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Pets in Heaven
by
Hank Hanegraaff
"If having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and
gratitude, then animals are better off than most humans."
~ James Herriot
Scripture does not exclusively tell us whether our pets will make it to
heaven. However, the Bible does provide us with some significant clues
that animals will inhabit the new heaven and the new earth.
First, the Garden of Eden was populated by animals, thus there is a
precedent for believing that Eden restored will also be populated by
animals.
Furthermore, the Scriptures --from first to last-- suggest that animals
have souls. Both Moses in Genesis and John in Revelation communicate
that the Creator endowed animals with souls (see Gen. 1:20, 24; Rev. 8:9).
Throughout the history of the church, the classic understanding of
living things has included the doctrine that animals, as well as humans,
have souls.
Finally, while we cannot say for certain that the pets we enjoy today
will be resurrected in eternity, I am not willing to preclude the
possibility. Some of the keenest thinkers --from C.S. Lewis to Peter
Kreeft--are not only convinced that animals in general, but that pets
in particular, will be restored in the resurrection.
Dr. Kreeft, for example, is convinced that animals will exist throughout
eternity. "Are there animals in Heaven? The simplest answer is: Why
not? How irrational is the prejudice that would allow plants (green
fields and flowers), but not animals into Heaven." Regarding pets, he
writes: "Would the same animals be in Heaven as on earth? 'Is my dead
cat in Heaven?' Again, why not? God can raise up the very grass; why
not cats? Though the blessed have better things to do than play with
pets, the better does not exclude the lesser."
One thing is certain: Scripture provides us with a sufficient precedent
for suggesting that animals will continue to exist after the return of
our Lord. Isaiah 11:6-9 provides a particularly stirring image.
"The soul is the same in all living creatures, although the body of each
is different."
~ Hippocrates
"You think dogs will not be in heaven? I tell you, they will be there
long before any of us."
~ Robert Louis Stevenson |
