Do all animals go to Heaven?

[Bear Wild]

If a god creates all live including all animals (humans being one of those animals) and also has a heaven to go to, do all animals (and plants for that matter) go to heaven? I know many people who have pets that believe they have souls and believe that they will meet their pets in heaven.

 

[George-ananda]

Most animals go on for awhile and join their group soul. Domesticated animals that have advanced through human interactions can have a richer afterlife experience.

IMO

 

[nPeace]

If a god creates all live including all animals (humans being one of those animals) and also has a heaven to go to, do all animals (and plants for that matter) go to heaven? I know many people who have pets that believe they have souls and believe that they will meet their pets in heaven.

I didn't realize people actually believed that.
I guess that's probably because they are taught that earth is a temporary "testing ground" and if they pass the test, the get a "Get to Heaven" card. If they fail, it's a "Go Straight to Hell" card.
So earth is really a bad place according to some religions.

According to the Bible though, the earth was made to be inhabited by fleshly creatures - both man and beast, and the trees and vegetation was to serves as a delight to their eyes, and taste-buds... and stomach.

Actually, the earth has what sustains us physically. The heavenly beings do not need to eat, breath oxygen, nor sleep. There is no milk and honey there, and no plants or animals - according to the Bible.

God did not even intend for man to go to heaven.
Some get that opportunity because they have been chosen for a special assignment - to be kings and priest with Christ - heirs of his kingdom/government.

They will rule and serve millions who will live in paradise on earth with all the animals, and they will do no harm nor cause any ruin.
Why God Created The Earth.

We can enjoy our pet dog right here, when earth becomes a paradise.

Genesis 1:28; Psalm 37:9-11, 29; 115:16; Isaiah 11:6-9; 33:24; 45:18; 65:17-25; Matthew 6:9, 10; 1 Corinthians 15:20-27, 39-50; Romans 8:18-25; Ephesians 1:10; Revelation 5:9, 10; 7:4-10; 14:1-5; 21:1-5

 

[Nous]

. . . do all animals (and plants for that matter) go to heaven?

No, no, no, no!! No mosquitoes, no roaches, no intestinal parasites, no monitor lizards! Those animals are from hell and will be going back! I will be manning the gate!

 

[Stevicus]

I guess a pretty hellish afterlife would be if every insect you've ever killed (or paid an exterminator to kill) would meet you again in hell. Except they'd be giant sized, while you'd be reduced to the size of an insect.

 

[WalterTrull]

Since my belief is that heaven is awareness, maybe we'll just drag'em with us.

 

[Jainarayan]

Hinduism has differing views on heaven and hell, but largely they're seen as rest stops on the way to ones next birth, and ultimately to liberation from the cycle of birth. So yeah, dogs, cats, horses, wildebeests, all make the same journey and stopover.

 

[Thief]

If a god creates all live including all animals (humans being one of those animals) and also has a heaven to go to, do all animals (and plants for that matter) go to heaven? I know many people who have pets that believe they have souls and believe that they will meet their pets in heaven.

we lost a pet dog recently
she was the finest puppy-minded house pets ever

run like crazy and snatch that frisbee.....!!!!

flop her head on your knee for ear rubbing

I saw her in a dream .....
she might appear as a horse....in the next life

run like crazy

ride if you dare

 

[Thief]

No, no, no, no!! No mosquitoes, no roaches, no intestinal parasites, no monitor lizards! Those animals are from hell and will be going back! I will be manning the gate!

inside?.....or outside?

 

[Axe Elf]

C.S. Lewis said that a heaven for mosquitoes could be convenienly combined with a hell for humans, but no; animals do not have a soul to save. They have bodies, which return to dust, and spirit, which returns to God, and there is no more of them.

 

[Dave Watchman]

If a god creates all live including all animals (humans being one of those animals) and also has a heaven to go to, do all animals (and plants for that matter) go to heaven? I know many people who have pets that believe they have souls and believe that they will meet their pets in heaven.

