LBCF Chapter 32: Of Final Judgment

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Here we are now, chapter 32. If we'd started with this chapter, we would have been done already.
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Okay, this is of the last judgment, and again, this is part of eschatology, and again you'll notice that there will be no particular millennial statement, so that's why the confession is kind of inclusive of amil and postmil, especially historic premil, but it does rule out dispensational premil.
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This chapter is divided into three parts, three paragraphs, makes it nice and easy. This chapter also is essentially the same as the
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Westminster Confession of Faith, very little difference, okay? And this is the final chapter, so the last part, part four of the confession, is made up of only two chapters, and both of them very, very short, very concise, okay?
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Chapter, part one of chapter 32, the concept of the last judgment, and we look at paragraph 1a, the scriptural summary.
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Firstly, we go to the author. Who's the author of the last judgment? It's God. I mean, no problem there.
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It's occasion. He has appointed a day wherein he will judge, okay?
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There is a day, there is an appointed day, and that's a day that none of us will miss, none of us will be late.
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It's an appointment that we will all make. The object is the world.
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In other words, this is a worldwide judgment. This is not just something for believers or nonbelievers. It's a worldwide judgment, and the manner in which we're going to be judged in righteousness.
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Doesn't that sound good? How many people here have had anything to do with our court system, our criminal justice system?
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Frustrating, isn't it? I mean, I can't tell you how many times
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I went to court, and you've got everything, and something happens, whether it's a backroom deal or some technicality, and you see guilty people walk out, and then on the other hand, we know that some innocent people have been convicted.
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In God's court, it is perfect righteousness, perfect justice. It's mediator.
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No bail reform. No bail. It's mediator.
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It's Jesus Christ, that his judgment has been handed over to Christ by the
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Father, all right? And we see the messianic instrumentality, all right? That's to whom all power and judgment is given of the
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Father. So this is Jesus Christ in his role as the Messiah, that he will judge, and all power, all judgment is given to him by God the
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Father. It's absolute universality in which day not only the apostate angels shall be judged, all right, which they will be, all right, because there's perfect justice.
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Remember, there's no sin that has ever been committed or ever will be committed that will not be paid for perfectly.
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In fact, that's one of the, I use this frequently when I'm doing any some type of evangelism.
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Think about it this way. When you're talking to somebody, and you tell them, do you realize that every sin that you commit, or have been committed, or will commit, is going to be paid for perfectly?
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It'll be judged, and it will be paid for, the penalty will be paid. Now, the choice is this. Either you're going to pay it, or Christ.
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Here's the difference, but it will be paid for, okay? So, but likewise, all persons that have lived upon the earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ, and I like the way
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Waldron, these are his outlines that I've been using. Paragraph 1D, it's dual activity, giving and receiving.
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You say, what does that have to do with judgment? But look at how he puts it up. To give an account of thoughts, words, and deeds.
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The non -believer will say to give an account of everything, okay? And to receive, according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil, okay?
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That's something to think about. So, that's paragraph 1D.
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So, when you commit a sin, and you think nobody saw it, nobody knows,
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I'm gonna keep this all to myself, mom and dad say something. Nope, not me. Huh?
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Plenty of those? All right, it will be paid for.
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Everything will be opened. Everything is laid bare. Now, the goal of the last judgment, paragraph 2A, the identity of the goal.
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First goal is mercy in the salvation of the elect. Look, the end of God's appointing this day is for the manifestation of the glory of his mercy and the eternal salvation of the elect.
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Think about it. Just take a minute here, and think about all the sins you committed just today.
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We don't have time for that, do we? Think about all the sins you've committed in your life, okay?
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And now think of the fact that when you get to glory, if you're a believer, you get to glory, they've all been paid for.
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The debt is canceled. You think there's going to be glory and excitement and rejoicing in heaven by every one of us as we, you know, as we tell our story, you know, like that old hymn, tell me the old, old story.
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It will be my theme in glory, okay? So that's the first part of the goal is that God's mercy in salvation, he'll receive glory.
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Second part, he'll receive glory because of the justice and the damnation of the reprobate, and in his justice and the eternal damnation of the reprobate who are wicked and disobedient.
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We can glory in the damnation of the unbeliever because they are getting what they absolutely deserve.
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That, to some people, that sounds a little harsh, but let me ask you something.
