Human vs. animal souls ?

Question

Humans feel and have souls. What do animals, our pets have. They express emotions, have moods. Same level as human souls? Any insight ?

Answer 1

i feel they are , as everyone else has a different level spirit depending on there attitude of life, so too are animals.

Answer 2

some animals have souls, though generally its a different "kind" of soul, depending on what sort of animal it is.

like cats for example can contain even human "caliber" souls or higher, well, most animals COULD if there was a good reason to, but relatively thinking I think it would be less trouble some for some animals.

and IMO things like ants or bees... do not individually have souls as such, but rather have collective souls, a whole hive having a single soul spread over the individuals.

of course many here will say that theres no evidence of souls even existing, blah blah. but meh to them.

Answer 3

Christians parents will tell their kids that the family pet went to heaven when it died, but they just make this up to make the kid feel better. There is no evidence for a soul in any kind of animal (including humans). If there were, there would have to be a pretty big heaven to allow for all the deceased bacteria since the beginning of life. The idea of a soul is stupid. All of our cognitive function comes from our brain. There is no need for anything supernatural to help explain life.

Answer 4

If humans had souls, so would the animals that we are clearly related to.
But Christians deny that this is so, yet the concept of the soul is largely from their belief system. So it would seem that they can't have it both ways, and are either wrong about the animals, or wrong about the concept of "soul" all together.

Answer 5

You cannot have owned and truly loved an animal and still not believe that animals have souls just as humans do.

We are animals too, after all.

Answer 6

They have souls, but the difference is humans have free-will and the ability to sin and animals don't (some freewill for some of the more intelligent species)

Answer 7

The Soul According to the Bible:

The Hebrew word translated “soul” is ne´phesh, and it occurs 754 times in the Hebrew Scriptures. What does ne´phesh mean? According to The Dictionary of Bible and Religion, it “usually refers to the entire living being, to the whole individual.” This is borne out by the Bible’s description of the soul at Genesis 2:7: “Jehovah God proceeded to form the man out of dust from the ground and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man came to be a living soul.” Note that the first man “came to be” a soul. That is to say, Adam did not have a soul; he was a soul, just as someone who becomes a doctor is a doctor. The word “soul,” then, here describes the whole person.

The word translated “soul” (psy·khe´) appears more than a hundred times in the Christian Greek Scriptures. Like ne´phesh this word often refers to the whole person. For example, consider the following statements: “My soul is troubled.” “Fear began to fall upon every soul.” (Acts 2:43) “Let every soul be in subjection to the superior authorities.” “Speak consolingly to the depressed souls.” “A few people, that is, eight souls, were carried safely through the water.” Clearly, psy·khe´, like ne´phesh, refers to the whole person.

in the Bible the word “soul” applies not only to humans but also to animals. For example, in describing the creation of sea creatures, Genesis 1:20 says that God commanded: “Let the waters swarm forth a swarm of living souls.” And on the next creative day, God said: “Let the earth put forth living souls according to their kinds, domestic animal and moving animal and wild beast of the earth according to its kind.”

The word “soul” as used in the Bible refers to a person or an animal or to the life that a person or an animal enjoys. The Bible’s definition of the soul is simple, consistent, and unencumbered by the complicated philosophies and superstitions of men. That being the case, the urgent question that must be asked is, According to the Bible, what happens to the soul at death?

Though animals die in the same manner as man, they do not share his hope of a resurrection.

Animals were created with a limited life span, humans had the prospect of living on earth forever. ( Psalm 37:29) Jesus Christ said that to enjoy “everlasting life,” we must exercise faith and take in knowledge of God, things that animals are incapable of doing. (John 17:3)

God created animals for the sake of humans. Animals can help them do their work and can serve as their companions or pets. They also serve to magnify God’s love and wisdom.

The Creator gave life to both humans and animals. But for how long were they to continue to live? Scientists report that humans seem to have the potential of endless life, so that investigators are perplexed as to why man dies. The Bible gives the reason. It says that the Creator gave the first humans the opportunity of living forever. Death came only because they rebelled. (Gen. 2:17; 3:17-19) What, though, of animals? They are not capable of conscious rebellion against God; yet they live only for a length of time and then die. Hence, it is clear that the Creator never purposed that individual animals live forever. For them death was natural.

Answer 8

Both animals and humans have souls. If you go by what it says in Genesis, technically animals don't sin, or at least haven't fallen from grace. I also believe that all animals have an inherent knowledge of God. So, you won't find one animal in Hell.

Answer 9

Humans and Animals both have souls.

- 16 yo Pagan

Answer 10

in the sense animals and humans are alot alike the difference between animals and humans is that we have the ability to express our feelings and share our emotions in actual words that enables us as a society to understand one another and are house trained properly so that we don't do things like lick ourselves when we have an itch we can take a shower and clean ourselves instead

Answer 11

i believe the soul is our conciousness. pets are concious. but nowhere in the Bible does it talk about animals being resurected like we will be in the end time. nor does the Bible say that it won't happen. so who knows.

i think what makes a person good is that they fullfill their purpose. for example you say that's a good doctor. why? because he fullfills his purpose as a doctor. likewise if an animal fullfills it's purpose that it would be good at least by human standards.