All Dogs Go to Heaven, Right?

The tongue has no bones but is strong enough to break a heart. 

So be careful with your words, Band-Aids won’t help here.  ~Anonymous

 

     Years ago, my heart broke as I listened to a young adult share her story with me about an incident that had happened to her when she was an eight-year-old child. Because my family had just dealt with the loss of our family pet and the feelings were still fresh, her story about the death of her beloved pet really resonated with me.

As adults, we must be very careful not to turn young hearts away from the faith with our words.  Some adult’s actions, explanations, lack of empathy, and their robotic responses to get their mission accomplished and get the world saved has done just that. (Notice emphasis, their mission, in certain circumstances their mission may not necessarily be God’s mission.)

Her story goes something like this, and I have loosely paraphrased it. The young and impressionable eight-year-old had attended church one Sunday morning. She had a saddened spirit that day because of the passing of her precious puppy several days earlier. As she sat in church service, she noticed the pew cards and a pen sitting in the wood pocket holder on the back of the pew directly in front of her. She knew that the cards were used to list out prayer requests, so she bravely took one of the cards and wrote about the loss of her puppy and placed it in the offering plate as it passed by.

Later that week a pastor from her church showed up at her home with a platter of cookies. Both her and her mother went to the front door and greeted the pastor. They stood at the door while they visited and shortly into the conversation her mother asked the pastor to comfort the distraught child by answering a question that she had about her dog. This was the first time this little girl had dealt with death, and she had a very important question that she needed answered. As with most people inquiring about death, she was hoping for a response that would give her peace and comfort during her time of bereavement.  

As she looked up at the pastor, this innocent child cautiously asked the question, “Is my dog in heaven?”

What happened next was quite honestly jaw dropping. The pastor quickly, and without any sensitivity at all, firmly stated that animals do not have souls so therefore they do not go to heaven, and she will not see her pet again. Uhh…you may be thinking what I thought…oh no, he did not say that to that poor little girl!

Needless to say, she was immediately traumatized. Her mother quickly grabbed the plate of cookies from the pastor’s hands and slammed the door shut in his face.

This was a home full of all kinds of beloved pets. As she ran to each critter she cried out, “None of them have souls??”  Her pain was horribly compounded by the insensitivity of an adult. An adult, in a pastoral position, who should have been able to assess the situation much better and used appropriate wisdom and judgment in handling this on a level that a small child could comprehend. Maybe he was caught off guard, I don’t know. This was a visit that started out with great intentions but quickly turned disastrous.

I apologized to this young adult for what had happened to her as a child. It wasn’t handled correctly, and I don’t know if it was ever made right for her. I do know that this was the first time that she had ever had to deal with the subject of death, and because of the way that her question was answered, she abandoned the faith for at least ten years, or more. The family never returned to that church either.

I have heard stories like this before and some of those individuals left the faith, never to return, simply because some life circumstance was not appropriately handled or explained by an adult who was supposed to be “in the know” when it came to matters of faith. Although I do not believe in sugar coating the truth, there is an appropriate way to talk to children on their level of understanding without destroying their hearts and their spirits. And I believe that it is okay to say that you don’t know the answer to some things. It would be arrogant for us to think that we have all the answers when it comes to faith questions.

We do not find it anywhere in the Bible that our pets go to heaven. Do they have souls like ours? I don’t think so. Do they have souls? I think some may have a type of soul. In dogs we know that they are loyal, can be trained, can sense when their master is sick before the master knows, and will hide when they hear your car pulling into the driveway after they destroyed a couch cushion! They know when they have done wrong. Do animals have personalities? Yes. Can they make the decision to follow Christ? No.  Do they have the Holy Spirit like us? No. We may not know all the answers when it comes to animals, but then again, the Bible wasn’t written for the animals, they are the innocence of creation.

So, what do we know about animals from reading the Bible? There are many verses written about them and one thing is very evident, they are important to God.

Listed in Genesis 1:20 -25 we read about the different kinds of animals that God created. Have you ever created or built something that turned out great? You kind of stand back and smile a bit at it, don’t you? God did the same thing. Verses 21 and 25 states that “God saw that it was good.”

He created magnificent creatures! Some are adorned with beautiful colors, feathers, scales, fur coats, and some with unique designs. Some are graceful while others are aggressive. Some take on human-like qualities, some make great pets, some are work animals, while others should remain in the wild. Some are simply glorious to look at and are intended for us to admire as a reminder that God exists, others can be intended for food (Genesis 9:3), a reminder to be thankful.  God put animals here on earth for us to enjoy, for our pleasure, and for us to love. Studies have proven that people who have a pet companion live longer and are healthier, happier human beings.

God cared for the animals by providing food for them in Genesis 1:30. In Genesis 1:26 God gave man dominion over the animals. The word dominion means to rule as Gods’ regent. That is, people are to rule as God would--wisely and prudently--over all that God has made. In Genesis 2:20, God had Adam name the animals.

In Genesis 6:7 we read where God was grieved that he had made man and the animals, but he saved man and animals, male and female of each kind, from the flood in Genesis 6:19. Psalm 36:6 “Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains, your justice like the great deep. O LORD, you preserve both man and beast.”

In the book of Leviticus, there are instructions for how to care for animals. In Deuteronomy 14:3-12, an Old Testament list is given for what animals not to eat. All is permissible under the New Testament, and modern society has determined what is acceptable for us to eat in today’s times.  

Yes, animals are important to Him, and he is good to all and has compassion for all that he has created. (Psalm 145:9) He proclaims in Psalm 50:10-12 that every animal of the forest and the cattle on a thousand hills are His. Every bird in the mountains and all creatures of the field are His. Everything in the world is His. Everything God created is good. (I Timothy 4:3-5)

Matthew 6:26 clearly states that we are more valuable than the animals. We should not worry about our life because God will provide what we need just like he does for the animals, but even more so. The Bible is a book about human faith, not animal faith. So, are there animals in Heaven?

Acts 10:11-15 verses describe a vision that Peter had where heaven opened and something like a sheet was lowered down to earth that contained four-footed animals, reptiles, and birds. And John describes different kinds of animals or beasts in heaven in the book of Revelation. Again, these are great visions given to John by the Holy Spirit. Revelation 4:6-9 describes the four living creatures who are found at the throne. Revelation 5:11-13 speaks of the angels encircling the living creatures and the elders at the throne. Verse 13 describes every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea singing.  Revelation 6:8 describes a horse. And there are other animal-like creatures described. Maybe animals are used in the visions so that we can relate, or maybe there are really creatures there. Isaiah 11:6-9 describes animals in the peaceful Kingdom of God after the Messiah returns to establish it.  

There just isn’t anything written in the Bible that tells us if our beloved pets go to heaven. With what we do know about God, animals, and heaven, I think we can answer a small child’s question with certainty that animals are important to God. He loves us and them. And I think we can assure a child that God is delighted with the way they had taken great care of their pet, a pet that God had given to them to love and enjoy.

We adults may not know all the answers to the questions that children ask us about their pets and heaven. The most important thing we can do is to make sure that we are sharing the facts accurately and with great care to children. We will be held accountable if we cause a child to stumble, walk away from the faith, and hinder their ability to make an informed decision about their faith. Even if their pets are not in heaven, we want to do all that we can to make sure that they are in heaven when the time comes.

I would love for you to respond to this article so that I can learn from your comments: How have you handled this question in the past, or how would you handle this question coming from a small child?

Debra Lee, Author & Keynote Speaker

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