Why people things that animals are no souls?

Question

Gen. 1:20, 21, 24, 25: “God went on to say: ‘Let the waters swarm forth a swarm of living souls* . . . ’ And God proceeded to create the great sea monsters and every living soul that moves about, which the waters swarmed forth according to their kinds, and every winged flying creature according to its kind. . . . And God went on to say: ‘Let the earth put forth living souls according to their kinds . . . ’ And God proceeded to make the wild beast of the earth according to its kind and the domestic animal according to its kind and every moving animal of the ground according to its kind.” (*In Hebrew the word here is ne'phesh. Ro reads “soul.” Some translations use the rendering “creature[s].”)
Lev. 24:17, 18: “In case a man strikes any soul [Hebrew, ne'phesh] of mankind fatally, he should be put to death without fail. And the fatal striker of the soul [Hebrew, ne'phesh] of a domestic animal should make compensation for it, soul for soul.” (Notice that the same Hebrew word for soul is applied to both mankind and animals.)
Rev. 16:3: “It became blood as of a dead man, and every living soul* died, yes, the things in the sea.” (Thus the Christian Greek Scriptures also show animals to be souls.) (*In Greek the word here is psy•khe'. KJ, AS, and Dy render it “soul.” Some translators use the term “creature” or “thing.”)

Answer 1

I don't care what the bible said, but still I believe every living thing has a soul.

Answer 2

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 3

Probably because, for humans, the whole point to having a soul is morality and the consequences of doing wrong as weighed by our religious beliefs.

Humans base their entire lives around religion anchored by the fear of what will happen afterward, what will happen to our souls.

But animals don't have religion and therefore have no need for nor value for a soul. They can't risk it, they can't be saved, they don't risk going to hell...

It also comes across as supremely unfair if animals were entitled to live freely and indulge in whatever animalistic behavior that takes their fancy, including sex on demand and guiltless homosexuality while humans suffer proscription against the same and have the threat of eternal peril hanging over our heads.

So, the easiest and most emotionally comfortable way to rationalize it is that we suffer the restrictions on our inherent bestial urges in exchange for having a soul and the opportunity to have pleasure without guilt in the next world...

Answer 4

The bible also says the Holy Spirit descended into Jesus "like the spirit of a dove", which I take to mean doves have spirits, hence souls. Anyone who's ever looked into the eyes of a pet and sees the love that creature has, knows it has a soul. I'm kinda iffy on snakes and reptiles, but I'm not iffy about mammals and birds.

Answer 5

They have souls, just dumb ones

Answer 6

not all people think that.

and i guess some people think that because it absolves them when they eat animals. O.o.....