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Theology

Will animals go to Heaven?

What happens when animals die? The question of whether animals exist in heaven has been debated for centuries. Do people share the same spirit and afterlife destination as animals? Will pet owners see their beloved pet again? Will their pet go to heaven?

For many these are sentimental, frivolous questions. For others they are important. Children especially will want to know about the fate of their dead pets. What are we going to tell them when they ask?

Cats, dogs, birds and more

Children are routinely told that their pet has gone to heaven. Someone wrote to Randy Alcorn, the author of Heaven, "My children are hoping extinct animals will be in Heaven, maybe even dinosaurs." Alcorn thought it a possibility, arguing that the primary beings shown articulating God's praise in Heaven, along with the angels and human beings, are animals.

Even in secular society many people tend to believe in an afterlife for our fellow creatures. Gift shops sell collector plates depicting “feline paradise” showing that the lost kitten enjoys a magnificent afterlife in paradise. A Hollywood version of dog afterlife is described in the full-length feature film All Dogs Go To Heaven.

Evangelical author Angela Hunt argues in her 2005 novel Unspoken that birds and horses and creatures are in heaven now. For proof she refers, for example, to Elijah being taken to heaven by a chariot of fire and horses (2 Kings 2:11). She says that when her “buddy Justus” (a 275-pound mastiff dog) died, she promised him that she would meet him in heaven. “My heavenly Father loves me, he loves his creatures, and I am almost certain I'll meet my beloved Justus in eternity.”

Cute little furry almost humans?

Why have so many people in North America become so sentimental about their pets? Some suggest that the growth of cities and suburbs has deprived most North Americans of instrumental contacts with animals. Many suburbanites have never spent time on a farm and with farm animals. They have not seen what they are like. Consequently, they romanticize animals as quite human-like, though more innocent and pure.

This humanization of pets encouraged sentimentalism. Many pet owners keep photos of their pets in their wallets or on their desks; some celebrate their pets' birthdays. Estates have been left to cats and dogs. Some even use the services of pet psychologists. While no one would wish to denigrate pets, our modern affluent society frequently puts more value on pets and even wild animals than on people.

The current trend toward the humanization of animals contributes to the blurring of the boundaries between man and animals. The theory of evolution, New Age philosophy, and the rhetoric of the animal rights movement have greatly impacted our society's attitude toward animals. The recent movement for the protection of animals usually labeled "animal liberation" or "animal rights" is often in the news. The more uncompromising among the animal liberationists have demanded equal moral consideration on behalf of cows, pigs, chickens, and other apparently "enslaved and oppressed" animals. Many animal liberationists put their ethic into practice by becoming vegetarians. In Rattling the Cage. Toward Legal Rights for Animals Steven M. Wise, a lawyer promoting animal rights, declares that it should be obvious that "the ancient Great Wall" that has for so long divided humans from every other animal is biased, irrational, unfair, and unjust. He believes it is time to take it down. Consequently, in his book he strongly argues for the extension of personhood to chimpanzees.

The “talking” gorilla

But if chimpanzees are supposedly people, why can't we communicate with them?

This type of thinking led to research on animal communication and intelligence. Several historic attempts were made to teach human language to animals. In the 1960s R.A. and B.T. Gardner, in extensive studies carried out in America, considered the possibility that although primates might be unable to vocalize speech, perhaps they could learn to communicate with their hands via sign language. So they set out to teach an eleven-month female chimpanzee – Washoe – the sign language used by deaf people. But it should be noted that the sign language they taught (called Ameslan) is constructed differently from spoken or written language, so direct comparison with human speech is difficult.

Experiments have also been made with a gorilla. The American Gorilla Foundation portrays gorillas as part of the human family. In 1972 Penny Patterson began to teach sign language to Koko, a gorilla born in the San Francisco Zoo. This experiment promoted the idea that animals have human qualities. It also contributed to the animalizing of man. The Gorilla Foundation's funding appeal stated that Patterson's experiment resulted in "an astonishing breakthrough in our understanding of the world. The news is that a very remarkable gorilla named Koko has changed myth into fact...by speaking to humans." The public was invited to "become part of Koko's extend family."

Christian author Angela Hunt expresses some interesting but speculative thoughts about animals in her novel Unspoken, a story about a talking gorilla.

