Animals at the resurection

[Zooey]

Dear dmlmo:
Please reconsider your decision. Think how tragic it would be, if at the end of time, your pets should be in Heaven, while you were not!

God bless.

 

[BarbaraTherese]

dmlmo:

I became interested in becoming a Catholic in my teens but when I was 25 and took Catholic lessons I found out that the Church teaches animals don’t have immortal souls & don’t go to Heaven so I backed out as I had grown up believeing that animals went to Heaven and had always looked forward to seeing all my beloved companion animals again. When I told the ladies at the rosary group which I belonged to that I never knew that teaching, they laughed at me & made fun of me (one even told me I was nuts). So then I turned away from the Church & from God, and now at 39 I remain unbaptized, and as long as the Church has that diabolical teaching I will remain so! I just hope & pray God has more sense & compassion than those people! But I seriously have my doubts!

Totally Disillusioned

Hi there Dmlmo…Theology and Apologetics are finite minds attempting to explain the infinite. I remain entirely hopeful that all animals, including my beloved deceased pets, will be there to greet me in Heaven.

I just hope & pray God has more sense & compassion than those people!

Our sense and compassion is finite and limited…God’s however is Infinite. As finite creatures, not one of us no matter how lofty a mind and educated can explain God’s Infiniteness because it is simply unavailable to a finite mind.
I sure hope God has more sense and compassion than me for one! I cannot grasp that God creates in order to destroy completely…hence I remain quite hopeful animals will have their place in Heaven.

Barb

 

[mlchance]

Br. Rich SFO:

Only human souls are eternal. Animal souls cease to exist on their death.

Admittedly. But, what if the question is: When the heavens and earth are remade as the New Jerusalem, will animals be part of that re-creation? There is no reason in either Scripture or Tradition that the answer to this question cannot be, “Yes.”

thistle:

Whether you take Genesis literally or symbolically there is no mention of animals being created to join God in Heaven…

Since there is no mention, the correct response is, “I don’t know.” To draw conclusions from an argument of silence is questionable at best.

– Mark L. Chance.

 

[mary_bobo]

dmlmo:

I became interested in becoming a Catholic in my teens but when I was 25 and took Catholic lessons I found out that the Church teaches animals don’t have immortal souls & don’t go to Heaven so I backed out as I had grown up believeing that animals went to Heaven and had always looked forward to seeing all my beloved companion animals again. When I told the ladies at the rosary group which I belonged to that I never knew that teaching, they laughed at me & made fun of me (one even told me I was nuts). So then I turned away from the Church & from God, and now at 39 I remain unbaptized, and as long as the Church has that diabolical teaching I will remain so! I just hope & pray God has more sense & compassion than those people! But I seriously have my doubts!

Totally Disillusioned

There is nothing that I know of that tells me I will never see my wonderful dogs again. I choose to believe my very wise Irish grandmother who told me that whatever I needed to be happy in Heaven I would find there. If there is such a “diabolical teaching” I am not aware of it.

Many people who have never known the love and devotion of a pet cannot understand the bond that those of us share with our four legged friends. Mores the pity for them, I say.

Rethink your position on the Church, however, I have a feeling that there is more to your turning away than your departed pets.

God bless.

 

[thistle]

mlchance:

Admittedly. But, what if the question is: When the heavens and earth are remade as the New Jerusalem, will animals be part of that re-creation? There is no reason in either Scripture or Tradition that the answer to this question cannot be, “Yes.”

Since there is no mention, the correct response is, “I don’t know.” To draw conclusions from an argument of silence is questionable at best.
– Mark L. Chance.

In this case I would not agree with you. Scripture makes it clear that we are made in his image, not animals. The Church teaches that we are created to join God in Heaven, assuming we accept his love.
We are taught we have immortal souls whereas animals and plants do not.
It is clear from scripture and the Church teaching that Heaven is for us and not the animals.

 

[Matt16_18]

… if the question is: When the heavens and earth are remade as the New Jerusalem, will animals be part of that re-creation? There is no reason in either Scripture or Tradition that the answer to this question cannot be, “Yes.”

If that is the question, then the answer from scripture cannot be anything other than “yes”. (See the section of the CCC quoted in post # 23 – 1046 is quoting Romans 8:19-23).

thistle:

It is clear from scripture and the Church teaching that Heaven is for us and not the animals.

The new creation will be our Heaven after the Resurrection of the Body.

