Do animals have souls?
Are humans animals?
2006-10-22 17:57:35 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
For those who say humans aren't animals: Please list three or four key differences.
2006-10-22 18:01:52 · update #1
I'm enjoying this. I wish I had some Cheetos.
2006-10-22 18:08:58 · update #2
Humans are biologically animals. But mere biological nature does not define a human being. What is unique about human beings is that we have both a biological nature, as animals do, AND a spiritual nature, as God and angels do. It is our spiritual nature that makes us "in God's image and likeness", and which therefore makes us far more than merely intelligent animals.
2006-10-22 18:34:35 · answer #1 · answered by PaulCyp 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Being that this question was asking for a Christian point of view, my beliefs are that NO, animals do NOT have souls; and that other part of the question, NO, humans are NOT animals. In the book of Genesis (in the Bible), we discover that Man was created to have dominion and authority over the animals, and that man was hand-created by God out of the clay. Nowhere do I find that an animal was created in this fashion. I also read that God breathed into Adam, and he became a living soul. Henceforth, the soul is the breath of life that God has put within us. I did not read that God breathed onto the animals, so I say they don't have the soul like we have. Furthermore, I also read that there is a salvation plan of eternal life for man-kind. I do not find this for animals anywhere in the Bible. Humans have souls, and animals do not. And humans are NOT animals!
2006-10-23 01:07:12 · answer #2 · answered by Ltown29m 1 · 2⤊ 1⤋
*laughs*
Just because the Bible doesn't explicitly state that animals have souls that doesn't mean that they don't. The Bible didn't explicitly state that water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen but...it is.
Okay people...follow me here...OUTSIDE THE BOX. Good, good...
I've heard entirely too many stories of dolphins rescuing drowning swimmers or wild dogs sleeping alongside lost children in the wintertime to keep them warm or housepets waking the family in the event of a fire for me to say that nothing exists there. Animals are innocent, why on earth would God deny them a soul? He wouldn't. How can something without a soul have a personality? Ask anyone who has had a housepet for any length of time and they will tell you--it definitely had a personality.
Plus, lets keep in mind that we don't have the Bible in its entirely. We have what we have found. For all we know there is a book in the Bible devoted entirely to animals that was lost long ago.
Oh, and yes, humans are animals according to good ole Webster. See for yourself...
Animal--any of a kingdom (Animalia) of living things including many-celled organisms and often many of the single-celled ones (as protozoans) that typically differ from plants in having cells without cellulose walls, in lacking chlorophyll and the capacity for photosynthesis, in requiring more complex food materials (as proteins), in being organized to a greater degree of complexity, and in having the capacity for spontaneous movement and rapid motor responses to stimulation
We fit the profile. Why is it so hard to be lumped in with the rest of the animal kingdom? Religiously people can believe what they please but scientifically WE ARE ANIMALS.
And if you really want to dig this deeper..the root word of "animal" which is "anima" means "soul". *insert Twilight Zone theme here*
2006-10-23 01:20:41 · answer #3 · answered by A.R. 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Bible never talks about animals having souls. It only says salvation is for us (humans). Salvation applies to those having a soul, therefore animals do not have souls. This also debunks humans being animals, as animals do not have souls and humans do.
And humans were given dominion over the animals; therefore they cannot be animals themselves. (Just as the previous poster said.)
God bless.
2006-10-23 01:08:48 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
I don't think animals have souls because the bible doesn't say anything about salvation for animals. And it's our souls that Jesus spoke of with regard to salvation.
Humans are not animals. They are human.
2006-10-23 00:59:13 · answer #5 · answered by Esther 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Humans are animals in the sense that they are not plants or minerals. Humans have an eternal soul while animals only have a temporal life force. Either way, when God created the Heavens and the Earth it wasn't in his will for anything to be eaten besides plants. But now that death has entered the world through sin, God was the first to kill an animal when He took the skins from an animal and made clothes for Adam and Eve.
Genesis 1:29 And God said, Behold! I have given you every herb seeding seed which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree in which is the fruit of a tree seeding seed; to you it shall be for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the heavens, and to every creeper on the earth which has in it a living soul every green plant is for food; and it was so. 31 And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Genesis 3:16 To the woman He said, I will greatly increase your sorrow and your conception. In pain you shall bear sons, and your desire shall be toward your husband, and he shall rule over you. 17 And to Adam He said, Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it! The ground is cursed for your sake. In pain shall you eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It shall also bring forth thorns and thistles to you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return. 20 And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And for Adam and his wife Jehovah God made coats of skins, and clothed them.
Genesis 9:1 And God blessed Noah and his sons. And He said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. 2 And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon the animals of the earth, and upon every bird of the air, upon all that moves on the earth, and upon all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. 3 Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herb.
2006-10-23 01:20:56 · answer #6 · answered by Martin S 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A soul is an Earthly thing---it's in the body.
To be absent in the body is to be present with the Lord--
our spirit leaves us.
I hope I get to see a couple of my old pets, when I get to Heaven.
Humans are animals--the two-footed kind.
2006-10-23 01:03:52 · answer #7 · answered by bettyboop 6 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Humans have souls because we were made in the image of God.
Please realize that is the mental emotional spiritual image.
2006-10-23 01:01:06 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Well I'm not a Christian or a carnivore, but I do believe they have souls. And yes we are animals.
2006-10-23 00:59:47 · answer #9 · answered by nyctreasurehunter 1 · 1⤊ 2⤋
If it's not vegetable or mineral, it's animal. Humans are mammals and mammals are animals. Humans are primates and primates are animals.
2006-10-23 01:11:15 · answer #10 · answered by AuroraDawn 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