In the novel Unspoken Christian author Angela Hunt writes that many years ago she saw a video about Dr. Penny Patterson and Koko, and she thought then that their story contained the seeds of a novel. Recently she saw an updated version of the video and that's when she knew the time to write had come. Besides the video inspiration, Hunt's novel shows indebtedness to the views of Randy Alcorn, who combines Biblical exegesis, evangelical theology, and imaginative speculation about heaven and the new heaven and earth. It is not surprising, therefore, that Unspoken is highly recommended by Alcorn.

The main characters in Hunt's novel are a young woman named Glee Ganger and Sema, a western lowland gorilla, who was entrusted to the care of Glee. Glee – not a Christian in the beginning of the book, conducts unique research in the field of interspecies communication. She teaches Sema, who is fascinated with words, how "to talk" by using American Sign Language. She says that her research has proven that Sema not only understands the words for most common things and activities; she also has a firm grasp on many abstract concepts. Glee believes that Sema is a thinking animal. She frequently evidences signs of advanced intelligence, even intuition. Glee treats Sema as her child and calls the young gorilla "sweetie" and other endearing names. She reads picture books aloud to her. She even asks, which book do you like to read? Sema answers: "Pumpkin Patch."

Sema also knows God and communicates with Him. Glee asks, “Sema? Why did you talk about God?" Sema replies, "Because God is." Sema also says, "Word made world, word loves Sema, word made gorillas people apples bears." "Sema good gorilla Sema loves God thanks."

Will Sema go to heaven? To be with God? Sema believes she will. "God make trees sky. God make home gorillas people." How does she know? Sema says a shiny angel had told her these things. At the novel’s conclusion Sema meets a tragic, but heroic end. She dies protecting Glee from a tiger which got loose in the zoo and charged at Glee. She saved Glee's life by tackling the tiger. As Sema is dying she says, "Shiny man say... Sema go now. Sema happy. Sema love." Glee, therefore, believes she will see Sema in heaven. Sema's sacrificial death is also instrumental in Glee becoming a Christian. And Glee testifies, "How ironic that animal could be used to bridge the gap between me and God."

Many questions

The humanization of animals, pretending they are so much like us, is also an animalization of humans.

The humanization of animals and the belief that they go to heaven raises many questions. Historically, people didn't always view animals in a positive light. Negative qualities of animals are often mentioned in reference to humans such as "as evil as a hyena," "as sly as a fox." In the early fourteenth century, Dante had condemned to the eighth circle of his Hell those guilty of "the sins of the wolf": seducers, hypocrites, conjurers, thieves and liars.

In the Bible there is also a reference to animals capable of being possessed by an evil spirit. Jesus allowed a demon to enter a herd of pigs who rushed into the lake and were drowned (Mark 5:1-13). William Barclay adds his comments about those who criticize Jesus for allowing the death of the pigs: "We do not, presumably, have any objections to eating meat for our dinner, nor will we refuse pork because it involved the killing of some pig. Surely if we will kill animals to avoid going hungry, we can raise no objection if the saving of a man's mind and soul involved the death of a herd of these same animals.... in God's scale of proportions, there is nothing so important as a human soul."

Are animals able to "talk"? Alcorn claims that this is possible. He refers to the account of the serpent speaking to Eve in the Garden of Eden. He argues, "There's no suggestion Eve was surprised to hear an animal speak, indicating that other animals also may have spoken." He also mentions the story of Balaam and his donkey (Numbers 22). He suggests that the wording of the text doesn't suggest God put words in the donkey's mouth, as in ventriloquism – He "opened the donkey's mouth," permitting it to verbalize what appears to be actual thoughts and feelings.

I believe Alcorn and Hunt are mistaken. For example, the vocal tracts of gorillas are constructed so they can't speak. They can be trained to make signs. But they can't produce verbalized speech. They do not have structured grammatical language. They are deprived of reason and forethought. And they cannot, which may be highly significant, draw representational pictures. Newspapers have reported on monkeys daubing on a canvass and receiving an art award. But at best they only doodle. Furthermore, it is not possible for them to search for a solution to a puzzle, let alone ask them what they see or hear or smell, or what they think of their cage-mates, or of us and our experiments. Man can verbalize his thoughts in speech. The uniqueness of human language reveals man's intellect, will, emotion and general ideas about space and time, and abstract concepts. It is man's key to communicate concerning the past, the present and the future.

