Animals in Heaven

[Magenta]

All the other animals lack a perfection that is natural for us.

We are perfected in Christ, and not in the natural, for in our natural state we are dead in trespasses and sins, for all fall short of the glory of God; we must be born again of the Holy Spirit of God. Through the grace God offers in Jesus Christ, Christians are perfected in weakness as we are being conformed to His image.

 

[posthuman]

All the other animals lack a perfection that is natural for us.

I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them
that they may see that they themselves are but beasts.
(Ecclesiastes 3:18)​

​

 

[posthuman]

All the other animals lack a perfection that is natural for us.

​

But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.​

(Job 12:7-10)​

​

animals know something that mankind in his imperfection is inclined to forget.

Creation waits groaning for the sons of God to be revealed.

Waits for the children of God to rescue them from the futility and decay hard wired in this creation.

not for men to save them.
for God.

Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
Your judgments are like the great deep;
man and beast You save, O Lord!
(Psalm 36:6)​

we should not think more highly of ourselves than is proper.

 

[Diakonos]

The word Nephesh (נֶ֫פֶשׁ nép̄eš) occurs in the Hebrew Bible, and refers to the aspects of sentience

Most of the time, nefesh reffers to other things. Only 1/3 of the uses of nefesh a

I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them ​

that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. ​

(Ecclesiastes 3:18)​

​

"Under the sun" portrays the 1st and 2nd heaven in a Jewish understanding.

You need to remember that Ecclesiastes is written from Solomon's experimental perspective called "under the sun" i.e. "in a world without God".
He uses the phrase "everything is meaningless" because that is the only conclusion one can come to if God doesn't exist.
So in a world "under the sun"......."they are but beasts".

But we do not live in such a reality. There is something above the sun, the heavens, where God's throne is. Therefore, we are not like the beasts

 

[posthuman]

"Under the sun" portrays the 1st and 2nd heaven in a Jewish understanding.

You need to remember that Ecclesiastes is written from Solomon's experimental perspective called "under the sun" i.e. "in a world without God".

read the verse immediately preceding this one. Ecclesiastes 3:17. is he speaking in a godless paradigm? read verse 11. verse 14. is he speaking about a worldview with no God?

what you are repeating is a very superficial gloss of Ecclesiastes commonly used an an excuse to dismiss rather than to deal with the things written in it.

 

[posthuman]

Most of the time, nefesh reffers to other things.

this word has come up in this discussion because of 6 consecutive uses of it within the space of a dozen paragraphs all having a very specific context: the creation of everything that has the breath of life on the earth. God calls both man and beast alike, 'living souls' - distinct from plants.

pointing at uses of this word chapters and books far removed from Genesis 1-2 is an intellectual cop-out on your part. i don't need to point out specific verses to you; you know well exactly what is at issue.

 

[posthuman]

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, ​

“To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” ​

(Revelation 5:13)​

​

all the living creatures will give praise to God, recognizing Christ the Lamb. everything that has breath will raise its voice in cognizant exultation. even those who do not do so now - i.e. humans - will bow their knee on that day.

 

[posthuman]

God says He knows every living creature ((Psalm 50:11)) and God has made His covenant with them:

​

Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying: “And as for Me, behold, I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the cattle, and every beast of the earth with you, of all that go out of the ark, every beast of the earth."
(Genesis 9:8-10)
​

He will also establish a new covenant with all the living creatures:

​

“And it shall be, in that day,”​

Says the LORD,​

“That you will call Me ‘My Husband,’​

And no longer call Me ‘My Master,’​

For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals,​

And they shall be remembered by their name no more.​

In that day I will make a covenant for them​

With the beasts of the field,​

With the birds of the air,​

And with the creeping things of the ground.​

Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth,​

To make them lie down safely."
(Hosea 2:16-18)​

this day every animal in creation looks toward, 'groaning in expectation' having been subjected to frustration, not of themselves, but because of the sins of mankind.

 

[Magenta]

Most of the time, nefesh reffers to other things. Only 1/3 of the uses of nefesh a

It is used of the lower animals 4 times before it is used of man; out of the first 13 times in Genesis, it is used 10 times of the lower animals.

Nephesh in the Bible.

Excerpt:
The word nephesh occurs 754 times in the Hebrew Old Testament.