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When you watch a movie, and it's good guys versus bad guys, and throughout the whole movie, the bad guy's getting away with it.
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He's getting away with it, and what are you doing? You're rooting for him. Somebody's got to catch this guy, right? The hero catches him finally, and he finally gets what he deserves, don't you?
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Yay! He just got shot in the head. Oh, come on now.
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Every one of us does the same thing, all right? But at the end of the age, it will be true because there will be perfect justice.
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There'll be no mistakes, and so we glorify God because of his perfect justice.
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The second part is the realization of the goal. First for the righteous, for then shall the righteous go into everlasting life.
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Now, of course, we get everlasting life here and now, but there we're talking about imperfection.
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We will go into everlasting life. Sin is removed. Everything is, all of that is blotted out, and you'll be with your
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Savior, with the saints for all eternity, okay?
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And receive the fullness of joy and glory with everlasting rewards in the presence of the Lord. Can you imagine what that's going to be like?
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Rewards. Christ did it all. He paid it all, and yet we're going to get rewards.
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Why? Because he earned it. Everything that he earned is accrued to us.
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I mean, the character of our God is incredible, that we sinful creatures share in the eternal heritance that Christ earned by dying on the cross, okay?
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For the wicked, but for the wicked who know not God and obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be cast aside from into everlasting torments.
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I don't even like to think about that. And punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the
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Lord and from the glory of his power. And now, of course, that's the glory, the magnificent glory.
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They will be under his power of condemnation, which is what makes it all the more horrible, horrible thought, okay?
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Then we come to the last paragraph of the last chapter and the impact of the last judgment.
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Firstly, the impact is part three, the beginning of part three, is of what is known and certain about the judgment.
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In other words, there are certain things that have been revealed to us in Scripture, all right?
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It's a deterrent from sin for all men. Look at what, as Christ would have us to be certainly persuaded that there shall be a day of judgment.
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Anybody who reads Scripture knows intellectually, if no other reason, that there will be a day of judgment, okay?
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And it's meant, why does Christ give us that information? To deter you from sin.
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I mean, it should be doing exactly that. I mean, if you understand what's facing people, what's facing you, all right?
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On the other hand, it's a consolation in adversity for the saints and for the greater consolation of the godly in their adversity.
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Each one of us goes through difficulties in this life. Christ promised us that.
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He says, in the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I've overcome the world.
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Okay, now think about it. When you're in the midst of adversity, when things don't seem fair, when you feel maybe like Aesop when he was writing
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Psalm 73, he's looking around and he's seeing the wicked prospering. And remember what
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Aesop said? He said, my foot almost slipped. He said, he almost wavered in his faith. But then what did he do?
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He said, but then I perceived their end. He said, I went into the sanctuary and I perceived their end. The consolation for us in the times of trouble that we know that there will be perfect justice.
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And while our friends who are wicked and seemingly partying, having a good time, they seem like they're getting the best of the deal.
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No, we may have to deal with adversity for an hour, but we will have eternity to glory in the love and the mercy and the grace of God.
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Part B, there's also things that we don't know and are uncertain about the judgment, and that's to cause us to be watchfulness against sin.
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So will he have a day unknown to men? Why do you think the scripture is absolutely silent about the day of judgment?
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Yeah, but given human nature, what would happen? We forget about it.
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We try to prepare for it. We wait until that day. Yes. If I know that I can, when the day of judgment is going to be,
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I can live how I want. I can have all the fun that I want and everything, and then I'll repent the day before it comes.
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Don't tell me that's exactly how we think. That's human nature. And so that's one of the main reasons why
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Christ does not reveal when that day is concerned. That's why all of these people,
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I don't care who they are, date setters. And how many date setters have we had over the years?
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They all have one thing in common. They're all wrong. All right.
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And none of them, you know what, when, who was it? Harold Camping. He predicted it was in 2012,
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September something of 2012. Somebody says, what do you think? I says, well, I'll tell you this.
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I don't know when the day of judgment is going to be, but I'll take odds it's not going to be that day. Okay. Watchfulness against sin, so that they may shake off all carnal security.
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We can't be confident in our sin that we will have opportunity, you know, to repent.
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And then the last part of what is unknown, uncertain about the judgment, eagerness for Christ's coming.