Calvin brings human speech in its proper Biblical framework. He notes:

"The use of the tongue and ears is to lead us into the truth by means of God's Word that we may know how we were created incorruptible and that when we are passed out of this world there is a heritage prepared for us above, and in short to bring us to God."

Do animals have a soul that continues to exist after death? On the one hand Alcorn argues that they have "non-human souls." On the other hand he says that though man continues to exist after death, it "may not be the case for animals." But the Bible does not say that animals have souls. But neither does the Bible deny this. The question whether animals have a soul is not new. The medieval theologian St. Thomas Aquinas decreed animals were soulless, and graded them according to their utility to people. Wolves, bears, and hairy beasts useless to human comfort were demonic.

The twentieth century Reformed theologian R.C. Sproul observes:

"Traditionally many have been persuaded that there is no future life for animals. The Bible does not teach that animals go to heaven. One of the key arguments against the idea that animals do not survive the grave is the conviction that animals do not have souls. Many are convinced that the distinctive aspect that divides humans from animals is that humans have souls and animals do not."

Will animals be with the Lord in the intermediate heaven, the stage of eternal life before the coming of the New Heaven and Earth? An animal is not religious. Man is incurably religious. Even in his denial of God man struggles with the God question. Dr. J.H. Bavinck comments that:

"in his religion man is aware that he is not alone because he knows that he is living in the immediate presence of someone who is infinitely greater than he."

Only in man do heaven and earth meet each other. Animals were not created for a life in the heavenly realms. The Bible clearly states that eternal life is not merely "life after death" (cf. John 3:16). The twice born have eternal life right now.

But the Gospel does not only mention heaven, but also hell. Apart from the saving work of God carried out when He gave his Son for our sin on the cross of Golgotha, He would have to assign us the agony of hell. The Gospel also proclaims that there is only one way to God the Father. "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Our Lord Jesus said, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him" (John 6:44). These texts do not include animals being drawn to the Father through Jesus Christ. Only man is capable of having a personal relationship with the infinite personal triune God.

Man created in the image of God

The Bible affirms the dignity of man. Man is sharply distinguished from the rest of God's creation. He is unique! Nothing in creation can be greater or have more dignity than man, for God alone is greater (Ps. 8). Man is different from all other creatures; he is created in the very image of God. Man, as God's image bearer, is elevated above animals and destined to have dominion over all the world (Gen.1:16, Ps. 8:5-9). Of all God's acts of creation recorded in Scripture, this is the only one preceded by the statement that God, as it were, consulted Himself before acting ("And God said, 'Let us make man'" (Gen. 1:26)). This formal fact alone is of great importance because it shows that this creative act differs from all the others. It is the fact that God created only man and woman in His image and likeness (vv.16-27). In the New Testament mankind is also referred to as being "made in God's likeness" (Jam. 3:9). The apostle Paul describes Christ as the perfect image of God. He says, “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:18).

Scripture testifies that man is a worker and developer. He is the steward of God's world and has been called by God to responsibly enfold creation through his work. Animals and plants are under his dominion. Adam named the animals (Gen. 2:19,20). Scripture also shows that people are allowed to use animals as work animals and for food (Gen. 9:3). Man is the scientist at work in God's laboratory – earth.

People may speculate whether animals go to heaven. But Scripture shows that the world is to be understood only in relation to man. Calvin notes, "The Lord Himself by the very order of creation has demonstrated that He created all things for the sake of man." The world created and endowed as a habitation for man in such a way as to serve his true destiny in the worship and adoration of God. The first question of The Westminster Larger Catechism asks, “What is the chief and highest end of man” The answer? “Man's chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully enjoy him for ever.” The same belief is expressed by John Calvin. He states that God made man erect, unlike the other creatures, that he might know and worship God. He wrote, "God created us after His own image in order that His truth might shine forth in us."

The New Heaven and Earth

When our Lord establishes the New Heaven and Earth upon His return with renewed men and women, will animals also be redeemed? According to Hunt the new earth will be populated with animal life. Alcorn argues that animals will be on the New Earth, which is a redeemed and renewed old earth, in which animals had a prominent role. He believes that on the New Earth, after mankind's resurrection, animals (pets included) who once suffered will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay. Alcorn refers to Romans 8:21-23 for proof text. He assumes animals – as part of a suffering creation – are eagerly awaiting deliverance through mankind's resurrection.

