/christian/ - Christian Discussion and Fellowship

>>257429

I personally don't believe there will be any individual identity in Heaven. All souls will be with God and will not resemble their mortal form. So your pets' souls will probably be there but you won't recognize them because all you'll see is the divine.

I cannot preclude God that created the heavens and the earth from doing just that. There may be no specific biblical basis that talks of pets being in heaven. But God's promise is Paradise lost being Paradise restored. In that and in Him is the hope.

No, animals are soulless automatons. They have no immortality.

>>257429

Nah.

>>257547

They ain't soulless, but spiritless. A soul needs the fruits of the spirit to guide it to do good deeds and judgement and stuff. Animals solely follow their instincts, which are materialistic. It takes some generations to tame wild racoons and wolves into human friendly domesticated dogs, so you can safely bet that a dog's unconditional love for their masters is instinctual, not the fruits of the spirit.

>>257442

That's depressing

>>257562

>>257547

Soulless creature don't understand the concept of love

>>257805

>animals are soulless

prove it

>>257429

This is one of the best answers I've seen. – Scripture does not exclusively tell us whether our pets will make it to heaven. However, the Bible does provide us with some significant clues that animals will inhabit the new heaven and the new earth.

First, the Garden of Eden was populated by animals, thus there is a precedent for believing that Eden restored will also be populated by animals.

Furthermore, the Scriptures — from first to last — suggest that animals have souls. Both Moses in Genesis and John in Revelation communicate that the Creator endowed animals with souls (see Gen. 1:20,24; Rev. 8:9). Throughout the history of the church, the classic understanding of living things has included the doctrine that animals, as well as humans, have souls.

Finally, while we cannot say for certain that the pets we enjoy today will be resurrected in eternity, I am not willing to preclude the possibility. Some of the keenest thinkers — from C.S. Lewis to Peter Kreeft — are not only convinced that animals in general, but that pets in particular, will be restored in the resurrection.

Dr. Kreeft, for example, is convinced that animals will exist throughout eternity. "Are there animals in Heaven? The simplest answer is: Why not? How irrational is the prejudice that would allow plants (green fields and flowers), but not animals into Heaven." Regarding pets, he writes: "Would the same animals be in Heaven as on earth? 'Is my dead cat in Heaven?' Again, why not? God can raise up the very grass; why not cats? Though the blessed have better things to do than play with pets, the better does not exclude the lesser."

One thing is certain: Scripture provides us with a sufficient precedent for suggesting that animals will continue to exist after the return of our Lord. Isaiah 11:6-9 provides a particularly stirring image. – http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/bible-answer-man/read/articles/pets-in-heaven-8325.html

>>257821

Hopefully I'll have a cat and a dog of some kind in Heaven. Even if it isn't one of the ones I've had on Earth.

>>257442

That sounds like a terrible vision of our futures.

>>257562

Well, animals certainly don't pray and become monks.

>>257805

>>257806

No, animals aren't soulless, plants probably too, but they are spiritless. Spirit is the nature of the soul that makes a soul rational and immortal. Without the spiritual attribute, man can't communicate with God or live forever.

>>257821

Most of those verses support the ideas of animals having souls, but not spirit. So yeah, they're mortal beings with no fruits. God might make new souls in heaven, but not resurrect dead souls in earth.

>>257442

>>>/islam/

>>257805

Animals don't love. Fido only 'loves' you because you feed him. If you died he would feed on you instead.

>>257821

>Both Moses in Genesis and John in Revelation communicate that the Creator endowed animals with souls (see Gen. 1:20,24; Rev. 8:9)

'Soul' in the Bible refers to any living, breathing creature. Not some immortal ghost that can be disembodied. Hence the Bible saying the soul that sins shall die. So animals and humans don't have souls, they are souls. Spirit is a different word and means the breath of life. Any creature with a spirit (the breath of life) is a soul (living creature). Hence it was only when God breathed into Adam that he became a living soul. When we die our breath/spirit leaves our body and we are no longer a soul. We are not conscious or aware any more. God keeps a record of who we were when we drew breath. In this sense our spirit goes to God when we die. He will put our spirits/identities into new bodies in the resurrection and we will become living souls again.

>>257870

Tell that too all those hero dogs died protecting their owners and saved babies.

>>>/Islam/

>>257871

You were on track up until you said "When we die our breath/spirit leaves our body and we are no longer a soul."

A spirit can not be destroyed and is alive. It can be sent to heaven or hell but you are conscious and more aware than while you were limited by your physical body. Many people who have died and come back are witnesses to this. One them I know well. Living creatures besides humans did not eat from the tree so none of them are going to hell. Only one place left for them to go…

>>258054

Near Death Experiences are visions. This is what Paul said they are (2 Corinthians 12:1-4). Some may be inspired by God. Others may have an evil origin. Many may simply be a result of the brain being under stress and deprived of oxygen. You need a strong Biblical foundation to rightly divide these experiences. There are Hindus, Jews, Muslims and New Agers who have had NDEs which affirm that their religious practices are good and that everyone will be saved, etc. We need to base our theology primarily on scripture and not signs and wonders like NDEs.

Interesting article I found:

http://www.herealittletherealittle.net/index.cfm?page_name=the-Dead

I'm not vouching for anything else on that site, I'm not familiar with it, but most of that one particular article agrees with my research from scripture.

I REALLY hate this modern obsession with animals. The vegans, the idiots who laugh when people die but cry over a dog. Chihuahuas were not made in the image of God

>>257871

not only living creatures as in physical – http://biblehub.com/lexicon/matthew/10-28.htm

Mathew 10:28 lexicon

If so souless gardens are in Heaven, why not animals?

>>259228

If animals don't go to heaven. How do you explain all dogs go to heaven?

>>259200

But animals were made by God. They are just as much His creation as we are. No, they're not made in His image, but neither were trees and plants.

>>257442

There will be a physical, bodily resurrection. Opinion discarded.

There will most likely be animals in the new heaven and the new earth, so seeing pets again is a possibility.