Do our pets go to Heaven when they die?

I approach this subject with extreme ambivalence. Animal immortality is a social and theological minefield. Within my own family the debate rages. Will Buddy the dog pass on through the Pearly Gates to “Kibble and Bits” paradise?  If so, what of the other faithful family pets who have passed on out of this life. Does animal heaven include gold fish, hamsters, snakes and that pet tarantula that one of the kids had in jar. 

We have friends who view their dogs and cats as legitimate family members who are of  equal value as their children, siblings, or previous mates. I remember a customer coming into my place of business weeping uncontrollably because he had just come from dropping his dog at the vet to have some dental work done. He was fearful that Fido might not wake up from the anesthetic. He had no one else and could not imagine continuing life without his canine friend.  

Can pet immortality be proven from scripture? No it cannot. Can it be dis-proven from scripture? No it cannot. The bible is indeed silent on some issues.

Will there be football in heaven?

Is there ice cream in heaven?

Can we wear tennis shoes in heaven?

Many subjects obviously could not be addresses in Paul’s letters because of time and cultural differences, but why not the important question of eternal life for pets?

Even without direct solid scriptural citation for us to base a “dog- matic” (pun intended) doctrine, the bible gives general principles which are fodder for hopeful speculation. Still yet we have to be careful. Some have taken a verse or two and built an entire animal theology. We cannot allow ourselves to get carried away with our own emotional involvement to the topic.

Let’s look to the bible and try to get a handle on how animals fit into God’s creation.

Genesis 1:24-25 (ESV)  24  And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25  And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

Before God created man He created animals and said that they were good.

Genesis 1:28 (ESV)  28  And God blessed them (Adam and Eve). And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

God put mankind in authority over the animals. They are our responsibility.

Romans 5:12(ESV)  12  Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

 Romans 8:20-22 (ESV)  20  For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21  that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

 When man fell he brought sin and death into the world like a cancer. Not only did that death come to man but also the entire creation including the animals. The animals cannot choose right from wrong. We were given the responsibility to act on their behalf but we failed them and the rest of creation.  All die because of our rebellion.

 Ecclesiastes 3:18-21: “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals.  Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath (literally “spirit“); humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the human spirit rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”

 The entire creation is doomed apart from a divine intervention.

 Genesis 1:30 “And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.”

 Job 12:10 “In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath (literally “spirit”) of all mankind.”

 Genesis 2:7 (ESV)  7  then the LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

  God has breathed life into the animals. Not the same spiritual breath that God breathed into humans but still yet the breath of life.

Genesis 6:19-22 “You are to bring into the ark two of all living creatures, male and female, to keep them alive with you. Two of every kind of bird, of every kind of animal and of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you to be kept alive.  You are to take every kind of food that is to be eaten and store it away as food for you and for them.” Noah did everything just as God commanded him.”

 Genesis 7:22 (ESV)  22  Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died.

Genesis 9:9-10 “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth.”

Genesis 9:16 “Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

God began the process of reestablishing what had been corrupted by mankind in the garden.

Hosea 2:18 “In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety.”

 Luke 12:6 “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God.”

 The lions whom God commanded not to harm Daniel Daniel 6:22

 All the animals that God commanded to present themselves to Adam to be named Genesis 2:19

A raven was assigned to bring food to Elijah 1 Kings 17:4-6

The donkey through whom God spoke Numbers 22:21- 41

God loves the animals and they unlike their human counterparts obey their creator.

 Romans 8:22-25 (ESV) 22  For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23  And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.24  For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25  But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Ephesians 1:10 “That in the dispensation of the fullness of the times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in Heaven and which are on earth – in Him.”

Isaiah 11:6-9 reads, “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.”  Here is the Word of God declaring that animals will still exist in the future, after Christ’s reign begins.

Revelation 19:11-14 …And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.”

Revelation 5:13…“And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.”

 Our Lord Jesus Christ came to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found. In Christ the curse of the Fall is reversed. Christ proclaims: “Behold, I am making all things new.” Revelation 21:5

After the thousand year Millennial Reign of Christ, God says, “Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth…” (Isaiah 65:17),  and then mankind and animals will enjoy a redeemed Earth where they will never have to face death or suffering throughout a never ending Eternity.

“And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”  Revelation 21:4

We and the animals wait and look forward to the time when again God can look down on His creation and say “it is very good”.

So Maybe we can’t prove from scripture one way or the other that our pets go to heaven, but what do theologians, Christian writers and ministers of the gospel think about the subject?

