Our pets and heaven

  • Thread starter Thread starter whatevergirl
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
W

whatevergirl

Guest
I was hopeful that someone here could point me to some Scripture or Catholic doctrine about animals going to heaven. My dd said today…‘mom, I am sorry, but I really believe our cats will be in heaven, either with us humans, or they will have a heaven of their own.’

She said also…‘how does anyone know if animals are in heaven or not…?’

I would like to supply Scripture to support this, so can you help? Thanks.
 
I’m not sure…but I think that heaven would not be as good without my Paco and Nubby! But on the serious side, I think she will figure it out on her own as she grows in her faith and in reason.
 
I am certainly no bible scholar, but the teachings of the church, since day one, have been that animals have mortal souls…as opposed to our IM-mortal souls. The soul of an animal is not dependant on salvation through Jesus Christ as is the soul of a human being.

You didn’t mention how old your daughter is…but when she is old enough to understand, you will have to explain to her about “free will” and sin, and salvation…and how animals don’t have a free will, can not sin and are not in need of salvation.

For the sake of not confusing her before she is capable of comprehending this, it most likely wouldn’t do her any harm to allow her to believe that pets accompany us in heaven. As she matures and reaches the age of reason, she’ll be better able to understand.

My parents did this with us when we were small, and lead us to believe that our dogs and cats would be with us in heaven. They didn’t do this in violation of church teaching…they just did it for reasons I just mentioned and we eventually came to accept it.

I wouldn’t make a big deal out of it. In time, she’ll be able to understand on her own.
 
Gardenman said:
I am certainly no bible scholar, but the teachings of the church, since day one, have been that animals have mortal souls…as opposed to our IM-mortal souls. The soul of an animal is not dependant on salvation through Jesus Christ as is the soul of a human being.

You didn’t mention how old your daughter is…but when she is old enough to understand, you will have to explain to her about “free will” and sin, and salvation…and how animals don’t have a free will, can not sin and are not in need of salvation.

For the sake of not confusing her before she is capable of comprehending this, it most likely wouldn’t do her any harm to allow her to believe that pets accompany us in heaven. As she matures and reaches the age of reason, she’ll be better able to understand.

My parents did this with us when we were small, and lead us to believe that our dogs and cats would be with us in heaven. They didn’t do this in violation of church teaching…they just did it for reasons I just mentioned and we eventually came to accept it.

I wouldn’t make a big deal out of it. In time, she’ll be able to understand on her own.
Click to expand...
Thanks Gardenman…She is 12, going on 50. lol She really loves the Catholic faith, and is very devout for her young age, already…she just doesn’t ‘like’ this…she doesn’t ‘believe’ it really. She just can’t imagine heaven without our sweet kitties. I think it saddens her that they end up ‘nowhere’ after they die.😦 It is somewhat sad for me to think about as an adult! But, I have explained that to her…so has her dad…so has her devout grandmother…she just ‘refuses’ to believe it, she said tonight at dinner. :o
 
thunderballs75 said:
I’m not sure…but I think that heaven would not be as good without my Paco and Nubby! But on the serious side, I think she will figure it out on her own as she grows in her faith and in reason.
Click to expand...
That’s true, but as an adult also…I wonder why God wouldn’t let our pets come along with us. ;):o (dd thinks He will make some exceptions…lol)

Paco and Nubby…aw, dogs…cats?
 
hmmmmmmmmm…12 going on 50…You’ve definitely got your hands full ! LOL
Maybe a priest could explain it to her ???

After I posted my reply, I almost went back to edit the part about animals and free will…
I am “owned” by 2 cats…I firmly believe cats DO have a free will and utilize it constantly to torment humans and get what they want through assorted behavior and mind games.

Sometimes it’s scary.
 
Gardenman said:
hmmmmmmmmm…12 going on 50…You’ve definitely got your hands full ! LOL
Maybe a priest could explain it to her ???

After I posted my reply, I almost went back to edit the part about animals and free will…
I am “owned” by 2 cats…I firmly believe cats DO have a free will and utilize it constantly to torment humans and get what they want through assorted behavior and mind games.

Sometimes it’s scary.
Click to expand...
hahahaha…spoken by a true cat owner.👍😃
 
whatevergirl said:
That’s true, but as an adult also…I wonder why God wouldn’t let our pets come along with us. ;):o (dd thinks He will make some exceptions…lol)

Paco and Nubby…aw, dogs…cats?
Click to expand...
Doggies! 😛 Paco I found in a shelter and got for my family. He’s a black and white long-haired chihuahua. A few years late Nubby came up to our house, so we took care of him and decided to just keep him. We call him Nubby because he is a miniature pincher and he didn’t have a tail. I always made fun of him wagging his “nub”. So the name stuck. They are a blessing!

Edit:
As said before, the case for cats not having free will is a very difficult argument! Haha! God bless!
 
thunderballs75 said:
Doggies! 😛 Paco I got for my family in a shelter. He’s a black and white long-haired chihuahua. A few years late Nubby came up to our house, so we took care of him and decided to just keep him. We call him Nubby because he is a miniature pincher and he didn’t have a tail. I always made fun of him wagging his “nub”. So the name stuck. They are a blessing!
Click to expand...
Nubbbyyyy…aw…that is too cute.:o

I know, that’s the thing, they really are sucha blessing! Brighten our days.
 
