What do Christians think about the afterlife of animals?

Question

Do Chrisitans believe that animals go to heaven? Do they believe that their is a special place in heaven for animals? Do they believe that animals have souls?

I am agnostic and am curious as to what the Christian belief about this subject is. Thanks!

"Do they believe that their is a special place in heaven for animals?"

*Spelling/Grammar error: 'their' should be 'there'.

Please elaboratee and give reasons why you do/do not believe that animals have souls or go to heaven. If possible, site Biblical references. Thanks again!

Answer 1

Ecclesiastes 3:
18 I also thought, "As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 19 Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?"
22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?


Revelation 16:13
Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

Revelation 19:11
I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war.

Revelation 19:14
The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.



So the evidence of scripture shows that there are animals in heaven, and that animals have spirits, and spirit, by definition, is the breath of God.

Answer 2

I can answer emotionally or logically.
Emotionally, I know that many people love their pets as much as they love their children. This I believe is linked to animal instinct, although I am not a psychologist. Some people might say, "If my fido isn't going to be in heaven, then I wouldn't be happy there."
Logically, God says nothing that I know of about resurrection of animals. They are not in the image of God: spirit, soul, and body. The bible does say there will be animals in heaven, because there will be oxen, lambs, wolves, and lions.

Ecclesiastes 3:21 Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth?

Isaiah 65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, says the LORD."

Answer 3

from the catholic perspective we beieve there are three basic souls, the divine which are possesed by Angels. the Animal and the plant, yes a good catholic believes a plant has a soul. The human soul is part human part animal. when we die we loose our animal soul and retain the divine and assend into heaven. This being said, catholics do not believe that animals go to heaven, or at least "our heaven."

Answer 4

The bible states that the animals and plants and such were created by simply God stating them into existance. He spoke let there be " animals" and poof they were there.

Adam and Eve on the other hand were created by the dust of the earth and God breathed life into them. Yes Eve was created from Adams rib, which was created from the dust of the earth.

The point is the difference in which the animals and humans were made. This leads me to believe that animals were not given eternal soals as were humans.

I know that there are some who believe that animals have eternal soals, but I cannot find anywhere in the bible that supports this directly as it does with humans.

We have a dog that we love dearly, he is one the the kids in our house,(better behaved) he comes in and goes out at his pleasure and he is never chained up because he never leaves the yard. It would be nice to think that he would live forever with us in heaven, but I just cannot find anything to support that desire of ours in the bible.

Answer 5

Christy, I am a Believer, a Christian, I don't practice a particular religion. I am baptisted a Baptist, but I no longer feel I am Baptist, Does that make sense. I don't care for all their self-serving--everybody's going to hell if ain't Baptist. I don't feel that way. So, I am a Believer...Your question is another reason I don't have a part in an organized religion.

I believe God lets animals come to heaven...I believe that with all my heart. I have 2 precious puppies waiting there for me, along with I hope a better minding cat. She was a terror, but I loved her. Heaven is suppose to be heaven, and I love animals, so my heaven is full of animals. Jesus and God preached love all things, that includes animals. I think it's going to be like the Garden of Eden, we are going to be able to walk up to a Bengal tiger and pet it. We are going to able to walk among a herd of buffalo. The poplar bears are not only going to be drinking Coke, but they are going to share...lol...Christy, animals will be there, and so if you have lost a pet, if you are saved, you will one day be together again. My puppy, is ten years old, and I just can't imagine that being parted from him for eternity. No, he will be there, and when he looks into my eyes and I see unconditional love, I know I am right....

lovely question to wake up to, thank you so much!

God bless us all..............

Answer 6

This is an interesting topic. What I am about to tell you will be contrary to most of your respondents. Animals do have spirits just as people do. They do llive beyond the grave, just as people do. They will be present at the day of judgment and will testify as to how we treated them. According to scripture and modern revelation, they have laws that govern their kingdom, or level of existence, and they fulfill the measure of their creation. I very much expect to have animals in heaven. They will resurrect just as we will and will share an immortal existence with us.
One of the better Bible references to animals having spirits is when Balaam is saved by his donkey becauset the donkey can see the angel and Balaam cannot. Balaam beats on the Donkey until the Donkey is given the power to talk to Balaam and tells him that it was either stop or be killed by the angel. Then Balaam finally sees the angel and is humbled. If the donkey has intelligence enough to see the angel and communicate with Balaam, then surely that spirit, like our own, will continue beyond mortality, as we do. For more details, The Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price contain modern revelation about the animal kingdoms.

