Why do Christians think animals don't have souls?

Question

How can you look an animal in the eye ans say this..

Answer 1

They have souls and the Creation account says as much (I'm Christian).

However, they do not have eternal souls as per my understanding - for only human beings are made in the image of God.

You may have a misunderstanding about what a soul is.

My cat died about three months ago. For the longest time, I felt as if he was my only friend. There were times that I would look into his eyes and observe his actions realizing that there was a great amount of intelligence there. But that does not mean that he is made in God's image. He did not know right from wrong, and did not have the capability to think or rationalize past his instincts. He lived under no law, but the law of nature.

I too love animals - and I don't mean to sound harsh or disparaging toward our animal buddies. Even God loves animals - he knows when a sparrow dies.

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

It is a pretty common thought in Christian tradition. It is part of the gnostic ideas, which were common in the early centuries of Christianity. In a very crude description, the underlying ideas in Gnosticism were (a) to divide the world in 'spiritual = good' and 'physical = bad', and (b) that salvation would consist of leaving the evil physical world by gathering special knowledge about spiritual things. In this context, the general idea is, that the soul is part of the spiritual realm, which humans share with angles, demons and God and the body part of the physical world, which humans share with the animals and plants. Animals and plants being clearly visible, makes them too much part of the evil physical world to even consider that they might have souls.

Fairy tales are full of human-like creatures, like watermen and fairies, who do not have a soul, but greatly desire to have one, because having no soul, means no no part in the spiritual realm, ergo no access to heaven and eternal life.

However, the Bible takes at best an agnostic stand to the question, whether or not animals go to heaven: Ecclesiastes 3:21 stated pretty bluntly:

"Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?"

So apparently, according to the Bible, animals have as much a spirit as humans (which probably means the same as 'soul'). Even though nobody knows, whether they go to heaven or not.

Answer 4

I am a christian and I do believe animals have souls.
But animals are not people and do not have the minds of people. Most animals were put here for the meat so we could have protein. Thats why we eat cows and pigs and chickens
Some are used for work and others as pets.
I dont know if there is an animal heaven but I do know by reading the book of revelations, there will be animals in heaven, such as horses.
We were put in charge of animals to be fed and breeding purposes.
I realize that pets such and dogs and cats become a real part of a family and they will be missed when we lose them.
But humans are so much greater than pets and should be treated so. Most people would choose to feed their dog a steak rather then give to the poor. I love animals but God did not tell us to worship them.
Sorry if this offends anyone.

Answer 5

Because they think animals are dumb, put her for the use of man, which is absolute nonsense, when are they gonna get out of this " Holier than thou, and every living thing " attitude.....
Except for St Francis of Assisi, the Patron Saint of Animals, 1182 to 1226, an extraordinary Christian, who could communicate with Animals, so there must be an intelligence in Animals, and he also blessed them, one an all, he was a voice for the Animals, and believed all of God's creation to be Sacred !, and followed Jesus's teachings to the letter !
Which, sadly, has been forgotten......
Any body who has cried at the lose of one our furry friends, will tell u that Animals do have a Soul, and I AM here to say, Animals do have Soul, and they are more spiritual than us humans, who kill for pleasure, and have greed and hate.....
Blessings.

Answer 6

I remember when I was in Sunday School getting ready to be baptized as a Roman Catholic (this was when I was 12), one of the Priest - who I liked and respected - came in the class one day and just chatted for a while.

Somewhere in the conversations, he mentioned that animals didn't have souls. I refused to believe this and even my parents - who were Roman Catholics thought that was ridiculous as well.

I guess, to answer this, I would say that through the thousands of years of faith, man made religion is still flawed and not all the answers - no matter how complex or simple they may be - have not been resolved because mankind is simply not capable of understanding every aspect of life on Earth and beyond.

This is where blind faith comes in. In my experience, when you corner someone in the wall with controversal and though provoking questions, the obvious and expected answer from the religious types would simply be "blind faith".

As a man of both spirituality and science (and no, I'm not a Scientologist LOL) I don't accept this answer as all it does it veer away from discovering the real truth and accept what we believe is the appropriate answer in order to make our lives simple and easier to comprehend. Personally, I don't accept this at all and truly believe that animals are like us. I know, because I have a Beagle and he goes through the same emotions as I do with joy, anger, and yes, even sadness. I seriously doubt that animals are different from us human in terms of who are internally.

But, again, I attribute this to the religious types and their so called "blind faith".

Answer 7

You cannot tell is something has "a soul" by looking in it's eye.
The bible says the soul of animals goes to the dust.
Ec 3:21

Who knows the spirit of the sons of men, which goes upward, and the spirit of the animal, which goes down to the earth?

Answer 8

I'm a Christian and I believe animals have souls. Jesus himself says that he cares for every little sparrow that falls out of a tree. So I think you're wrong.

Answer 9

The Bible says that the only one that was made a living "soul" was man.
Genesis 2:7
And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
That was never said about animals.

Answer 10

It seems to me that most religions think animals don't have souls. Don't focus this question on just Christians.

I think Hindu is the only major religion which credits animals with souls. And I'm not certain on even that.

One thing....if I thought they had a soul....I couldn't live with myself for eating them (cows, chickens) or killing them (rodents, bugs, etc)