Will our pets go to heaven with us?

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Chazemataz

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I don’t know how I could be happy n Heaven without my dog who is always by my side. 😦 Does anybody have any biblical evidence that animals will go to Heaven with us?
 
I sure hope not. I don’t like my cat.
~ Kathy ~ :whistle:
 
One seminary professor disappointed me when he said there is no scriptural support that the beatific vision–heaven will accommodate pets.

My own limited search through Church documents and the Catechism affirms this.

None of the saints’ lives I’ve read mentioned pets going to heaven.

A dutch pastor from my childhood said since animals have irrational souls they cannot attain the blessedness of heaven.

Suffice it to say that in heaven, God will be all in all–meaning His Love and Glory will be all we will ever need when we get there.
 
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Chazemataz:
I don’t know how I could be happy n Heaven without my dog who is always by my side. 😦 Does anybody have any biblical evidence that animals will go to Heaven with us?
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Man alone is in the image of God, having a spiritual soul capable of attaining heaven. Pets do not have a spirtual soul.
 
This an interesting topic that deserved also attention on the thread What Do You Think Heaven Is Like? On that thread I said that I expected to be with my pets in heaven. “Behold, I make all things new”, says Christ (Revelation 21, 6), and Paul “We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now” (Romans 8, 22). So, it is a very important exercise to imagine the future world, and to learn to desire and deserve it. Heaven or Paradise can not be considered as a place for human beings only. Many early church Fathers believed that in Heaven would be fauna and flora. This teaching perfectly fits with the idea that God wants to save the whole creation, His own perfect creation. How would be possible to cast aside animals, the ones who show us every day “existence without sin”, as Staretz Zozimo beautifully states on Dostoievsky’s Karamazov Brothers? Could be possible that Saint Francis preached to them in vain? Heaven is in no way a non human place; in fact it is the place we were meant to be. With all our pets.
 
Once in heaven, our entire focus will be on God. None of our earthly attachments will matter to us. Otherwise those that have lost loved ones to the fires of hell would be distraught. Yet we are told that even under those circumstances, our happiness will be complete. If we can be happy without loved ones, we will certainly be happy there without our pets.
 
Sir Knight:
Once in heaven, our entire focus will be on God. None of our earthly attachments will matter to us. Otherwise those that have lost loved ones to the fires of hell would be distraught. Yet we are told that even under those circumstances, our happiness will be complete.
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Happiness comes from living a life of virtue. It is not merely a feeling, and true happiness doesn’t preclude sorrow. In fact, virtue demands sorrow where sorrow is appropriate.

Just as animals were an integral part of the first Eden, there is every reason to believe they will be an integral part of the new Eden created when all old things pass away and God re-creates Earth and Heaven.

– Mark L. Chance.
 
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Katie1723:
I sure hope not. I don’t like my cat.

~ Kathy ~ :whistle:
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Agreed.

Our cats are utter pests. Adorable but utter pests. To have an eternity of their pestiness would really put a damper on the joy of heaven.
 
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Chazemataz:
I don’t know how I could be happy n Heaven without my dog who is always by my side. 😦 Does anybody have any biblical evidence that animals will go to Heaven with us?
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I think the answer lies in the Words of Jesus in
Matthew 22:30; Mark 12:25 & Luke 20:35
Matthew 22:30For in the resurrection they shall neither marry nor be married; but shall be as the angels of God in heaven.
Mark 12:25 For when they shall rise again from the dead, they shall neither marry, nor be married, but are as the angels in heaven.
Luke 20:35 But they that shall be accounted worthy of that world, and of the resurrection from the dead, shall neither be married, nor take wives.
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I think Christ is teaching us that in perfect love, the presence of God in heaven, we will not need any other than God to be perfectly happy. To say we will need wife, husband, pet, friends brother or sister is to imply Gods presence would be insufficient for happiness.
 
“Then I heard every** creature ** in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, everything in the universe, cry out: ‘To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor, glory and might, forever and ever’” (Revelation 5:13).

I think fiddo can make it. The church has never said they cannot. St Francis certainly thought they were worthy creatures.
 
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Chazemataz:
I don’t know how I could be happy n Heaven without my dog who is always by my side. 😦 Does anybody have any biblical evidence that animals will go to Heaven with us?
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Church teaching is that everything has a soul. Our soul is spirit while our pets souls are material souls. They don’t join us in Heaven.

God wants us to love Him above all others. When we reach that state, whether your pet is in Heaven or not will be meaningless becuase you will be so filled with love and adoration for our Father.
 
Yes, only man has a spirit and will go to Heaven or Hell ultimately (or Purgatory until the end of the world). No animals are in Heaven. We wouldn’t need them any more anyway, since we would have the Beatific Vision which is glory and joy beyond all measure.
 
If my neighbor’s mutt who barks constantly is in heaven when I arrive, then I’m going to be looking for a dog muzzle real quick. 🙂
 
I don’t need Biblical evidence on this one. I already have several pets there waiting patiently for me… :yup:
 
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BillyT92679:
Yes, only man has a spirit and will go to Heaven or Hell ultimately (or Purgatory until the end of the world). No animals are in Heaven. We wouldn’t need them any more anyway, since we would have the Beatific Vision which is glory and joy beyond all measure.
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but anyway would it be because WE need them…or for their own sakes? I would like my dear cat to be with me. But what about all the higher (i.e. mammals) creatures who are killed (many tortured to death) without anyone loving them? There are some very, very sad stories around. I pray to St Francis for them. I hope that there is somewhere for them.
 
The soul of an animal dies when the animal dies. Besides I think we should be more concerned about we making it to heaven. What would happen if my pet makes it and I dont?:eek:
 
BTW, how many people have tarantulas as pets, snakes, ant farms, etc. Will they be there too? Besides, if we believe that there will be pets in heaven, can we also believe that there will be pets in hell?
 
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TobyLue:
Besides, if we believe that there will be pets in heaven, can we also believe that there will be pets in hell?
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Yes, that is where all of the evil cats go 😛
 
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TobyLue:
The soul of an animal dies when the animal dies. Besides I think we should be more concerned about we making it to heaven. What would happen if my pet makes it and I dont?
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C. S. Lewis once (at least) made the case that this situation won’t happen. Just as we are redeemed and elevated to Heaven by virtue of our brotherhood with the God-Man, Christ Jesus, so too our pets may be redeemed and elevated to Heaven by virtue of their relationship with us.

And, interestingly enough, people seem to be ignoring the fact that Heaven as it currently is is only temporary. Our ultimate destiny is to be re-embodied in glorified form as citizens of the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21). There might not be animals in Heaven right now, to be say that will always be the case seems a bit much.

– Mark L. Chance.
 
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