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And this is how the confession ends. And I think it ends on a perfect note, because they know not what hour the
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Lord will come and may ever be prepared to say, come Lord Jesus, come quickly.
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Amen. That's it. We don't know the date. We don't know.
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But come quickly, Lord, come whenever you want. And that's what we need to be is always, always ready, always ready.
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Thoughts or questions? Okay, Bob. Isn't it true that hell is eternal because of the fact that the non -believers can never truly pay for their sins?
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That could be part of it, but I think the biggest part of it is that it's eternal because they have sinned against an eternal
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God, and those sins warrant eternal punishment. But that could be a part of it as well.
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Ted. I don't know how much you want to go into this, but just for clarification for some who may not be familiar with all of the different eschatology and all the pre -millennial and non -millennial and so forth.
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But on the first chapter we took, on the last day, the point was made that there was no rapture.
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Well, I mean, that would be the day of the rapture, but there's no tribulation period.
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Okay, that's an excellent study. We've actually done that on a
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Wednesday evening. We did that study, and it's beyond the scope of what we're doing here. What we're trying to do here is just detail and teach what does the confession say, not to prove it one way or another, but just what does it say so that when people are looking to read the confession, they say, well, what exactly does that mean?
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Hopefully we're clarifying that. But we have done that, and I think those tapes, Anthony, are they available at all?
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Okay. Is there any chapter and verse on whether or not we will know each other when we get to heaven?
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Not specific. There's some indications that we would know, for example, like when
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Moses came back, they recognized him on the mount. All right, so I mean, there's indication, but is there anything specific addressing that?
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No, there really isn't. So there's a lot that we don't know.
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Okay, yes. So I know, I think Catholics believe in like the lake of fire.
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So do we. We do. Yes, we do. So is that different than hell? Yes. Hell is going to be cast into the lake of fire.
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That is the final judgment after the resurrection to dishonor of the wicked, then, and that's where the angel, and that, remember, that was the place that we reserved specifically for Satan.
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Satan's going to be cast into the lake of fire as well. Okay, so hell would basically be before the day of judgment.
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Yes. When the wicked die, that's where they go. Right. And then the lake of fire is after judgment.
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That's like the final destination for the wicked. Exactly. Okay, and then paradise, is that the only name that it's called in terms of before the day of judgment where the righteous go?
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Could be called Abraham's bosom in the one parable. You know, again, it's just a temporary place waiting for the final day, but it's a glorious place.
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We always talk about how we are bringing heaven to earth, like, little by little, because, like, as more people, like Christians, like, as people's eyes are opened, like, there's more
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Christians, and therefore, like, that's heaven being brought to earth. Yeah. But then in terms of after judgment, you're saying that heaven is a physical place.
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So is that like, is that different than saying that we are bringing heaven to earth?
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Yeah, it's two different things. When we talk about bringing heaven to earth, what we're really talking about is bringing the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God to earth in principle, all right?
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It's a euphemism. It's an analogy. We're not physically bringing heaven down, all right?
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What we're doing is we're bringing the righteous reign of the king to the world, which is what we have been commissioned to do.
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That's what the whole Great Commission is all about, baptizing, you know, and teaching the nations, baptizing all the nations, making disciples of them, all right?
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The kingdom is not necessarily a physical thing. No, it's not. It's the people.
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Remember what Jesus said? He says, if my kingdom were of this realm, he says, my disciples would be fighting, but my kingdom is not of this realm, all right?
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It's a spiritual kingdom, but supersedes all the other kingdoms. Yes. Will the glorified saint be on this earth?
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Like, is heaven, like the glorified saint, is it heaven and earth perfectly united?
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Yes. Okay. Absolutely. That's a good distinction. Yes. Yeah. Both heaven and earth are places, and since we will be human beings with bodies, we need a place.
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We're not going to be floating around in clouds with wings. Is that what the
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Garden of Eden was in terms of, like, the unity of heaven and earth? Yes. Good thing.
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Very perceptive. Yes. So, will we be reconciled with all creatures to, like,
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Ruby? Yes. And we've had, we actually, we just had a big discussion the other day about, you know, what animals will be in heaven, all right?
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And so, but I don't want to get into that. I think that scripture, I'm pretty convinced that there will be animals in the eternal state.
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But I don't see anything in scripture that would prohibit that. The question is, when you're at, when your pet dies, does their, do they have a soul that goes to heaven?