God has a special reason and place for each of His created beings. Animals, too, have a purpose in God’s creation. Man, as the highest order of creation, has been given dominion over the animal kingdom (Genesis 1:26-28). We believe that animals were intended for man’s enjoyment and use. The Bible itself does not indicate that there is life after death for animals. It may be that God’s purpose for animals is fulfilled on this earth. However, if animals would make us happier in heaven, surely there will be a place for them there. Some Bible interpreters have called attention to Isaiah’s description of the peace of God’s future kingdom where he says that “the wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox” (Isaiah 65:25). Heaven will lack nothing that is good and that will bring glory to God. Billy Graham

Randy Alcorn in his book called “Heaven” believes that animals will be present in the Kingdom of Heaven.  Famous Christian authors who believe that pets go to heaven include: C. S. Lewis, Peter Kreeft, Niki Behrikis Shanahan, James Herriot, and dozens and dozens of others; the list of Christian pastors, theologians, and clergy is too long to list here. Suffice it to say that a lot of Christians believe that pets do go to heaven and that there will be animals in heaven. (1 )

Are there animals in heaven? The simplest answer is: Why not? How irrational is the prejudice that would allow plants (green fields and flowers) but not animals into Heaven![69] Much more reasonable is C. S. Lewis’ speculation that we will be “between the angels who are our elder brothers and the beasts who are our jesters, servants, and playfellows”.[70] Scripture seems to confirm this: “thy judgments are like the great deep; man and beast thou savest, O Lord”.[71] Animals belong in the “new earth ,[72] as much as trees.

C. S. Lewis supposes that animals are saved “in” their masters, as part of their extended family.[73] Only tamed animals would be saved in this way. It would seem more likely that wild animals are in Heaven too, since wildness, otherness, not-mine-ness, is a proper pleasure for us.[74]The very fact that the seagull takes no notice of me when it utters its remote, lonely call is part of its glory.

Would the same animals be in Heaven as on earth? “Is my dead cat in Heaven?” Again, why not? God can raise up the very grass;[75] why not cats? Though the blessed have better things to do than play with pets, the better does not exclude the lesser. We were meant from the beginning to have stewardship over the animals;[76] we have not fulfilled that divine plan yet on earth; therefore it seems likely that the right relationship with animals will be part of Heaven: proper “petship”. And what better place to begin than with already petted pets? 

[69] St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, III (Supplement), 91, 5 
[70] C. S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength, p. 378. 
[71] Psalm 36:6. 
[72] Revelation 21:1. 
[73] C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, pp. 138-39. 
[74] C. S. Lewis, Miracles, p. 78. 
[75] Psalm 90:5-6. If we are “like grass”, and we are raised, grass can be raised too. 
[76] Genesis 1:28. 

Fourteen Questions About Heaven: Peter Kreeft

 The Bible does not give any explicit teaching on whether pets/animals have “souls” or whether pets/animals will be in heaven. However, we can use general biblical principles to develop some clarity on the subject. The Bible states that both man (Genesis 2:7) and animals (Genesis 1:30;6:17;7:15,22) have the “breath of life”; that is, both man and animals are living beings. The primary difference between human beings and animals is that humanity is made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27), while animals are not. Being made in the image and likeness of God means that human beings are like God, capable of spirituality, with mind, emotion, and will, and they have a part of their being that continues after death. If pets/animals do have a “soul” or immaterial aspect, it must therefore be of a different and lesser “quality.” This difference possibly means that pet/animal “souls” do not continue in existence after death.

Another factor to consider is that animals are a part of God’s creative process in Genesis. God created the animals and said they were good (Genesis 1:25). Therefore, there is no reason why there could not be animals on the new earth (Revelation 21:1). There will most definitely be animals during the millennial kingdom (Isaiah 11:6;65:25). It is impossible to say definitively whether some of these animals might be the pets we had while here on earth. We do know that God is just and that when we get to heaven we will find ourselves in complete agreement with His decision on this issue, whatever it may be.( 2 )

 John Calvin, Martin Luther, John Wesley, St. Francis of Assisi, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, all believed in some form of future pet paradise.

 Martin Luther, the “Father of the Protestant Reformation” and founder of the Lutheran church said, “In Paradise there was complete harmony between man and animals; one day again that harmony will be restored and all creation will be made anew.”

 John Calvin, the founder of Reformed theology, stated that creatures too “will be liberated along with the children of God…they shall enjoy happiness without interruption, for the Father of all has a tender regard for even His lowest creatures.”

John Calvin, commenting on Romans 8:21-23, “Creatures are not content in the present state and yet they are not so distresses that they pine away without a prospect of a remedy, a restoration to a better state. “

St. Francis of Assisi. He preached to man and beast the universal ability and duty of all creatures to praise God (a common theme in the Psalms) and the duty of men to protect and enjoy nature as both the stewards of God’s creation and as creatures ourselves.

