Do dogs go to heaven? (What does your religion say?)

June 2nd | Myself

[LauraleeBraswell]

What does your religion say about our beloved pets in the afterlife? Dogs? Cats? Does your pet have a soul? Do you believe they go to heaven, or simply out of existance?

And what do you tell your six year old when Fluffy the formerly lost hamster turns up dead in the hallway closet? "Fluffy doesn't exist anymore?" Is a dog different from a hamster?

What's your religion and what does it say?

[freedumb2003]

Dogs: "You feed me, you take care of me, you pay attention to me, you love me! You must be God!"

Cats: "You feed me, you take care of me, you pay attention to me, you love me! I must be God!"

Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.

[annalex]

On the other hand, it is clear that the Original Sin only applies to Man (Gen 3). Consequently, only the Man was expelled from the Garden. We conclude that the animals still remain in the Garden and don't really die. To the extent that they have souls, their souls transmigrate.

When we return to the Garden, they'll be waiting and wagging their tails.

Amen.

[freedumb2003]

Pets deserve respect, but as dogs. They are not human beings

True. Generally speaking, they are much, much better.

[theFIRMbss]

>I think animals are the physical manifestation of angels

You'd have to explain
those baboons with the big butts
all crazy colors . . .

[Dog Gone]

ROFL

[Peace4EarthNow]

I personally believe all of God's creatures, animal or human, return to Him. Here are some bible references about animals & their souls - first, I'm going to excerpt one that means the most to me:

<< ECCLESIASTES 3:19-21

Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath, man has no advantage over the animal. >>

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GENESIS 1: 20-25

And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

GENESIS 9: 14-17

When I gather the clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds, I shall recall the covenant between myself and you and every living creature, in a word all living things, and never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all living things. When the bow is in the clouds I shall see it and call to mind the eternal covenant between God and every living creature on earth, that is, all living things. `That' God told Noah, `is the sign of the covenant I have established between myself and all living things on earth.'

ISAIAH 11:6-9

And 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. And the cow and the bear shall feed, their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

JOB 12:7-10

You have only to ask the cattle, for them to instruct you, and the birds of the sky, for them to inform you. The creeping things of earth will give you lessons, and the fish of the sea provide you an explanation: there is not one such creature but will know that the hand of God has arranged things like this! In his hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of every human being!

PSALM 50:9-11

I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine.

PSALMS 50:10-11

For all forest creatures are mine already, the animals on the mountains in their thousands. I know every bird in the air, whatever moves in the fields is mine.

PSALM 136:25

...And who gives food to every creature. His love endures forever.

PROVERBS 12:10

A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal

ECCLESIASTES 3:19-21

Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath, man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust and to dust all return. Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?


LUKE 12:6

Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before god.

[William Terrell]

You'd have to explain
those baboons with the big butts
all crazy colors . . .

That particular species of angel likes crazy colors?

[RobbyS]

Doctrine, Actually the Church says this: that the nature of animals is, untimately, a mystery to us. We habe a hard enought time understanding human nature. We anthopomorphize our pets, but a dog is not a man nor a man a dog.

[orlop9]

"If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons."

- James Thurber

[RobbyS]

Well, a dog is a dog, and we humans often act less than human. To be saved is to become perfectly human,

[Michael Goldsberry]

Genesis 1:26-29

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on th face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.

[RobbyS]

The Preacher did not know about the Resurrection.

[AGreatPer]

Heaven is overrated.

First ther is no beer.

Now, no animals?

Hmmmmmmm, which door do I want?

[Michael Goldsberry]

First ther is no beer.

LOL!

I was once married to a German woman. From that time, I learned the words to a song;

"In Heaven there is no beer. That's why we drink it here. And when we're gone from here... our friends will be drinkin' all our beer!"

[beaureguard]

Doggie ping!

Here's one to kick around!

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Nobody knows.

Yep. That pretty much covers it. We can speculate but the Bible is pretty much silent on the subject.

[RobbyS]

Well, heaven is the ultimate high. What need is there for beer? You get the same buzz with no hangover.

[DameAutour]

I believe dogs are souls, just as humans are souls. All fleshly creatures are souls. They all have the same eventuality according to Ecclesiastes. When souls die, their thoughts perish and they have no consciousness, but God can resurrect them (breathe the breath of life, the spirit, back into them), to heaven or to earth. I do not believe there is going to be any resurrection of animals because the Bible does not teach this.

I don't have any children, but I knew about death and what it was from the Bible by the time my first pet died, when I was 3 years old. I was sad, but I wasn't tramautized by it. I am a Jehovah's Witness.

[andysandmikesmom]

I have had numerous cats, dogs, pet rats, birds, turtles, chameleons, and rabbits...they all had their own personality, and they were all loved by me, and the hubby and my boys..they have all gone on to whatever God provides for them...I would hope that eventually I would be reunited with all of them again...that would be truly heaven....

When my younger boy was just 6, he wanted a bunny rabbit...so we got him one, and the hubby built a hutch for him outside...however, the minister who lived next door to us, had a hunting dog, and eventually she got into our yard, somehow opened the hutch, and killed the bunny...the minister felt so bad, and said he would buy us a new rabbit.. but my son was so concerned about his dead rabbit...

At the church where this minister had his ministry, they had just built a new cemetary next door to the church...no one had yet been buried in it...so the minister took my son, with his bunny in a box, and up to the new cemetary they went, and the minister buried the bunny in a corner of the new cemetary, and he said a prayer over the bunny...then he bought my son a new rabbit... but after a few months, that dog again got into our yard, and got into the hutch, and killed the rabbit...same story...minister and my son buried the 2nd bunny up in the cemetary, and the minister bought us a new bunny, which now lived in the house with us, to keep him safe...

But it was touching to see this minister take such great care, to provide comfort to my son, by burying his bunnies in the church cemetary and saying a prayer over him....like a little funeral for animals..the minister said he did not really know if our animals went to heaven, just said we could trust in the Lord to decide what was best....but by son was so consoled by having his bunnies buried in the church cemetary, and believed that would provide a path to heaven for his beloved pets...

[Recall]

"And what do you tell your six year old when Fluffy the formerly lost hamster turns up dead in the hallway closet?"

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"I found where that smells coming from!"