Even though the Bible is fairly quiet about this question, based on my read on it, i'm pretty sure the answer is yes for the animals.

But for the animals of the saved Christians, it's yes for sure. If you make it to heaven, you most likely will have your animals back.

And i also think i'm going to get a farm house with horses and cows and all kinds of animals that i never had a chance to own.

Not a sparrow can fall without the Father knowing it. God knows every creature, He has a record of them. He will demand an account from every animal that sheds man's blood.

If you get to heaven and want your pet back, the Lord can make all things new, He can reach back through time to get our pets back. With God, all things are possible.

C.S Lewis said:

"Supposing, as I do, that the personality of the tame animals is largely the gift of man—that their mere sentience is reborn to soulhood in us as our mere soulhood is reborn to spirituality in Christ—I naturally suppose that very few animals indeed, in their wild state, attain to a “self” or ego. But if any do, and if it is agreeable to the goodness of God that they should live again, their immortality would also be related to man—not, this time, to individual masters, but to humanity.

That is to say, if in any instance the quasi-spiritual and emotional value which human tradition attributes to a beast (such as the “innocence” of the lamb or the heraldic royalty of [130]the lion) has a real ground in the beast’s nature, and is not merely arbitrary or accidental, then it is in that capacity, or principally in that, that the beast may be expected to attend on risen man and make part of his “train”.

The Problem of Pain, by C. S. Lewis

​

 

[Bear Wild]

Most animals go on for awhile and join their group soul. Domesticated animals that have advanced through human interactions can have a richer afterlife experience.

IMO

How would domestication make them more advanced and therefor have a richer afterlife? Animals in the wild have a richer experience than most domesticated animals. And would it really matter either way?

 

[Bear Wild]

I didn't realize people actually believed that.
I guess that's probably because they are taught that earth is a temporary "testing ground" and if they pass the test, the get a "Get to Heaven" card. If they fail, it's a "Go Straight to Hell" card.
So earth is really a bad place according to some religions.

According to the Bible though, the earth was made to be inhabited by fleshly creatures - both man and beast, and the trees and vegetation was to serves as a delight to their eyes, and taste-buds... and stomach.

Actually, the earth has what sustains us physically. The heavenly beings do not need to eat, breath oxygen, nor sleep. There is no milk and honey there, and no plants or animals - according to the Bible.

God did not even intend for man to go to heaven.
Some get that opportunity because they have been chosen for a special assignment - to be kings and priest with Christ - heirs of his kingdom/government.

They will rule and serve millions who will live in paradise on earth with all the animals, and they will do no harm nor cause any ruin.
Why God Created The Earth.

We can enjoy our pet dog right here, when earth becomes a paradise.

Genesis 1:28; Psalm 37:9-11, 29; 115:16; Isaiah 11:6-9; 33:24; 45:18; 65:17-25; Matthew 6:9, 10; 1 Corinthians 15:20-27, 39-50; Romans 8:18-25; Ephesians 1:10; Revelation 5:9, 10; 7:4-10; 14:1-5; 21:1-5

Will that include all of the other living things on the earth?

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I always believed that all animals have souls and an afterlife. Why not plants, too? St. Francis treated animals and even the Sun and the Moon as his brothers and sisters. A wolf was terrorizing a town. He talked to the wolf to calm himself so that the wolf and the townspeople could come to an agreement, and the townspeople wouldn't kill "Brother Wolf". They learned to coexist from then on. He also preached sermons to birds. It doesn't make sense to me that God would create all this life but we're the only lifeforms with an eternal destinity.

After all, at the Eschaton, Heaven and Earth are supposed to be remade and become one. I assume animals and plants will still exist on this perfected Earth.

 

[Bear Wild]

C.S. Lewis said that a heaven for mosquitoes could be convenienly combined with a hell for humans, but no; animals do not have a soul to save. They have bodies, which return to dust, and spirit, which returns to God, and there is no more of them.

So heaven will by nothing but humans without any other forms of life? So you can look into the minds of animals and see they do not have any soul? Experience with animals seems to refute that.