The visible universe was created for man for the glory of God. To mankind has been given the privilege of being the steward of God’s creation. If anyone … denies that the world was created for the glory of God:
let him be anathema.
First Vatican Council

Catechism of the Catholic Church

952 … A Christian is a steward of the Lord’s goods.

358 God created everything for man, but man in turn was created to serve and love God and to offer all creation back to him …

**374 ** The first man was not only created good, but was also established in friendship with his Creator and in harmony with himself and with the creation around him, in a state that would be surpassed only by the glory of the **new creation ** in Christ.

 

[Matt16_18]

… I found out that the Church teaches animals don’t have immortal souls & don’t go to Heaven so I backed out as I had grown up believeing that animals went to Heaven and had always looked forward to seeing all my beloved companion animals again.

I see no reason why you should not look forward to seeing your beloved pets when the physical creation is restored at the end of time. Your love of your pets cannot possibly exceed God’s love of your pets!

Imagine that a movie of your favorite pet was made that showed its entire life, from birth to death. Now imagine that film unrolled so that you can see the whole thing in a single glance. Some frames of the film would show your pet when it was a day old, some when it is a mature and healthy animal, and some when it has died. In a way, that is how God sees your pet – your pet’s entire life is spread before God in the now of God, and no frame of the film is any less real than any other frame. In the now of God, God can see your pet as alive and healthy, albeit in a fallen state that is a consequence of the sin of Adam.

After the final judgement, the physical creation will be restored and freed from its subjugation to death, disease and decay. I see no reason why you cannot believe that your favorite pets will not also be restored to the immortal life that all animals once possessed, since you pet is part of the physical creation that was made for the glory of God.

Why would God allow Satan to have final victory over any animal by allowing Satan to destroy what God has declared to be good? Satan and death will be utterly defeated at the end of the world! God loves his creation, and not a sparrow falls to the ground without God knowing it.

 

[jim1130]

dmlmo:

I became interested in becoming a Catholic in my teens but when I was 25 and took Catholic lessons I found out that the Church teaches animals don’t have immortal souls & don’t go to Heaven so I backed out as I had grown up believeing that animals went to Heaven and had always looked forward to seeing all my beloved companion animals again. When I told the ladies at the rosary group which I belonged to that I never knew that teaching, they laughed at me & made fun of me (one even told me I was nuts). So then I turned away from the Church & from God, and now at 39 I remain unbaptized, and as long as the Church has that diabolical teaching I will remain so! I just hope & pray God has more sense & compassion than those people! But I seriously have my doubts!

Totally Disillusioned

Totally Disillusioned.

I feel your pain.

When I was in 5th grade, attending First Friday Mass, the priest, during his Homily, said that pets do not go to Heaven. I was devastated, particularly since I had lost my beloved dog the year before. Even though that Homily was over 35 years ago, it is fresh in my memory just as the grief of losing the pet. I know that the Catholic priests with whom I have spoken reiterated the position of the priest who gave the Homily, but that does not mean I have to agree or accept their claims. Priests are instruments that God uses to draw us nearer to Him; Priests are not the Law and they are not infallible. A little over 10 years ago, I took my dog to a pet blessing at our Catholic Church. After the blessing, the Priest distributed pet blessing certificates that were signed by the Easter Bunny. I was livid! He made a mockery of the blessing (he has since left the priesthood and Church to become a minister in another denomination). I have had pets and lost a beloved one a little over year ago. I am sickened that people would mock you, particularly a Rosary group, and I, for one, would not tolerate such insensitivity! I apologize for their idiocy and implore that you not consider their actions as representative of all of us. Such knuckleheadness is one reason people are turned off by the Catholic Church. Please reconsider the Catholic Church.

Jim
P.S. I pray for my deceased pets and my current pet daily, that I may see my pets in Heaven (granted if I can get there myself). I believe pets, as well as animals, are in Heaven.

 

[Jaypeeto3]

I would love to see all my little pets I’ve had over the years once again at the Resurrection, but if we’re talking about resurrecting animal PETS, why stop there? Why not all other animals and insects, etc? Why not the resurrection of snakes, cockroaches, scorpions, fleas, plankton, chiggers, chinch bugs, stink-bugs, crocodiles, T-Rex’s, etc., etc., etc.

