Plant and animal death

  • Thread starter Thread starter Daisy
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
D

Daisy

Guest
I’m no philosopher, so keep the language simple. What are your thoughts on why plants, animals, dinosaurs, the soulless living etc, are participating in the life cycle with us?
 
Last edited:
A deceptively simple question imo. I say that because as far as I know no one has worked out what contribution the cranefly (daddy long legs) makes to our world.

All the things you mention are part of the wonderful natural systems which underpins our survival.

For example, speaking of pins, what would be the point of knitting needles if we had no sheep? Need I say more. By which I mean if we were here alone what would we do, what would be our function?
 
Last edited:
Is there a reason you ask? For example, is something troubling you about animal death? This may help how others answer.

Or are you simply asking what’s the point of all creatures except humans?
 
Last edited:
No, nothing is troubling me about animal death. But this is a question I keep asking, revisiting, one I can’t seem to answer; why does God create us to live in dependence of these other living things? Why do they have to be alive, have a beginning and end with no soul.

I guess I just asked my same question again 😂
 
Last edited:
They underpin our survival.

They have a lifecycle due to their biology, if they didn’t die, well, imagine the planet run by rabbits!
 
We are all interconnected because we are all expressions of God’s creativity and love.
 
They live like us. They die like us. And most probably they have a life after death like us.
 
T-Rex? Not my momma. 😠 maybe jo mamma. 😠

And Grass? No.
 
Last edited:
Will the souls of the grass be subject to the final judgement? j/k
 
You are right, death is a natural consequence of bodily nature. In the case of man, however, we must make an exception. I think that when Adam and Eve were created, they were given, among other things, the gift of immortality. This is not just for the human soul, but also for the human body. This is why God warned them, “But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat. For in what day soever thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt die the death” (Gen 2:17). Immortality was an extraordinary privilege that our first parents lost when they sinned. This means that, if Adam and Eve had not sinned, then they would not have suffered death.
 
This link says, "Animal and vegetable souls are dependent entirely on matter for their operation and being. They cease to exist at death"

So for animals and plants, does their “soul” keep them alive? In which case it would seem to be separate from their bodies. Or does their being alive keep the soul in existence? That seems to imply their soul is just some part of their brain. Or perhaps non existent.
 
CatholicSpirit said:
Will the souls of the grass be subject to the final judgement? j/k
Click to expand...
A joke making an important point. The soul of any organism can be thought of that which makes it what it is in itself and in relation to everything other to it. Grass is more than a configuration of molecules. This computer also is more than a collection of parts, but it differs from grass which grows, transforming external matter into itself and thereby developing, growing and reproducing. It may even have some component of the psychological in its response to sunlight, water, or damage. One wouldn’t expect much because it does not react to such interactions within its environment. Animals do, moving towards food and mates and away from danger. There’s a symphony of emotional reactions, which like their physical components we share, such as pleasure, fear, pain, anger, and so on, all tied to instinctive behaviour. Our spiritual soul is something very different. In addition to being eternal, it allows us to know and create, although only in a finite sense. We are capable of love, the giving of ourselves for the good for the other. What we do exists in eternity and is the means by which we participate in our own creation. Hence the final judgement; we may be saved and redeemed in and through Jesus Christ, but what is done is done - the outcome of our lives is final judgement, the reality of our lives in the context of God’s infinite love.
 
Last edited:
clarkgamble1 said:
So for animals and plants, does their “soul” keep them alive? In which case it would seem to be separate from their bodies. Or does their being alive keep the soul in existence? That seems to imply their soul is just some part of their brain. Or perhaps non existent.
Click to expand...
The soul is the principle of life in an organism. Without it, the organism can exist, but will not be alive. So, to your first question, the answer is yes, the soul keeps them alive.

The soul animates every part of an organism, not just the brain. When you cut off a part, as when you cut off the tail of a lizard, the soul ceases to exist in the part cut off, but it still exists in the organism. That means, the soul ceases to exist in the tail cut off, but it still exists in the organism and, in some cases, the tail will grow back (regeneration).
 
Daisy said:
I’m no philosopher, so keep the language simple. What are your thoughts on why plants, animals, dinosaurs, the soulless living etc, are participating in the life cycle with us?
Click to expand...
Because, like us, they are physical beings. Physical entities experience decay.
 
As far as man is concerned, that bodily death is the result of sin is strictly of faith; it is one of principal truths of Christianity, in fact.

From the Fifth Session of the Council of Trent:
  1. If anyone does not confess that the first man, Adam, when he transgressed the commandment of God in paradise, immediately lost the holiness and justice in which he had been constituted, and through the offense of that prevarication incurred the wrath and indignation of God, and thus death with which God had previously threatened him, and, together with death, captivity under his power who thenceforth had the empire of death, that is to say, the devil, and that the entire Adam through that offense of prevarication was changed in body and soul for the worse, let him be anathema.
Click to expand...
  1. If anyone asserts that the transgression of Adam injured him alone and not his posterity, and that the holiness and justice which he received from God, which he lost, he lost for himself alone and not for us also; or that he, being defiled by the sin of disobedience, has transfused only death and the pains of the body into the whole human race, but not sin also, which is the death of the soul, let him be anathema, since he contradicts the Apostle who says:
    By one man sin entered into the world and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned.
Click to expand...
Benedicat Deus,
Latinitas
 
Last edited:
STT said:
They live like us. They die like us. And most probably they have a life after death like us.
Click to expand...
They live like us – yes. They die like us – yes. And most probably they have a life after death like us – Well, I’m not so sure about that. You see, humans have an immortal soul, so we will survive the death of the body. But I have no evidence that plants and animals have immortal souls.
 
rom said:
You see, humans have an immortal soul, so we will survive the death of the body.
Click to expand...
Actually, you have no evidence of that either. It is a matter of faith.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top