Animals not in heaven!?
Perish the thought!
To the editor:
All my life I heard pastors and evangelists rant that animals would never inhabit Heaven. It seemed at times they were almost gleeful when reflecting on this scenario, though I never could understand why. Neither could I comprehend their reasoning to back this theory. Now that I’m older and, hopefully, wiser, I know why their reasoning, not only seemed, but was, badly flawed.
Basically, their whole theory rests on two scriptures: A. Ecclesiastes 3:21 which states “Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?” and B. Genesis 2:7 which states “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”
In the former verse, Solomon is lamenting that He has withheld nothing from his enjoyment, tried everything the world has to offer him, and now it gives him no pleasure. In other words he’s depressed and He is questioning “What good is anything?” He’s questioning God and in talking about this he questions, paraphrasing here, “Who knows if man’s spirit goes upward and the beast or animals’ goes downward?” He’s posing a question here, not making a statement! Now I’m not the sharpest tack in the bunch, but I do know you don’t settle an answer with an inquiry. It would be like me saying “Who knows if water is made of hydrogen and carbon?” I posed a question that today we know is a false presumption, — that water is not made of hydrogen and carbon, but hydrogen and oxygen. Therefore, this verse proves nothing about where an animal’s spirit actually goes.
The second verse uses the word “soul” when dealing with the creation of man. The naysayers contend, since the word “soul” is not used in the creation of animals, men are the only ones going to Heaven. However, the “soul” is made up of three components: the spirit, the will and emotions. Anyone who loves animals knows they have all three of these in spades. Also, throughout the Bible, “soul” and “spirit” are used interchangeably. This totally debunks this argument, since both man and animals have spirit. Eccl. 12:7 says “Then shall the dust return to the Earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” Therefore the spirits of all this creations will return to be with God eternally.
Next time, I will explain why I, not only think, but I know animals will be in Heaven.
Clare Kierstead
Presque Isle
