Posted on 01/17/2015 6:15:55 PM PST by Slings and Arrows
In December, Pope Francis got the attention of pet owners everywhere when he was quoted as saying, “Paradise is open to all of God’s creatures.” Alas, media outlets, including The New York Times, confused the remarks and the circumstances under which they were made. The pope had actually made a broader comment about heaven during an event in November. The quotation itself was reportedly taken from remarks made years ago by Pope Paul VI.
Still, the attention led to renewed interest in a longstanding theological discussion about pets and the afterlife. Questions about the religious status of animals have always been with us; popular theology refuses to deny animals their souls. Our sense of spiritual kinship is already latent in the bootees and little sweaters we buy our pets, and the sidewalk baby talk with which we embarrass ourselves, and perhaps them. Consider how we treat our pets in death.
-snip-
She cited the research of an anthropologist, Stanley Brandes of the University of California, Berkeley, who in a 2009 article, “The Meaning of American Pet Cemetery Gravestones,” noted the “definite and growing tendency for owners to link these creatures to specific religious communities.”
That’s right: Maybe your dog isn’t just soulful, but is also, in fact, a member of a faith community. Maybe your dog is a Christian, perhaps of one denomination or another. Presbyterian pooch. Methodist mutt. Or maybe your dog is Mormon. Or Mennonite? Perhaps even Jewish.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Thanks to Gefn for the link!
Kind of a silly “argument from silence.”
okay, if animals go to heaven that means that spiders are welcomed by angels at the pearly gates. ridiculous. There are no spiders with halos.
When I make to Heaven do I still have to pick up my dog’s poop.
you don’t like spiders and snakes
There is ample Biblical support for the contention that creatures other than man have hope beyond pain, suffering and death, from King Solomon in Ecclesiastes chastising arrogant men who presume their spirits go up while believing that the spirit of beasts go down into the ground, to Paul in Romans and I Corinthians. Many more than that as well, Old Testament and New. To paraphrase Paul in I Corinthians, creatures have different kinds of bodies and God places spirit into them as he pleases. All bodies have a glory, one differing from another. There’s a natural body and a spiritual body, for every creature.
I later wondered, as opposed to looking at you like what? I knew he was old line Catholic with his views on the Jewish faith and the killing of Christ thing.
Of course there are dogs in heaven. How could it be heaven without dogs?
No, they have Jihadis to do that.
I’m not, but my cat who lived 19 years was Jewish.
His name?
Herb Katz.
Did he do your taxes?
LOL.
No, Herb Katz didn’t have to work for a living.
I have no problem with them... i just dont think they go to heaven
- Mark Twain
Just to cover all bases, my current cat, Andy, is actually named Ananda, which means “eternal bliss” in Sanskrit.
I suppose you could just name your cat Heaven.
Another furloader. ;^)
Maybe their heaven is our hell. ;^)
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