I have to accept the Church’s teaching on this, namely, that animals do not have immortal souls as humans do and that they will not be resurrected. Still, personally, I would love it if they were. Especially my little dog Woodrow. sigh…

Love,
Jaypeeto3

 

[Matt16_18]

Jaypeeto3:

I have to accept the Church’s teaching on this, namely, that animals do not have immortal souls as humans do and that they will not be resurrected.

How did you arrive at the conclusion that because a pet does not have an immortal soul, it cannot be resurrected from the dead with an immortal body?

 

[Jaypeeto4]

Because it is the teaching of the theologians that animals DO have souls but that their souls are not immortal.
If you resurrect an animal, you’re not really resurrecting the same animal, since it’s soul perished at death. At best, you are making a carbon copy of the once-living animal.
Best,
Jaypeeto4 (aka Jaypeeto3)

 

[Penitus]

Yeah, I definitely don’t think there are animals in heaven now, but when a perfect creation is created at the end of time, I find it hard to believe the new Earth will be just a big ball of mud with us on it.

I just hope that it includes all the animals who ever lived, not new animals (or not ONLY new animals).

 

[JKirkLVNV]

Penitus:

I just hope that it includes all the animals who ever lived, not new animals (or not ONLY new animals).

Just not rats…or sharks…or bats

 

[Agricola]

I sincerely doubt that animals will be ressurected. Since they have material souls, not spiritual souls, as Jaypeeto4 said. Still, as Penitus mentioned, there may be a “bringing” back of all of the glories of God’s material creation in the formation of a new earth. However, as I imagine it, there will be a much different new earth, less material, and more God.

God bless,

Agricola

 

[Penitus]

Agricola:

I sincerely doubt that animals will be ressurected. Since they have material souls, not spiritual souls, as Jaypeeto4 said. Still, as Penitus mentioned, there may be a “bringing” back of all of the glories of God’s material creation in the formation of a new earth. However, as I imagine it, there will be a much different new earth, less material, and more God.

God bless,

Agricola

and yet, the best answer anyone has is that we simply do not know. Time will tell.

 

[StCsDavid]

I had a cat that if I see him in Heaven I will know that either God’s mercy has absolutely no bounds…or that I didn’t make it, and I’m really in Hell.

 

[mlchance]

Jaypeeto4:

Because it is the teaching of the theologians that animals DO have souls but that their souls are not immortal.
If you resurrect an animal, you’re not really resurrecting the same animal, since it’s soul perished at death. At best, you are making a carbon copy of the once-living animal.

Maybe that would be the result if you (or I) were to resurrect an animal, but I’m pretty confident God could do a better job of it if he so chose.

– Mark L. Chance.

 

[mosher]

Animals do not have immortal souls and thus do not exist beyond their death. The ressurection is only for human persons. Not even the angels receive a ressurection. St. Thomas is very clear on this issue.

 

[BarbaraTherese]

mosher:

Animals do not have immortal souls and thus do not exist beyond their death. The ressurection is only for human persons. Not even the angels receive a ressurection. St. Thomas is very clear on this issue.

I do know what The Church teaches re animals and forms of life other than human…yet “all things are possible to God”, nor do I think God intends to limit his Divine Action to the insight and fallibly so of man or to be politically correct (yuk!) personkind.
To state otherwise is surely to state that “all things” are NOT possible to God. I guess it could be said that ‘God has revealed tha He does not intend to…(whatever)’…but I still do not think that we can have the arrogance to know what God does or does not intend.
My concept is that while The Church does teach that animals will not go to Heaven, my hope indeed remains that they will. Possibly animals will not have the Beatific Vision (whatever indeed that is - it boggles my mind anyway!)…but nevertheless be there at the final resurrection when ALL creation is fulfilled in Christ. “There will be a new Heaven and a new earth”…and another mystery that must needs wait until after death.

Regards - Barb.

 

[Jaypeeto4]

I can see that people here who are hoping for animal resurrection seem to be focusing on mammals. But what about marine life? Why wouldn’t God resurrect marine life, too, after all they are animals too. Where would marine life fit in, in the heavenly resurrection? Will every last Tuna be resurrected? Will Alaskan King Crabs be resurrected? What about squid ? Great white sharks? Sperm whales? Blue whales? Stingrays? Jellyfish?
Somehow, I can’t picture a squid with angel wings floating around heaven squirting glorified ink from it’s glorified body.
I just think we really ought to trust the traditional teaching of the church on the matter of the resurrection of non-human creatures, namely, that they won’t be resurrected.
Love, Jaypeeto4 (aka Jaypeeto3)