animals don't have souls?

Question

one of my relatives, who is a fundamentalist, told her younger brother that animals wouldn't get into heaven because they didn't have souls. how does she know this? humans are animals too. can anyone give me a)biblical references, or b) a logical arguement, or a combo of why animals supposedly don't have souls.

Answer 1

The book of Isaiah tells us that animals will be in Heaven. These verses are referring to Heaven, God's "holy mountain"; "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them." (Isa 11:6) "The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust [shall be] the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD." (Isa 65:25)

Neither animals or humans have souls, but they are souls. "And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Gen 2:7) The verse clearly states that man BECAME a living soul; he was NOT GIVEN a soul. And when we die, we become dead souls.

The only things that God gave to man at creation were a body of dirt and the breath of life. Nowhere in the Bible doe it say that God gave man a soul or that man HAS a soul.

If more people would look at the words more clearly, it would not be so easy for christians to be deceived.

Answer 2

Animals do not have souls and do not go to heaven. And here is the arugument why. Animals were not made in the image of God. Only man was. Only man was given life directly from God through non verbal responces. (enter the soul. see Genisis chapter 2 verse 7). And only man has free will to choose. And according to John chapter 14 verse 6 its a choice to know Salvation. Thus, since animals have no free will they would have now choice. And there for not make it into heaven. As for being an animal. You are mixing religious views with evolutionary views which will lead you to have many more questions im sure.

And as for the answer that says that humans dont have souls... you might want to read Revelation 6:9 where it talks about the "SOULS" of those who had been slain...

Answer 3

Neither animals, nor humans have souls!! Read Genesis 2:4 and you will find that God formed man from the dust of the ground, body, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man BECAME a living soul. It does not say he made a soul for him but that the man became a living soul. A soul consists of the body and the breath. Show me one place that it states that man was ever given any entity that lives on after death that is supposed to be immortal and I will give that person $100,000 cash money. Nowhere in the bible does it say anything like that. So if animals, just because they do not have a soul, do not go to Heaven, what does that say about man, since he does not have a soul either? Man does not have a soul, he is a soul as long as he has the body and the breath of life in him. Animals, our pets anyway, will not be in Heaven as they are not supposed to be saved as we are and are not taken back to Heaven as we are. It does not mean there won't be animals in Heaven as it states that the lion will eat straw like the bullock or the cow and will not hurt or destroy but will eat with the lamb. Isaiah 65:25

So there will be animals in Heaven but they will not hurt or destroy anything for their food as they do now. WE will be able to have a lion for a pet and it will never hurt us. Check out the site below for more info on that and many other things.

Answer 4

According to a recent Catholic broadcast I heard, there are 3 types of souls.

Humans have a conscious soul, in other words we know the difference between right and wrong and can choose how we act. WE have free will to be good or evil which is why we must work and make good decisions to get to heaven.

Animals on the other hand have an unconscious soul, meaning that they do NOT comprehend right from wrong. Those domesticated ones can be trained to stick to our rules and can even show us genuine love and intelligence but they do not consciously consider right from wrong. And there is no right or wrong in the existence of wild animals so it is the same story.
Whether they get a free pass into heaven or not I don't know, but God created them so he must love them too.

And apparently plants have what they call a vegetative soul. Meaning that they are only given enough life to respond to their surrounding stimuli without any conscious thought at all. And I can't imagine a heaven without some sort of greenery, but who knows? Just my opinion.

I hope this helps.

Answer 5

I would not want to go to Heaven if my two Boxer Dogs were not there. Knowing the way one of them behaved he may not even be there ;-) But I would go where he is....

All living things should have souls. Why would a benevolent God only give "souls" to a select few. This is yet one more example of humans ego running out of control.

Anyone who doubts this needs to spend a mere few moments looking in an animals eyes. If they can then say there is no soul they can only be speaking about themselves

Answer 6

Human beings only have souls...animals do not. Man was created above all the animals. Who knows what God has planned? Perhaps there will be animals in Heaven, but they do not have souls. With God....all things are possible.

Answer 7

Yes Animals have souls. other wise they would be as alive as rocks, Mind you they don't have a "human" soul, but a soul that reflects who and what they are.

One little question for your Fundamentalist family member, in Revelations Jesus is to come back riding a white horse. So I guess there is at least one animal in heaven. (presumably one needs a soul to get to heaven - lol)

Answer 8

Yes they do. what animals don't have is a spirit.

Bible Says we are made in the image of God. THIS DOESN'T MEAN HOW WE LOOK!!!!! God has a triune nature: Father, Son, Holy Spirit. and this follows as night follows day. we are triune creatures to. we aren't animals because animals only have 2 parts(i would say "bi-une" but i don't think that's a word.)

so what 3 parts make up 'you'? your Body, your spirit, and your soul. you body is just that, your physical flesh and bone. your soul is pretty much your sense of self awareness, your emotions, your thoughts... only you can be aware of your soul...unless you can read someones mind and tell if they know that they exist... and then finally you got your spirit, the part of you that will exist forever. there was a time when you didn't exist, but there will never be a time you don't exist. your spirit is your sense of God consciousness...only humans can be aware of God...animals don't sit and wonder if God exists or not...cause they don't have a spirit.

animals do have a soul though...animals are self aware right? animals have feelings..you pet a dog it wags its tail....you hit it and it cowers.

take it one step further...plants..all they have is a body...plants don't know they exist...trees don't think....they don't feel, as in happy, sad, mad, they feel in that like if a fly lands on a fly trap, it closes and eats it sure.

and finally...the bible says that this Earth is going to pass away....and become new....Earth = heaven (part of it anyways). and it says in heaven the lion will lay down with the lamb and the lamb wont be inside the lion....

Answer 9

Honestly, there is no right or wrong answer to this question. This question can be answered and should be left up to your beliefs in faith alone. If you believe in Heaven and God and the typical Christain faith, then there is no need to even begin to think about whether or not animals will go into heaven.

Hindus and buddhists often believe that animals are the children of one singled out "Animal" god. And that when they die, they become one with themselves and the animal god.

It's just a matter of what you believe and what you're comfortable with knowing.

Answer 10

This is what I think - if you need a soul to get into heaven, then animals sure do have souls, because heaven wouldn't be heaven without animals ....