is it true that animals don't have souls?

Question

My sunday school teachers used to tell me that animals don't get into heaven because they don't have souls. I think that the statement is false as far as an animal having a soul. They have feelings of compassion, regret, sadness, happiness, joy, all the things that humans have. To me I think the way an animal is, gives the impression the reincarnation is real. My dog is so human sometimes that it blows my mind. What is your opinion?

Answer 1

True and neither do we. All creatures are souls, they do not have a soul.

The original-language terms (Heb., ne′phesh [?פנ]; Gr., psy·khe′ [ψυχή]) as used in the Scriptures show “soul” to be a person, an animal, or the life that a person or an animal enjoys.

The connotations that the English “soul” commonly carries in the minds of most persons are not in agreement with the meaning of the Hebrew and Greek words as used by the inspired Bible writers. This fact has steadily gained wider acknowledgment. Back in 1897, in the Journal of Biblical Literature (Vol. XVI, p. 30), Professor C. A. Briggs, as a result of detailed analysis of the use of ne′phesh, observed: “Soul in English usage at the present time conveys usually a very different meaning from שפנ [ne′phesh] in Hebrew, and it is easy for the incautious reader to misinterpret.”

More recently, when The Jewish Publication Society of America issued a new translation of the Torah, or first five books of the Bible, the editor-in-chief, H. M. Orlinsky of Hebrew Union College, stated that the word “soul” had been virtually eliminated from this translation because, “the Hebrew word in question here is ‘Nefesh.’” He added: “Other translators have interpreted it to mean ‘soul,’ which is completely inaccurate. The Bible does not say we have a soul. ‘Nefesh’ is the person himself, his need for food, the very blood in his veins, his being.”—The New York Times, October 12, 1962.

Answer 2

Im a Hindu and I go to Sunday School as you do. We learn that animals have souls because they are living, breathing, and conscious beings. The only reason they are different from us is because we have an intellect and can judge between right and wrong, while animals rely on instinct. If animals have life in them (like your dog), as do we, how can one say that they don't have souls. Animals work, give companionship, and care for their young just as humans do. They have a certain consciousness given by God that cannot just disappear when they die, or that must be the same fate for humans. We believe in reincarnation, which means that souls leave the physical body when we die and enter a new body when we are born. Eventually the souls of animals reach a human state whereupon their actions can be judged. In my opinion, God did not create animals for us to eat or use, because that would be almost a cannibal type thing, abusing our fellow creature for our selfish desires. He created animals to live in harmony with us, so we could provide for each other, like brothers and sisters.

Answer 3

Nowhere does Scripture explicitly state that animals do not have souls...There is nothing in Scripture I know of that would preclude the possibility of animals' continued existence...The Bible does give us some reason to hope that departed animals will be restored. We read in the Bible that redemption is a cosmic matter. The whole creation is destined to be redeemed through the work of Christ (Romans 8:21), and we see the images of what heaven will be like; beautiful passages of Scripture tell us about the lion and lamb and other animals being at peace with one another.(Isaiah 11:6-8). Whenever heaven is described, though it may be in highly imaginative language, it is a place where animals seem to be present. Whether these are animals newly created for the new heavens and the new earth, or they are the redeemed souls of our pets that have perished, we can't know for sure.

Answer 4

I know that this question is in the Religion and Spirituality category, but since I am not religious, I choose to answer it philosophically.

First of all, humans ARE animals.

Secondly, I believe that the "soul" is everything that makes you YOU. Nothing less, nothing more. Everything that you are and think and feel. Things you've experienced, people you've loved and those who've loved you.

As you yourself said, other animals than ourselves have feelings too. They have thoughts, and likes and dislikes, emotions, etc.
Of COURSE they have a soul. I'm no expert on the Bible and I don't really know what it says about this, so I can't help you there.

I know nothing about Heaven and Hell, except for one thing! Heaven would not be heaven without animals.

:-)

Of course, this is simply my own humble opinion.

Answer 5

ok, I no longer have faith on your God, yet i'm a theist, so, technically, I in superb condition the bill of a "god believing" individual. even whilst i grew to become into Christian, i could no longer settle for the perception that animals don't have souls. Technically, the Church says that they do no longer, yet no longer all Christians have faith a hundred% of what the Curch says. in my view, I say all you're able to do is seem of their eyes and word their personalities to renowned that they do have souls. My mom has 12 cats, and that they have got such splendidly diverse personalities that it may be genuinely absurd for me to no longer have faith they had souls like human beings do. in spite of the undeniable fact that, there is not any thank you to teach empirically that they do or do no longer, so that's between the failings approximately which persons are loose to selection in perception. only comply with disagree along with your dad in case you suspect that they do. Technically, the Bible never genuinely states that animals are soulless, so it would not bypass against Christianity to have faith a splash otherwise from maximum folk. Venus Bless

Answer 6

Your sunday school teacher is wrong. If that's true then why do most denominations have:


Blessing of The Animals
http://www.seasonofcreation.com/liturgies/blessing/

"Almighty Father, we bless these animals for all they have done in supplying our food, in carrying our burdens, providing us with clothing and companionship and tendering a service to the human race since the world began."

http://www.olvera-street.com/html/blessing_of_the_animals.html


Blessing The Animals
(Do All Good Pets Go To Heaven?)

Do pets go to Heaven?

All creation has been elevated through the incarnation of Jesus, and animals are part of creation.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/g/a/2003/10/13/urbananimal.DTL

Blessing of the Animals (ISBN 1402729677)
http://www.blessingoftheanimals.com/table_of_contents.html

Answer 7

Ok, let me state that I am an atheist, but I majored in Philosophy and one of my classes examined the idea of souls. Aristotle taught that all living creatures have souls. What the soul is is the life force of the creature. Under this definition even plants have souls. So, yes, animals have souls under the classic defintion.

Answer 8

Well I'm an atheist and I don't really believe in "souls". But yeah, my dog is like yours; very human sometimes. It just makes me mad that some churches teach that. How are animals any less intelligent (okay they are LESS intelligent but they're smart in different ways than us) or less feeling orientented than us? I sound like a PETA person but haha I hate PETA. Ugh, really, but if I believed in god, I'd like to think my pets had souls so I could see them when I die, etc, etc.

Answer 9

My opinion is that your Sunday school teacher is filling you with
false statements. If animals don't have souls, they don't have spirits, or lives. Then if they don't have lives there not living. If
animals are not living we wouldn't have all things we get from them. To have someone say that is that Your saying You don't
have a soul, spirit, or your living. My motto is that,

YOUR NOT MY SOUL, SPIRIT,OR MY BODY SO YOU CAN NOT
CONTROL ME!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 10

well first of all, are you Christian? If you are then you shouldn't beleive in reincarnation. Animals do not have souls. Sorry to break it to ya. I was told the same thing when I was little in sunday school. They do have feelings, but not souls.