 When we really think about the character of God, it is not hard to imagine that He would want to bless us with our pets after death. After all, He knows how special they are to us. And the love we had with them is, as I just said, a precious gift from Him. He is in the business of surprising people with more than they could hope. When His word says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has ever conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him,” (1 Corinthians 2:9) it must mean that we are in for many wonderful surprises.  (3)

Cambridge professor C. S. Lewis wrote that he believed that animals may enjoy immortality along with their masters. In her book on Heaven, Joni Eareckson wrote that she expected God to bring our pets back to life in eternity. Theologians John Piper and Dr. R. C. Sproul have also expressed their expectation of seeing beloved pets in Heaven. (4)

Rom_8:21 “creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption” Nature will be a part of eternity (cf. Isa_11:6-10). Heaven is coming back to a recreated earth (cf. Mat_5:18; Mat_24:35; 2Pe_3:10; Rev_21:1). The future may well be a return to Eden’s bliss; fellowship between God and mankind, individual to individual, mankind to animals, and mankind to the earth! The Bible begins with God, mankind, and the animals (i.e., Isa_11:6-9) in fellowship and harmony in a garden setting (cf. Genesis 1-2) and the Bible ends in a similar way (cf. Revelation 21-22). Dr. Bob Utley, Dallas Theological Seminary

 “I have been warned not even to raise the question of animal immortality, lest I find myself ‘in company with all the old maids’/ I have no objection to the company… Nor am I greatly moved by jocular inquiries such as ‘Where will you put all the mosquitoes?’ – a question to be answered on its own level by pointing out that, if the worst came to the worst, a heaven for mosquitoes and a hell for men could very conveniently be combined.” 
― C.S. Lewis

“Man was appointed by God to have dominion over the beast, and everything a man does to an animal is either a lawful exercise, or a sacrilegious abuse, of an authority by Divine right. The tame animal is therefore, in the deepest sense, the only ‘natural’ animal—the only one we see occupying the place it was made to occupy…”C.S.Lewis

Lewis believes that animals receive a sense of self or personality from association with their human masters. We give our pets names and they answer to those names (hopefully), and perhaps recognize themselves by them. “If a good sheepdog seems ‘almost human’ that is because a good shepherd has made it so,” says Lewis. Lewis suggests, acknowledging that he is going out on a theological limb, that animals “attain a real self in their masters in a sense similar to the way human attain real life in Christ.” “And in this sense,” suggests Lewis, “it seems to me that certain animals may have an immortality, not in themselves, but in the immortality of their masters.”

Lewis readily admits that all of this is guesswork: “When we are speaking of creatures so remote from us as wild beasts, and prehistoric beasts, we hardly know what we are talking about.” For all we know, these beasts have a corporate self: it will not be the individual lion that survives, but some sort of “Lionhood” that will enter into eternal life. This surviving entity may be something that is simply beyond the scope of our corporal understanding. Animals that have enjoyed a positive personal relationship with a human, Lewis believes, have a better theological chance at immortality.

So we just don’t know for sure whether our dog went to heaven, but scripture does not deny the possibility, and C.S. Lewis gives us some imaginative ideas to give us hope that we may see Bruno again, running toward us across a green field in Paradise, tail wagging. Lewis, C.S. The Problem of Pain.

There are some (and you know who you are) who believe the idea of pets in heaven is ridiculous and non-biblical.

I think I really like the C. S. Lewis approach. There are no accidents in God’s creation. That pet who sits by your feet every night was sent there by God to show you, agape, God kind of unconditional love. As God gave Adam the animals in his garden to have relationship and fellowship with, our pets are the animals that God has put in our little garden for us to take care of and be responsible for. As Christians we are now ”new creations in Christ”. We are now declared “very good” in God eyes, because of the vicarious sacrificial work of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection to new life. I now would like to think that Buddy the dog is now residing in my little piece of “the Garden of God” and he will move with me and “my house” to our new residence in that place that Jesus went to prepare for us.

All dogs go to heaven Image By: Charles Barsotti

(1) http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/do-animals-or-pets-go-to-heaven-a-biblical-analysis/#ixzz2p9lcSCP2

(2) http://www.gotquestions.org/pets-heaven.html#ixzz2p9otEJuN

(3) http://jmazarin.hubpages.com/hub/A-Christian-Look-at-Animals-in-Heaven-and-a-Personal-Story

(4) http://www.slideshare.net/frontfel/will-animals-be-in-heaven

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