Maybe a silly or childish question .... this is what I was told when I was growing up. My cat is getting old, I'm not sure how much longer she will make it and it's breaking my heart to think that she is going to just cease to be. :.o(
2007-09-11 05:52:34 · 55 answers · asked by J C 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
That is what I was told recently too!
But a couple years later I was arguing about it with my mother and she said YES they do.
Make up your minds people.
I think they do, they have personalities and people really care about their animals. If animals have no souls and live normally what makes us any differently? which would then help to prove God might not exist.
2007-09-11 05:56:43 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The designation of soul is never given to an animal as recorded in the Bible. It is given only to human beings and I can tell you right now...your soul is not a spirit and a spirit isn't a soul. The two mean very different things. You are a soul. An individual alive by the breath of life. When you die..you are dead and cease to exist. The Bible doesn't support the "immortality of the soul" or immediate dispensation of the soul to heaven or hell. It never has. Hell as mistranslated from the Bible means death/grave or literally from the Hebrew term Sheol , "to be covered over". That means everything that is dead..is utterly dead. There is no life after death until the resurrection and the a New Heaven and a New Earth will be created. So I don't know about animals...except that the Bible promises that there will be no impurity and no violence..there will only be gentleness with each species...
Isaiah 11:6
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
2007-09-11 06:10:25 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Bible does not offer specific teachings about this subject. We can however get a clue about the subject from some texts in the Bible. For instance in Genesis 2:7, 1:30; 6:17; 7:15,22 we understand that God gave breath of life to man and animals alike. But the main difference between animals and humans reside from Genesis 1:26-27 where it's specified that man was created "in God's image".
On the other hand, there is no reason to believe there will be no animal like beings in heaven as well. When created animals, God looked at them and seen those are good (Genesis 2:25). Isaiah 11:6; 65:25 also prophecies about animals in future.
It is impossible to say for sure if animals in heaven will be those who first lived on earth but no matter how it is, we know God is just and will make things just in the end of times.
2007-09-11 06:21:08 · answer #3 · answered by Even Haazer 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The soul is another word for consciousness. If it is true that an animal has no consciousness, I'm baffled. According to the Vedic scriptures, never was there a time when the soul didn't exist nor will it ever cease to be. At the time of death, the soul continues to live either in the material world or in the spiritual world depending on its level of awareness.
2007-09-18 16:49:23 · answer #4 · answered by Pragosh D 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Really? I have not read that far into the Bible...Anyway, your question is not silly/childish at all.
I have to disagree with that. Don't listen to them. Your cat has a soul and I'm sure she will go to cat heaven. If you believe that she has a soul, then her soul will remain in existence and won't cease to be. You have to maintain a connection to her soul though; otherwise, once that connection is gone, then her soul will begin to fade away.
That's how I like to think about it. I'm sorry about your cat, and I wish you all the best.
2007-09-11 06:04:31 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Bible is recorded History, in some cases the facts may well be exaggerated. But to deny it, is like saying Cleopatra, Attila the Hun, and George Washington never existed. This is recorded History.
If one reads the Bible, we find that Adam and Eve broke God's commandment, it was the Humans that needed Salvation, not the lower forms of animal kingdom. If God exists, which I do believe, take heart, I'm sure Your cat will be there to greet You in Heaven.
2007-09-19 05:37:51 · answer #6 · answered by SilverFox 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Animals have souls, yes, I agree. But where most people, like PETA, go astray is recognizing animals' place in the world.
All animals--even humans--are given certain advantages and disadvantages genetically from the get-go. These predispositions have a way of determining the "type" of life the given animal is either doomed or blessed to live. To say, for instance, that a chicken is born on a farm one day. This chicken will either be used for laying eggs or for slaughtering, or both. Either way, the chicken is doomed to be condemned to death at the end of his usefull days to humanity. I believe the chicken KNOWS this and accepts it much like a person KNOWS and accepts the fact that one day they must pass-on and meet their maker. Thusly, Human interaction with and supposed "murder" of the chicken for profit, food, fun etc.. is the animals lot-in-life and does not affect the soul of the chicken as it travels into the poultry afterlife. In fact, it will undoubtedly not recognize the brief span of existance it enjoyed or dispised as being of ANY consequence what-so-ever. Something to think about.
2007-09-19 04:28:04 · answer #7 · answered by DieselDude 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I cant think of anywhere that the Bible states that animals have no soul, however, the implication is that they do not. Firstly, man becoming a living soul, is a notion reserved to mankind, secondly God created man in his own image, and God is a spirit, thirdly, while all of creation is suffering from the fall and from the resultant death, sin does not seem to be a concept that is ever related to animals, therefore neither does salvation.
While it is not impossible that since God loves all the animals, that he should take them to be with himself when they die, there is no direct biblical evidence to support this.
2007-09-19 05:01:59 · answer #8 · answered by wilde4ever 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We dont have souls, we (flesh & bone creatures) which include humans and animals are souls. read leviticus chapter 24, verse 18. I talks about the soul of the animal and if somenone killed this animal by accident they would have to pay soul for soul. If the sould is this invisible thing that floats out of our bodies when we die. You couldn't do compensation for the dead animal with an invisible soul, therfore a soul is flesh and bone real life person. I am a soul I do not possess a soul neither do animals.
2007-09-19 03:47:25 · answer #9 · answered by yorkmaybeblue 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In this life we all cease to exist, sooner or later, but some people believe that they shall be called into a better life after death "Christians are one such group" Their bible teaches that god made everything here from what was/is in heaven. Can't say read anything about animals going into any afterlife though sorry. We start a new life there with new family and I would guess new animals to take care of?
2007-09-11 06:01:49 · answer #10 · answered by S.O.S. 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