Recently on an ABC Nightly News broadcast, news anchor, Peter Jennings, said that with their partner, beliefnet.com, ABC News had polled visitors to the Web site. They’d asked the question: Do animals go to heaven? To their surprise, this poll received a tremendous response. 47 percent of people, who live with pets, think they will meet the animal in heaven.
This news that so many people see animals as souls was pretty exciting. What felt sad to us, though, was the fact that 53 percent can look into the eyes of an animal in their home and not see a soul there. That’s pretty amazing, as far as we’re concerned.
So for those of you who already recognize the spiritual nature of animals, we’re asking you to consider another aspect of the soul. We’ve observed that in addition to transcending death of the physical body, as souls, animals also make choices. Because free will is a characteristic of the soul, animals also have free will.
Do you think animals have souls? In my studies on the Bible's account of creation, animals don't just have a soul, they exist as souls.
The Hebrew word for soul in Genesis is "nephesh" (neh'-fesh); and is used not only of Adam in Gen 2:7 but also of all the other creatures in Genesis 1:20, 1:21, 1:24, and 1:30.
I think this online article and tribute says a lot. I've read the referenced book, There Is Eternal Life For Animals and it's a good one. I'm totally confident now about what the Bible says about animals and Heaven.
5 comments:
Donna, I enjoyed your article about animals going to heaven, and I heartily agree. I think if God refused to let animals into heaven, He'd have a gigantic mutiny on his hands!
What a thought to giggle over. Cute! But oh how true!
Oh how I enjoy all your writings! Keep 'em coming. I must admit, I have found one thing I disagree on. I do not see anywhere in scripture where Jesus died to bring salvation to an animal. An animal has no "spirit." God only made "man" in His image. Animals were used as clothing, food, workers and sacrifices. Thanks for all your wonderful encouragements from the word of God.
Thanks for your encouraging words! You're so kind!
I know there are many beliefs on animals and it seems to be a subject that bring about passionate debates, but the only way to settle it is with the Word and the original Hebrew language which others have done (the book having tons of such references and Scripture by well known Church leaders, such as Jack VanImpe who has been called, "the walking Bible").
The book had plenty to open my eyes to Scriptures I had never seen because I was taught differently.
I guess the word redemption would have to be studied since the Bible does say Jesus redeemed all of Creation.
As to whether there is a spirit in an animal, I had just read this following passage:
"For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath (ruach, pneuma); so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit (ruach, pneuma) of man that goeth upward, and the spirit (ruach, pneuma) of the beast that goeth downward to the earth" (Eccl. 3:19-21).
Also I consider that God initially created the animals for our enjoyment, not for food. When sin entered He seems to have made a way for all to again return to His original purpose. The OT had many references to humane treatment of animals within the law and severe punishment for ill treatment of an animal, so they weren't just a commodity (not that you were saying they were :-).
I think it's worthy of an amount of study since it's a common debate topic and having the Truth is worth all in the end.
Thank you for YOUR encouragement also!
Donna, The animal debate will always be with us. So many believe animals are to be treated as possessions instead of living creatures and are disposable - and ministers are often among the offenders.
I was recently chastised by one minister for a couple of Jan's Funny Farm blog posts on the proposed euthanization of ALL pit bulls and suspected pit bulls in the state of Ohio. I respect his right to disagree, but when God put animals under man's care, I doubt he intended us to devalue them.
Thanks for this post.
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