Will there be animals in heaven?

friend of said:

I used to think this question was silly and maybe I wouldn't have if I had had a dog growing up or something. But I was reading Psalms 104:27-29 and it made me realize that animals have a cognizance of God within them. Do animals have souls?

"When you hide your face they are terrified"

This also applies to humans. When we feel disconnected from God, its distressing.

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All of creation is waiting to be freed of the bondage

friend of said:

I used to think this question was silly and maybe I wouldn't have if I had had a dog growing up or something. But I was reading Psalms 104:27-29 and it made me realize that animals have a cognizance of God within them. Do animals have souls?

"When you hide your face they are terrified"

This also applies to humans. When we feel disconnected from God, its distressing.

Click to expand...

I don't think so in heaven, but I suspect that there will be on the new earth. At least I do hope so.
I don't think animals have souls/spirits.

friend of said:

I used to think this question was silly and maybe I wouldn't have if I had had a dog growing up or something. But I was reading Psalms 104:27-29 and it made me realize that animals have a cognizance of God within them. Do animals have souls?

"When you hide your face they are terrified"

This also applies to humans. When we feel disconnected from God, its distressing.

Click to expand...

Well, the heaven we are waiting for is just the new earth, restored from the effects of the fall. It is very possible that animals will still roam on earth in the next world, but I cannot tell you for sure. Isaiah uses the illustration of the wolf and the lamb of that blessed state, but I think those aren't to be taken literally, although it would teach us that in those passages that even the animals will be restored from the aftermath of the fall of man (ex. they will no longer prey on each other for food).

The soul of a man is the seat of God's image. His intellect, reason, morality, etc, are seated in the soul. The lower animals only have animal life, they do not possess the impression of the divine image. However, they do possess the breath of life that animates them here.

While I don't know for sure I'd like to believe that there will be animals in heaven,
including our old pets who have died.

yes....and trees.

Just conjecture here ...

Man comprises body, soul and spirit.

Body is our physical being. Soul is mind, will and emotions. Spirit is a non-locality, an ability to commune with God.

I think we would all agree that certain animals have a body and a soul-like element. Dogs, horses, etc., seem to be able to clearly express their mind, will and emotions. Do snakes? Crickets? Not so much.

I think in Genesis God gave us clues in that only certain animals were said to have "life" in them.

Only man, however, received the extra "breath of life" from God, and was made in God's image. That "image" has to be the spirit. Nobody believes, I hope, that God has a body like ours, or a soul like ours.

So, yes, I do believe there are animals in heaven, both the heaven that we currently think of, and the new heaven and new earth at the very end.

None of this I will try to defend as doctrine. It's just something to have fun pondering.

friend of said:

I used to think this question was silly and maybe I wouldn't have if I had had a dog growing up or something. But I was reading Psalms 104:27-29 and it made me realize that animals have a cognizance of God within them. Do animals have souls?

"When you hide your face they are terrified"

This also applies to humans. When we feel disconnected from God, its distressing.

Click to expand...

"soul" - is a person

Genesis 2

New American Standard Bible
Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being (soul in some translations).

Animals have the same "breath of life" that man has but is of course a different kind of created creature. The Bible does not reference animals being in heaven ... however there will be animals on the new earth.

Ecclesiastes 3:19 ESV
For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity.

Isaiah 65 (speaking about the new earth)

Berean Study Bible
The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but the food of the serpent will be dust. They will do no harm nor destruction on all My holy mountain,” says the LORD.

God Bless.

ewq1938 said:

Soul is also part of a person.

Soul has two definitions.

1: the word soul is an old English term that could be used in place of the word "person" or "human being".

2: the word soul is also the spiritual part of human beings (its moral aspect), and survives death and is subject to reward or punishment after judgment.


1Th_5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here we have all the parts that comprise a person: body, soul and spirit. The soul here is definition 2 not 1.


1Pe_3:20 Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

Here soul is speaking of all three, body soul and spirit together as a complete person and would be the soul of definition 1.

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"1: the word soul is an old English term that could be used in place of the word "person" or "human being". "

I go by the use and definitions according the the greek or hebrew, since those are the original languages they were written in.

Body (dust of the ground; the earth's elements) plus
Breath of life ("spirit" of life from God) equals
A living person (a soul).

Nowhere does the Bible speak of the soul as an immortal entity capable of living apart from our body. Neither does it speak of the spirit as an entity which can exist independent of our physical nature. We are not made of independent parts temporarily connected, but of body, soul, and spirit in one indivisible whole.

Others believe differently .... I agree to disagree

God Bless.