 

[George-ananda]

How would domestication make them more advanced and therefor have a richer afterlife? Animals in the wild have a richer experience than most domesticated animals. And would it really matter either way?

The contact with and affection with humans can raise them to a higher level (to between the animal and human levels).

 

[FearGod]

If a god creates all live including all animals (humans being one of those animals) and also has a heaven to go to, do all animals (and plants for that matter) go to heaven? I know many people who have pets that believe they have souls and believe that they will meet their pets in heaven.

No one indeed knows, the one giving an answer is just guessing.

 

[SalixIncendium]

If a god creates all live including all animals (humans being one of those animals) and also has a heaven to go to, do all animals (and plants for that matter) go to heaven? I know many people who have pets that believe they have souls and believe that they will meet their pets in heaven.

This is the very subject that inexorably led me away from religion.

As early as I can remember, I've felt a closeness to animals.

Being raised in a Catholic household, I spent Sunday mornings in CCD.

One day, the class was discussing heaven and sin. I asked a nun if animals went to heaven like humans do, because while humans had to offer an act of contrition in order to earn a place in heaven, I had never seen an animal commit a sin. I was given a resounding no by the nun as after a brief heated debate, I was asked to remove myself from the classroom.

I was offered the same answer to whether or not animals go to heaven by any member of the clergy I spoke to. Since this was the consensus in the Church and not at all my view, the became the first step in my eventual departure from Catholicism.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

This is the very subject that inexorably led me away from religion.

As early as I can remember, I've felt a closeness to animals.

Being raised in a Catholic household, I spent Sunday mornings in CCD.

One day, the class was discussing heaven and sin. I asked a nun if animals went to heaven like humans do, because while humans had to offer an act of contrition in order to earn a place in heaven, I had never seen an animal commit a sin. I was given a resounding no by the nun as after a brief heated debate, I was asked to remove myself from the classroom.

I was offered the same answer to whether or not animals go to heaven by any member of the clergy I spoke to. Since this was the consensus in the Church and not at all my view, the became the first step in my eventual departure from Catholicism.

Very disappointing, since there are Catholic clergy who believe otherwise and there is no set doctrine on the answer. They shouldn't have treated you that way. The correct answer is "we don't really know, and are free to hope" or something along those lines.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Very disappointing, since there are Catholic clergy who believe otherwise and there is no set doctrine on the answer. They shouldn't have treated you that way. The correct answer is "we don't really know, and are free to hope" or something along those lines.

There are others who were raised Catholic that had similar experiences to mine...

"I learned Catholic doctrine taught that animals (even dogs) did not have souls and therefore did not go to heaven. (I also learned from a high school English teacher that animals are never to be referred to as “he or she,” a fact which horrified me)."

A heaven for all
______________________________

Popes go back and forth on the topic, and while none have come out and stated that animals go to heaven (Pope Francis came the closest), there have been those that stated they do not.

"Pope Pius IX is among the first of the popes to fully address the issue of animals going to heaven, though not favorably. He said that heaven is a place reserved for those with souls and a conscience, which animals don’t have. He is even reported to have opposed the founding of an animal anticruelty society in Rome in the 19th century “on the ground that to grant permission would imply that human beings have duties to the lower creatures,” says Peter Singer, an Australian philosopher who writes about animal rights."

Do dogs go to heaven?

"Pope Benedict XVI said God only gives access to heaven to humans."

A heaven for all
______________________________

Even this article states that Catholicism teaches animals cannot experience heaven...

"In order to answer the question we must first define heaven. According to the Catechism, heaven is a “state of supreme, definitive happiness” that involves a perfect “communion of life and love with the Trinity, with the Virgin Mary, the angels and all the blessed” (CCC 1024).

This definitive state of human happiness and communion of life and love presupposes the powers of rational knowledge and love, which animals do not have. Therefore, no non-human animal would be able to experience “heaven” as defined."

Do Pets Go to Heaven? | Catholic Answers