainly hope my furbabies will be with me in heaven! 🙂
Praying that they do
“A righteous man cares for his animals.”
I’ve always taken comfort in this verse knowing that the original Righteous Man is Jesus.
About a year ago my wife and I traveled from the East to Boise for some R&R. We had plans to raft the Boise River, to ride horseback in McCall, and I bought tickets to a Boise State football game.
The day we arrived both of us got covid. We spent the week sequestered in our nice AirB&B house recuperating.
So, no rafting or horseback riding, and I had to give our Boise football tickets away (ironically, to the Admissions Nurse at the walk-in facility that diagnosed and treated our illness).
We spent every day on the pleasant back patio overlooking a beautiful park, resting and recuperating. On Day-1 a beautiful cat walked into our presence and plopped down at our feet.
As cat lovers we were thrilled with our furry little visitor. She was very friendly and spent hours on our laps luxuriating in the abundance of patting and ear scratching we doled out.
We named our little friend Nightengale after the famous WW2 era sisters of the French Resistance (because our new little friend stayed with us from morning till bedtime for the duration of our stay).
Upon reflection, we believe that our Lord sent the cat to comfort us tactically — obviously knowing our great love of cats. Clearly a Gift from God for two disappointed and sick travelers.
Does this mean there will be animals in heaven/eternity? Our own special friends long deceased?
I don’t know. But it would be consistent with the Goodness and Kindness of Jesus who created them in the first place.
Can’t wait to find out! ^..^___/
That's sweet! I'm a cat lover too! 🙂
Hey Jim - Good subject to ponder. I've thought a lot about this question over the years as we have had some very beloved pets, especially dogs. Here are my thoughts:
1. It's true that pets don't have souls, so they cannot "be saved" as humans must be.
2. On the Flip-side of that. It's exactly because they have no soul that they do not/can not sin against God, therefore they do not need to repent and be saved.
3. Animals, as humans, and all of creation are under the curse since the fall of man. Animals played no part in the fall. They only suffer the effect of the fall.
4. As you said, the Bible states that there will be animals in the millennial kingdom. It doesn't say much about whether animals will be in the eternal "New Heavens and New Earth".
5. But, we can infer that, if the new Earth is a recreation of God's perfect kingdom, and he created the first Earth with animals (which had no souls) in a perfect environment to be companions of and enjoyed by humans, why would He not do the same in the new Earth?
6. Will our own pets be made perfect, recreated, and be forever with us in the new Earth? That's a great question to ponder. All I know is that God is good and loves us. He knows how close we are with our pets and how much joy they bring us. He delights in his children, so why not bless us in that way. He certainly could do that if He wanted and I can't see that it would violate His word.
7. Did Adam & Eve and their family have domesticated pets? I would think so, since Abel sacrificed one of his lambs (not that this lamb was his pet, but that he probably did have at least a favorite). Surely they had pet dogs.
8. We can hope and trust God for all of our needs (physical, emotional, spiritual), both here and in eternity.
9. Finally, pets, especially dogs (dubbed "man's best friend" for a reason) are an excellent picture of the unconditional love and devotion that God has for us and that we should have for Him.
As I was studying this, I came across Randy Alcorn's book, Heaven. He devotes a couple of chapters to the subject of animals in general and pets specifically.
Also, here is an article he wrote after one of his dogs died, which also has some interesting links and thoughts from others, including Charles Wesley. https://www.epm.org/resources/2011/Dec/9/saying-goodbye-moses/
Thanks for the post and discussion prompt.
Great reply... thanks!
This makes me think of the 1962 Twilight Zone episode called THE HUNT, where a mountain man refuses to go to Heaven because Satan tells him dogs are not allowed into Heaven.
Well, I don't know what Heaven would be like. I suspect that both the Buddhists and Christians are saying the same thing when the Buddhists say we'll be reincarnated for eternity and some Christians believe we will be tortured for eternity.
We can learn unconditional love from dogs and I wouldn't want to live in a "heaven" where Peanut the Squirrel wasn't there to greet me.
Another cogent-minded and Bibically based essay by Jim.
Very well put. The most important part is to make sure you are going to heaven. Once we are there, everything else just won't matter and we will be in a perfect place.
100% agree!
Exactly! Perfectly stated.
I've just prayed God will let me have a dog in heaven! :)
I've promised to never leave poop on His streets paved with gold!! :) :) :) :)
You are welcome!