DO PETS
GO TO HEAVEN?
"And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the heavens,
and to every creeper on the earth which has in it a living soul..."
Genesis 1:30
The question of animals in Heaven has been a constant area of
discussion and debate between religions and denominations and
interpretation of scripture for as long as there has been spiritual
doctrine. For those of us that have known that special and
very real unconditional love, loyalty and companionship of a
beloved pet, we are less apt to even ask the question, "Do
animals have souls?" or "Do animals go to Heaven?"
When we have known such love and such joy as they have brought
into our lives, and when we have witnessed first hand the light
leaving their eyes at death and cloud over in stillness, we know
that "they have gone." To watch that light go out in the eyes of a
human being at the moment of death is exactly the same as the
light going out in the eyes of one of God's creatures.
That living spirit is what gives the body - any body - life! The
living soul that inhabits each and every living creature and emanates
directly from the Father! As human beings, we have been given by
our Father FREE WILL. He has given us the free will to choose
good from evil, to choose right from wrong and to choose HIM.
The animals in God's kingdom live within a different role than
we have been given. They remain in balance and live by the
divine laws that God has set into place - so perfectly that every
equation in nature is mathematically perfect! God has not
left out any details! The rotation of the earth, the seasons, the
earth's place in the solar system - the role that each living thing
plays in the balance of God's harmonious creation is so perfect in
its wonder, that I wonder how anyone could even imagine how it
could simply be random bunch of gases and chemical mixes.
When people ask where is the proof that there is a God, I ask them
to look in the mirror and tell me how they came to consciousness
and even into existence at all and tell me that there is no
intelligence greater than our tiny selves.
When we talk about the "soul" we are talking about the essence
of being, the spirit that moves us and brings us to life. Without
the soul, such as after death occurs, our bodies turn to a cold stone.
Within hours after death, the body is hard as a rock and begins to
decay rapidly, for the soul has fled. That essence of life that
breathed and lived and kept that heart beating has fled the body.
The soul has returned to spirit and to heaven from which it came.
How could a living creature look at you and feel and love you
and communicate with you, if you were no more than chemicals.
Chemicals are just properties and have no conscious awareness.
Even fish have awareness, even if it is only in a limited way.
God needs them to play the part that they play in His creation,
so He has given them just the right sized brains and the right kind of
awareness to participate in the way that He has called them, so that
this beautiful world has come to life and be sustained. Without
each plant, mammal, bird, fish, reptile, insect or human being
playing their part, God's creation would not be sustained.
So He gives each of His creations their part to play within the
environment that they live. Where they LIVE! They are living - and
life comes from the spirit. Without spirit there is no life, as we see
when the body turns to stone after death and quickly vanishes into
nothingness as it decays. Spirit, however is eternal and ever-living
and does not die. Spirit is outside the confines of physical space
and lives eternally in the realm of Heaven, which is our true home.
We are no more than visitors here and when we return to our real
home - with God in our true body, which is of Living Spirit.
Can we truly imagine a Heaven that is only clouds and harps?
Would Heaven not be rather filled with more beautiful, more radiant
colors than our earthly rainbow can even hold? When we go to
beautiful places or look upon a beautiful sunset or pastoral vista, we
are moved and inspired. We often remark "Oh, how heavenly is this,"
and we are reminded of God. I believe that this is because
something in us knows intuitively that Heaven is not a place
void of beauty and only filled with the souls of people.
Even here on earth, we could not imagine a place that has only
human beings. We reach for ALL life in all of the forms that
God created - we love animals and we something in them that is
divine and gentle, kind and good and sweet and innocent, and we
know in our hearts that this is God's hand at work.
My answer to the question, "Do animals go to Heaven?" is this:
Would it be Heaven if your pets were not there? We don't even like
to go to places on earth where our pets are not welcome. Such living
expressions of unconditional love that have come and gone from this
world, able to touch our hearts and souls and change us from inside out,
can only be from God's living love.
There are several passages in the Bible that I always refer to when
people ask me about animals in heaven.
Genesis 1:30
And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the
heavens, and to every creeper on the earth which has in it
a Living Soul.
Revelation 19:11
I saw Heaven standing open and there before me was
a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True...
The rider is our Beloved Lord Jesus, and He rides a white horse
coming out of Heaven. So we see that God's creatures are
important to Him, both here and in Heaven. They are living spirit
and come into our lives not too different from little angels here
on earth. They bless our lives in countless ways and change
us for the better from within. Only Living Love can do that, and
Living Love has the ability to bless us in such dear ways, healing
our hearts and invoking from us such innocent and gentle love
that we might not otherwise express.
These are companions that the Father sends us through His grace
and mercy that we might know and learn from their example
about the spiritual qualities that we hold in such high regard.
Our pets already know them and show them, for they are that
living spirit and come directly from God without malice, without
hatred and without greed. If there was no soul and if animals
were not from Heaven, then our pets would be nor more than
inanimate rocks that lack the ability to express the
qualities so divine in nature.
We learn from the example of Saint Francis of Assisi how to look
at all life in the way Jesus taught us. God has given us
instruction in Genesis to take care of His world, and has given us
dominion over His animals. But He gave us intelligence in order that
we would know how to do that and He expects us to use it to take
care of ALL of His children - the 2-footed, the 4-footed, the winged,
the finned, the feathered and the ones with no legs or feet or wings
at all. He has given us that responsibility. God did not say,
"Here are my creatures. They do not matter, so destroy them.
We see with the story of Noah that God took great care to make
sure that all of His animals would be safe and cared for in
the ark. He gave Noah the most important job in that moment in time -
to care for His creatures. Whether we personally interpret the
Bible literally or metaphorically, the lesson is the same: God's
creatures are in our care and He expects us to be good
Shepherds and diligent stewards.
In the story of Noah's Ark, God did not instruct Noah to go
around and gather married couples that provided different skills
in the community. God wanted His animals saved and protected
so that they could again live and thrive on the land and renew the
balance once the storm had passed. God saved all His creatures
great and small.
Jesus taught us to love and to live by compassion. Through
examples such as Saint Francis, we learn humility and kindness
towards all living creatures. We learn that through this
humility and humble service, we become better human beings,
living as God has instructed. Again and again, Jesus uses
the analogy of lambs and the Shepherd to describe and explain
so many divine principles. Would the little lamb be merely a
walking ball of wool without any feeling, Jesus would not have
chosen this little example of gentleness and innocence
to teach us so many things.
From Heaven God's creatures have come. God has instructed
us that we have dominion over them, which is an awesome and
holy responsibility. We must become better stewards for His
creatures and watch over His kingdom and His creation through
our own expanding compassion, understanding and diligence
and make sure that when we enter Heaven's gate, where all of
God's creatures run and play in beautiful fields of heavenly
flowers, that our Lord reaches out with the
animals looking on, and says,
"Well done, good and faithful servant."
Rev. Sandra Lynn Shaw
Chaplain of the Pets
           
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