Will There be Animals in Heaven?

Revealed Apologetics

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Alright, in this video, I'm going to cover the question, will there be animals in heaven? So you have a dog, maybe your dog's spike dies, gets hit by a car,

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I'm so sorry, these things happen, right? And this is the question, so will dogs be in heaven?

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Well first, I think the first important thing to keep in mind is that the Bible doesn't explicitly answer this question, but what the

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Bible does mention is that there is a vast distinction between human beings and animals, right?

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The Bible says in Genesis 1 -26 that we are created in the image of God, and when you take what the Bible says about the nature of man, it seems to be the case that man is comprised of two aspects, there is a physical aspect, his body, and an immaterial aspect, the soul, right?

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In Genesis 1 -26 and in Genesis 2 where it says that God formed man out of the dust of the ground, that's the physical, and breathed into him the breath of life, that's the spiritual aspect, right?

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And so from a biblical perspective, death is separation, right? From the biblical perspective, death is not ceasing to exist, death rather is separation of the physical body and the soul, the body goes in the ground, the soul goes to be with the

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Lord, right? To be absent from the body, to be present with the Lord, that passage in Corinthians is very relevant here. So there is a conscious existence after death for the human being who is made in the image of God, who is comprised of both body and soul.

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Animals, however, there does not seem to be indication within the scriptures that animals are composed of these immaterial and physical elements, at least not to my knowledge, okay?

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And so if animals are purely physical, they are responding to their environment, they perceive and respond to external stimuli, they are not having the kind of mental life that is inherent within a rational human being.

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I mean, again, this is a very important distinction between an animal and an image bearer of God. As being image bearers of God, we can think rationally, we think logically, we can entertain concepts and ideas, you know, the animals don't do that, right?

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They are responding to external stimuli, they do exhibit various behaviors that are similar to what human beings might put forth.

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But there is a vast difference, right? It is the human being who can reflect on his own existence, you know, deer in the forest don't say, you know, why do

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I exist, right? There's clearly a vast difference in the intellectual and rational life between an animal and a human being, right?

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So as image bearers of God, with this immaterial aspect to us, there seems to be, right, that clear indication in the scripture that we survive the death experience, that in this separation we go to be with the

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Lord, the body goes in the ground, whereas animals don't experience this in that way, okay?

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Now if animals are purely physical in nature, when they die, they, you know, death for the animal is the ceasing of existence, okay?

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So death for the human being is separation of body and soul, and the death for the animal, it would seem to be, is ceasing to exist, right?

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The animal no longer exists in the capacity that it did before. And so it seems to be the case that animals would not be going to heaven in that regard.

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However, there is the question, will there be animals in heaven? Well, when we take a look at the idea of heaven, you have to understand that when the believer dies and goes to be with the

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Lord, we're not gonna be in heaven forever. Contrary to popular opinion. From the Christian perspective, we believe in a new heavens and a new earth in which we will be raised from the dead, we'll have physical incorruptible bodies, and we will live in a newly created earth, right, where the dwelling place of God will be with men, right, and he will be with us.

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And this is gonna be a very physical existence, and in that particular aspect of heaven, the new heavens and the new earth, the question can then be asked, will there be animals there?

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I don't see why not. There's nothing that prohibits animals being in the new creation. I just think that whatever animals that may be there, they won't be your pet spike, unfortunately, right?

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So again, it's important to keep these things in a proper perspective. But again, interesting and fascinating question, which forces us to get into some really important theological issues.

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All right. Well, I hope this answers the question. I hope you guys find this interesting. If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to leave them in the comments.