As I see it

The first chapter of Genesis reveals that God's purpose was that nature in paradise be at peace with itself. Isaiah 66:22 says that the Lord will make the New Heaven and the New Earth. It is making something new from the old. Therefore, no new creation, but recreation, renewal. The New Earth will be the renewal of the old. Isaiah anticipates an eternal Kingdom of God on the New Earth. He describes the glorious future which God's people prayerfully and eagerly anticipate. He points to a time of the renewal of the old paradise where predator and prey will lie down together and be at peace. “The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox...They will neither harm nor destroy in all my holy mountains, says the Lord” (Is. 65:25).

Will there be animals on this new world? Apparently there will be plants, rocks, trees and animals on the New Earth. But asked exactly what it will be like, we cannot say because Scripture has not revealed it to us.



News

Saturday Selections – May 17, 2025

Micah Tyler's "Praise The Lord"

It ain't always easy following God, but His goodness is certain.

The daily battleground we often ignore in our therapy culture

"In his book on spiritual depression, the late Welsh minister, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, wrote:

'Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?... The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself.'”

Common logical fallacies

Tackle one a night with your family to become familiar with the bad arguments that the world, and sometimes even fellow Christians, are using. Forewarned is forearmed!

IVF and the rise of intentionally single mothers

IVF has enabled both same-sex couples and single women to have children without a father, creating and celebrating a situation that would otherwise have been decried as abandonment.

And we should never forget what IVF has done to the millions of babies who have been abandoned to cold storage and the millions more that have been aborted in the selection process.

5 red flags to watch for in YA Christian romance fiction

It's the books your girls will want to read. But how Christian is it? And how much of it is too much?

"Comparative advantage" – economics Christians need to know (4 min)

What's this principle of "comparative advantage" and why is it so important to understand in the middle of our tariff wars?

As Jacob Clifford highlights, trade allows people and countries to make what they are best at – just as different people have different skills, different countries also have some kind of advantage in their skills, location, or resources that will equip them to produce some products better than other countries can.

When we do what we are best at, then we can trade with others for what they are best at producing. This makes everyone more productive and wealthier than if we all tried to make everything for ourselves. Just consider how productive you'd be if you had to do everything yourself, including cutting down and shaping the boards to make your home, manufacturing your fridge, growing your food, building your car, and more. You would likely starve while you were still at the shaping boards stage.

Thankfully, you can trade your labor (in whatever role you have) for all these things. So being able to trade freely makes you wealthier.

And being able to trade makes our neighbors wealthier, too. Trade enriches everyone! So if we are to love our neighbors (Mark 12:31), then we'll want what's best for them, including in a material sense. That's why we won't want to put unnecessary restrictions on trade... because it hurts both ourselves and our neighbors.


Today's Devotional

May 19 - Only through Christ

“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” - Hebrews 10:31 

Scripture reading: 2 Samuel 6:1-11

In 1 Samuel 6 we read that seventy men were killed because they looked into the ark of the Lord. In 2 Samuel 6 we read how Uzzah was put to death as he tried to steady the ark when the oxen >

Today's Manna Podcast

Manna Podcast banner: Manna Daily Scripture Meditations and open Bible with jar logo

The Meaning of Time: Wisdom

Serving #847 of Manna, prepared by Daniel Ventura, is called "The Meaning of Time" (Wisdom).