THANK YOU for getting your dog from a shelter. We always got our pet’s from shelters, too. Blessings, indeed.

We had 7 kids in our family, so the dog or cat wasn’t exactly my mom’s prime concern.
She was sort of indifferent to both, but didn’t dislike either one…she had bigger fish to fry, as they say. Both the dog and the cat reacted to her accordingly.

When she had her stroke, the dog spent every single minute of the day, for 3 years, at the foot of her bed. He would alert us the second he thought something was wrong. We never trained him to be like that, but he just “knew” she needed round the clock “protection”. When she died, we put the dogs collar in her casket with her.
 
Regarding our devoted animals…we can find some hope in these scripture, I think!

Isaiah 66:22 “For **just as the new heavens and the new earth **Which I make will endure before Me,” declares the LORD, "So your offspring and your name will endure.

2 Peter 3:13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.
 
Gardenman said:
THANK YOU for getting your dog from a shelter. We always got our pet’s from shelters, too. Blessings, indeed.

We had 7 kids in our family, so the dog or cat wasn’t exactly my mom’s prime concern.
She was sort of indifferent to both, but didn’t dislike either one…she had bigger fish to fry, as they say. Both the dog and the cat reacted to her accordingly.

When she had her stroke, the dog spent every single minute of the day, for 3 years, at the foot of her bed. He would alert us the second he thought something was wrong. We never trained him to be like that, but he just “knew” she needed round the clock “protection”. When she died, we put the dogs collar in her casket with her.
Click to expand...
That’s a very sweet story. Dogs are such affectionate creatures. It seems to have had a real love for your mother.

Paco is sort of like that. He loves mommy so much, yet she is also rather indifferent.

I think that getting from the shelter is the best thing to do. So many dogs there that just end up being killed if nobody gets them. With Nubby I posted signs up all around, took it to the humane society to see if anybody was looking for it, and even posted bulletins on the internet. After many months nobody claimed it. So rather than put it in a shelter to be given the needle, I decided we could just keep it.
 
Trishie said:
Regarding our devoted animals…we can find some hope in these scripture, I think!

Isaiah 66:22 “For **just as the new heavens and the new earth **Which I make will endure before Me,” declares the LORD, "So your offspring and your name will endure.

2 Peter 3:13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.
Click to expand...
Thanks Trishie…I don’t see anything there though about cats.😃
 
People don’t give animals enough credit for them being able to sense OUR pain and sufferings. Would that more humans were in tune to this as some animals are !

Shelter-rescued animals, I believe, make such good pets because they are grateful for getting a second chance…at least that’s how I see it.
 
I have fielded the same question from my PREP class for the last 4 years (they are about the same age) and here is what I tell them:

All animals don’t go to Heaven as they don’t have immortal souls. This is a good thing, because you really don’t want to meet up with those pigs and chickens that gave their life to feed you or those spiders and roaches you stepped on (boy will THEY be ticked off!)

As to our pets, we know that God wants us to be happy with Him in Heaven, and just being with Him will be enough, but if it would make us happy to see our pets, I do believe God will have them there waiting for us (and the good part is you don’t have to pick up the doggy doo).
 
TheDoctor said:
I have fielded the same question from my PREP class for the last 4 years (they are about the same age) and here is what I tell them:

All animals don’t go to Heaven as they don’t have immortal souls. This is a good thing, because you really don’t want to meet up with those pigs and chickens that gave their life to feed you or those spiders and roaches you stepped on (boy will THEY be ticked off!)

As to our pets, we know that God wants us to be happy with Him in Heaven, and just being with Him will be enough, but if it would make us happy to see our pets, I do believe God will have them there waiting for us (and the good part is you don’t have to pick up the doggy doo).
Click to expand...
I love that. Thank you. I think dd will love it, too.:o
 
whatevergirl said:
Thanks Trishie…I don’t see anything there though about cats.😃
Click to expand...
What I meant by that is, what world a new heavens and a new earth be without flora and fauna. Sorry, I wasn’t explicit. Sometimes I just demonstrate instead of explain what I mean. My mind gets too caught up in symbolism and the links between thoughts. I confuse my husband no end sometimes, and amuse my sons.
 
Trishie said:
What I meant by that is, what world a new heavens and a new earth be without flora and fauna. Sorry, I wasn’t explicit. Sometimes I just demonstrate instead of explain what I mean. My mind gets too caught up in symbolism and the links between thoughts. I confuse my husband no end sometimes, and amuse my sons.
Click to expand...
I was just teasing you, Trishie. lol:)
I appreciate what you posted…what threw me now is sour grape’s post. lol It would seem that God really does have a special plan all His own for our pets.

Spiders and bees I could do without in heaven…if God would prohibit them from coming in, that would be cool by me. lol However, I have a feeling that all will be perfect in heaven, so…spiders might not be so creepy then.:hmmm:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top