Answer 7

Ask any Christian who the Lamb is and they will tell you that it is the Son of God. The "Lamb" refers to the sacrificial lamb used by the Jews in ritual sacrifices by the shedding of blood in a similitude of the shedding of the innocent blood of Christ.

There is a direct topic in the Bible that decrees that animals WILL be resurrected in Book of Revelation Ch 5 Verse 13 which reads; "And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever." This verse REVEALS that since all creatures HEARD the voice of God that they were present at the Judgement Seat of God, thus resurrected.

There is another scriptural reference from the Book of Mormon, (which many will say is not a Christian book of scripture), from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in The Doctrine & Covenants section 77 Verse 2 which reads; "Q. What are we to understand by the four beasts, spoken of in the same verse?(refering to Revelation 4th ch, 6th verse)
A. They are figurative expressions, used by the Revelator, John, in describing heaven, the paradise of God, the happiness of man, and of beasts, and of creeping things, and of the fowls of the air; that which is spiritual being in the likeness of that which is temporal; and that which is temporal in the likeness of that which is spiritual; the spirit of man in the likeness of his person, as also the spirit of the beast, and every other creature which God has created."

So, to answer your question....yes, animals do go to our heaven and do have a soul.

Answer 8

I don't think animals have an afterlife from this earth. Generally speaking christians do not believe that animals have souls because if they do then why do they kill this animals anyhow. Remember God created this animals for humans to eat and not for judgment or for them to go to heaven from here.

Answer 9

While I don't believe that animals have souls, I do think that they will be in heaven. There here and they don't have a soul, but God knows we enjoy animals, I don't think heaven will be all big mansions and people floating around all etheral. I think it will be a big family reunion..

I am hoping for horseshoes and bbq at the marriage supper, and we need a dog begging for that!

Answer 10

Ecclesiastes 3:19,20 confirms that animals die as people do and go back to the dirt. It says "For there is an eventuality as respects the sons of mankind and an eventuality as respects the beast, and they have an analogous eventuality. because the only dies, so the different dies...All are going to at least one position. they have all develop into from the dirt, and they are all returning to the dirt" with the help of clinical definition/diagnosis we are animals yet so some distance as God is in contact we are separate and diverse and in Gen a million:20- 28 he says that guy replaced into made in His image and put in charge of animals. The Bible says we are the trendy of creation, possibly it truly is because we were made in His image besides the undeniable fact that it also refers to particular people (like Abraham, David, and job) as being God's friends. It also speaks of people means to make God's coronary heart celebrate even after mankind had sinned or perhaps as witnessing all the undesirable that people can do. it truly is because of his mercy and beauty that he supplies us an chance to expose our gratitude. The Bible calls it "undeserved kindness" no longer because we earned it, yet because it truly is what He needs to provide us after we settle for Him and His Son Jesus Christ. besides the undeniable fact that, there's a minimize to this undeserved kindness. specially on the point you made about destroying the planet- Revelation 11:18 says God will "convey to interrupt those ruining the earth". this signifies that we as Christians must be moral experience of our result on earth and supplies proper efforts to being useful no longer hurtful- this can be an element of accepting Jesus ransom sacrifice and being Christlike or Christian. The bible supplies to fix the earth to a paradise or perhaps fortells a time with people and animals will stay in peace with one yet another and animals will no longer also be viscous in route of one yet another (Isaiah 11:6). So the easy answer is animals basically die and rot and the bible does no longer help that Jesus' demise supplies them a wish of resurrection. yet they're efficient to God, and animals contained in the destiny will nevertheless play a position in earthly existence as they initially did contained in the first paradise.