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Family, Movie Reviews

Switched

Comedy / Family 2020 / 104 minutes Rating: 6/10 In this Christian spin on Freaky Friday, Cassandra Evans is the brilliant nerdy girl who gets her wish to have the most popular, and meanest, girl in school, Katie Sharp, learn what it's like to live a day in Cassandra's shoes. Yup, this is a body-swapping movie! Cassandra makes her wish after getting pranked by Katie Sharp – the bully doused her victim with a bag full of sour milk and then posted the video for her 4 million social media followers to see. Cassandra goes home in tears and then prays to God that Katie could really understand what it's like to be on the other side of her videos. The next morning it happens: the two of them waking up in each other's beds... and bodies. Now the two foes have to negotiate how to live out each others' lives while they're waiting for their bodies to swap back. Cassandra has an upcoming audition to get into the Juilliard School of Music, and Katie has a daily schedule of videos that her parents force her to make. Adult viewers will anticipate that the lessons are going to go both ways. Yes, Katie begins to learn how painful it is to be bullied, but Cassandra also learns that Katie's life isn't as idyllic as it seemed from the outside: bullies sometimes have problems of their own. And it is no spoiler at all to say that by film's end, the two of them have become the best of buddies. Cautions At one point Cassandra's mom reminds her that she's to love others as she loves herself, so she better start loving herself. But Matthew 12:31 doesn't command self-love; it is instead premised on the fact that we do all love ourselves. (Even when we say we hate some part of ourselves, that's self-love still – we're disappointed because we aren't as beautiful as we think we really should be.) That's just a passing mention though, and the encouragement to love others, even when they make it difficult, is much more the point of the film. When it comes to being bullied, Cassandra is given different advice by friends and family. Parents will need to sort through with our kids when they should go to their teachers, when they should stand up for themselves, and when they should just ignore the bullying. The film doesn't really answer that dilemma, as it is solved here with a body swap, which isn't an option open to the rest of us. Conclusion The first fifteen minutes – where Cassandra is worried about her audition and her popularity, and then gets bullied by Katie – will be hard for sensitive souls in this film's tween/early teen target audience. But after Cassandra and Katie switch bodies, the hijinks are likely to grab them. Production values are decent, and the acting is generally okay – this is slightly better than the average among Christian fare – so the main reason it scored just a 6 is because it is cliched. To the producers' credit, they know the whole body-swapping thing has been done before (Freaky Friday,  The Shaggy Dog) so they lean into the cliche and run with it: we've got the nerdy girl with glasses who is wicked smart, and the mean popular girl who is all about make-up and fashion. Cassandra's mom is the nicest mom ever, and Katie Sharp's parents are so obsessed with worldly success that they've both quit their jobs so they can manage their daughter's social media rise. If it all wasn't so deliberately over the top it'd be dreadful. As it is, the cliches still get to me a bit... but I am not the target audience, and I might be rating this lower than they would. All in all, this reminded me of a Disney Channel TV movie that I would have liked as a kid, but wouldn't have watched over and over. Check out the trailer below for a good taste of what to expect. The same production company also made Identity Crisis, about a shy girl cloning a more confident copy of herself. It has the same vibe, is also well intended, and comes from an explicitly Christian worldview, but it ends up unintentionally portraying confidence as being bubbly and going on shopping trips with the girls. So it didn't quite warrant a review. Still, it was safe... and if you liked this one, you might want to check it out too. ...









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Adult biographies, Book Reviews, Marriage

A Promise Kept: the Story of an Unforgettable Love

by Robertson McQuilkin 2006 / 90 pages  Robertson McQuilkin served as president of Columbia Bible College and Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina (now Columbia International University) from 1968-1990. His was a prestigious position, one he filled with enthusiasm and competence. Yet in 1990, he gave it all up to stay home to care for his wife. A Promise Kept tells the story of how he came to this momentous decision and what followed. In 1978 at age fifty-five, Muriel McQuilkin began to show signs of Alzheimer’s. In the early stages, the family coped, making adjustments here and there, but gradually it became evident that Muriel would need full-time care. Robertson refused to commit her to a home; instead he became her full-time caregiver for the next thirteen years. In a moving resignation speech he declared that, actually, the decision was easy (“Google” the author’s name and you can hear a recording of this speech - it’s worth the listen). Muriel was the most content when he was physically present. When he was not, she was fearful and anxious. Clearly, she needed him full-time. Robertson referred to his marriage vows, and that as a man of integrity he would remain true to his promise to care for Muriel until “death do us part.” For him, it was also a matter of fairness. Muriel had supported him in his work for forty years. Could he do less, now that she needed him so desperately? In the end, the decision was not hard; he considered it an honor to care for her. In one sense, this book is an “easy read” – only ninety pages. But it is profoundly moving. Robertson’s tender care for Muriel exemplifies the love of Christ for his church. This man came to understand that doing what seems burdensome is actually freeing. “My imprisonment turned out to be a delightful liberation to love more fully than I had ever known. We found the chains of confining circumstance to be, not instruments of torture, but bonds to hold us closer.” In Muriel's helpless dependence on him, Robertson sees an analogy of his own dependence on God. Profound lessons in a simply-told tale. Husbands and wives, read this book, but do have a box of tissues nearby. ...