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billcu1
Guest
Do animals have a soul according to the church? I personally think they must or they wouldn’t be alive.
Bill
Bill
- Status
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pig
Guest
every living thing, plants, animals and humans have a soul. The human soul is distinct though.
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Ruthie_again
Guest
I searched through posts to the Ask an Apologist forum. The Church teaches that only humans have an immortal soul - but the consensus is that, if we need our beloved pets in Heaven to make us happy, God can bring them there. I certainly hope so. I have a lot of old, fur-covered friends I’d like to see again.
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boomerang
Guest
My parents and niece all had experiences with “dead dog ghosts” for lack of a better term. My parents’ dog “Jinx” had to be euthanized and my parents were very sad, as they really loved that dog. He had a lot of personality. Well, that night at about 11pm, my mother, who was sitting up in bed reading a book, suddenly heard a loud bark right next to her bed. It was Jinx’s bark. His bark was very distinctive and unusual. You could pick out his bark in a whole kennel of barkers. She was shocked, and then told Jinx, “Go to the light, Jinx!”, of course not knowing if Jinx could understand her. She just felt compelled to say that. The next morning my mother debated whether or not she should tell my father about it. My father was an atheist who believed in nothing. Finally my mom couldn’t stand it anymore. She told my father. Dad replied, “I know, I heard it too”. Dad was sitting in front of the TV in another part of the house when the Ghost Dog barked. He heard it right next to his recliner. He didn’t want to tell my mother for fear she’d think he was nuts.
My niece, who was about 12, had a boxer that died and that same night, she heard the dog’s toenails go clickety-clack across the wood floor right outside her bedroom door. She opened the door and nothing was there. She closed the door and went about her business. A few minutes later, she heard the same clickety-clack of the toenails outside her door. The sound stopped at her door, and then she heard the sound of dog tags jingling, as if the dog shook itself. She wasn’t about to open the door again. The next day she told her parents about this and they didn’t believe her, but she swears it happened. And, it happened in the same house that my parents heard Jinx, but it was a few years apart.
My niece, who was about 12, had a boxer that died and that same night, she heard the dog’s toenails go clickety-clack across the wood floor right outside her bedroom door. She opened the door and nothing was there. She closed the door and went about her business. A few minutes later, she heard the same clickety-clack of the toenails outside her door. The sound stopped at her door, and then she heard the sound of dog tags jingling, as if the dog shook itself. She wasn’t about to open the door again. The next day she told her parents about this and they didn’t believe her, but she swears it happened. And, it happened in the same house that my parents heard Jinx, but it was a few years apart.
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marty1818
Guest
We wouldn’t need our pets to be happy in heaven. God alone is enough. There is still the chance though that out of His great love He would do it.
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Skye_Ariel
Guest
Animals have a soul, that’s what gives them their unique personality, they just don’t have a living spirit, they are not spiritual beings like we are.
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Skye_Ariel
Guest
I hope to see my cat that I had since I was a kid for 20yrs again.
I had that cat for so long that sometimes without thinking I will start to call my current cat by my other cat’s name. I hope to see him again in Heaven. He will remember me when I get up there and come to me and start purring and nuzzling up to me. 
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Skye_Ariel
Guest
Exactly!
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fred_conty
Guest
We we are in heaven we will understand things that we aren’t able to down here.
Everything will work out.
Just a thought.
Everything will work out.
Just a thought.
J
Joe_Kelley
Guest
It is my thought that an animal’s soul dies with him. However, God created him and still has the blueprint. It will be no problem for Him to recreate the animal complete with memories etc.
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Skye_Ariel
Guest
I like that idea! Like maybe all animals souls might not go to heaven but God can bring back like on special order, people’s beloved pets back to them in heaven.
But animals out in the wild, their souls might not necessarily go to heaven. That’s a good idea.
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NeedsMercy
Guest
I dunno. I like to think that all the animals will be there, in one giant “Peaceable Kingdom”–where the lions won’t have to eat the wildebeests, cats and dogs got along swimmingly etc. etc.I like that idea! Like maybe all animals souls might not go to heaven but God can bring back like on special order, people’s beloved pets back to them in heaven.
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Skye_Ariel
Guest
That sounds nice.
I do believe there will be animals up there, all kinds like the ones on earth and maybe other species that were never on earth.
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Sair
Guest
What does it even mean to have a ‘soul’? Especially to have a soul and then not be a ‘spiritual’ being - what’s going on there? Why the divine favouritism?Animals have a soul, that’s what gives them their unique personality, they just don’t have a living spirit, they are not spiritual beings like we are.
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Sair
Guest
I used to think it likely that other animals would be present in heaven - I never accepted that God would be so heartless as to deny them.
Now, however, I accept that I will never see my deceased loved ones again - furry, feathered or otherwise - because that’s just how it is. I appreciate their lives and the memories I have of them, but I now understand when it’s time to let go. Death takes all of us in the end - it’s the time we are alive that matters.
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Skye_Ariel
Guest
A soul is what makes up your being, who you are, your personality, your emotions etc. What makes you tick. Your spirit is the part of you that responds to God and has a relationship with God. God gave animals souls, because animals have emotions and a personality, but animals do not have a spirit, they can’t sin, and don’t have a spiritual relationship with God. The living spirit in mankind is what makes us different from animals.
Humans have a body, soul and spirit, 3 parts to us, made in the image of God (like Father, Son and Holy Spirit), animals have a body and soul. No spirit.
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Skye_Ariel
Guest
Yes, I believe all kinds of animals will be present in heaven too, some like the ones on earth and some maybe heavenly species that only exist in heaven. But I think the animals similar to the ones on earth will not be the ones **from **earth that died. Like there may be cats in heaven just like the ones here on earth but they will be animals that were made up there and were never on earth. Not the souls of earthly animals.
But I wouldn’t say God would not recreate some people’s pets who have died on earth. Can you imagine studying the different species of heavenly animals and what they do and how they live and what makes them tick? That should be interesting. What if some of those heavenly species of animals could talk? I know I’ll have lots of pets in my heavenly home and those will never die. - Status