In the A.V. and R.V. it is translated "soul" 472 times, while in the other
282 places it is represented by forty-four different words or phrases.

 

[tourist]

We have gotten off track a little. We are here to answer the question "Does anyone think there are animals in Heaven?"
The answer is obviously "yes" because "the lion will lie down with the lamb". But Scripture doesn't indicate that animals continue after death. So the most simple conclusion that stay within the bounds of the Bible is that animals here and now will cease, but there will be new animals in heaven.

Why would God prohibit beloved pets from joining the human family in heaven? Is God incapable of doing this? Does the bible specifically state that pets will not go to heaven when they die?

 

[posthuman]

So the most simple conclusion that stay within the bounds of the Bible

i am not very old or very wise, but i have discovered that when it comes to the Bible the "simple" is rarely the correct understanding.

 

[tourist]

All the other animals lack a perfection that is natural for us.

That perfection is our likeness to God.

That perfection enables us to unite more intimately with God.
To share His divine nature with us.

This state of being is not their end in God.
That doesn't mean that the other animals aren't present in their own perfections.

I think it possible that as we are in God the other animals are in us.

Creation waits groaning for the sons of God to be revealed.

Waits for the children of God to rescue them from the futility and decay hard wired in this creation.

I have never met anyone that is perfect so by my estimation becoming perfect is certainly not a natural trait for humans. Rather than being perfect we were born with a sin nature so therefore, but for the grace of God, we are inclined to evil and not perfection.

 

[Benadam]

​

But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.​

(Job 12:7-10)​

​

animals know something that mankind in his imperfection is inclined to forget.



not for men to save them.
for God.

Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; ​

Your judgments are like the great deep; ​

man and beast You save, O Lord!​

(Psalm 36:6)​

we should not think more highly of ourselves than is proper.

Romans 8
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God;
20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope

21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

 

[Benadam]

I have never met anyone that is perfect so by my estimation becoming perfect is certainly not a natural trait for humans. Rather than being perfect we were born with a sin nature so therefore, but for the grace of God, we are inclined to evil and not perfection.

God didn't create us imperfect. Who we are as God intended is natural to us. What is unnatural to us is sin and death.

 

[Benadam]

I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them ​

that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. ​

(Ecclesiastes 3:18)​

​

amen
That's why I call the other animals well, other animals

 

[Benadam]

We are perfected in Christ, and not in the natural, for in our natural state we are dead in trespasses and sins, for all fall short of the glory of God; we must be born again of the Holy Spirit of God. Through the grace God offers in Jesus Christ, Christians are perfected in weakness as we are being conformed to His image.

Are you positing that our likeness to God is not naturally human?

 

[Magenta]

Are you positing that our likeness to God is not naturally human?

The supernatural work of God is to change the natural man into a spiritual one. We are perfected in Christ.

1 cor 2:14

 

[Benadam]

The supernatural work of God is to change the natural man into a spiritual one. We are perfected in Christ.



1 cor 2:14

Adam was created in the image of God. That is natural to humans but not the other animals. That is what I wrote. Also to be one with the Father as Jesus is one with the Father is our natural end.

John 1

Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.

 

[UnoiAmarah]

I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts. Eccl 3:18

This passage is an excellent example of what is taught in 1 Cor 2:14:

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

The reference to the sons of men refers unto those who are born of male and female seeing that man is male/female. Even Jesus teaches in Matthew 19:4 that it was not man and woman, yet being the Son of man the mystery of the Woman should be understood from his statement in Matthew 23:9 about calling no man on earth your father.

However, there is no question that the LORD is the God of all flesh, as written in Jeremiah 32:27, "Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh:..." and God is the God of all spirits of all flesh, but the LORD is the Father of all living souls. While it is written in Genesis 2:7, "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; ..." Yet the dust of the ground refers to the body of light in Genesis 1:1 that created the heaven and the earth.

And while it is not an incorrect interpretation that the breath is pnuema, (forced air, or breath/wind), it is an error to interpret the soul as being pneuma. This can be discerned the from Genesis 7:22, "All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died."

However, one can consider these two passages in 1 Kings 17;

17 And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.

and

24 And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth.

So to answer the question on whether there are animals in heaven, it is possible but the scriptures definitively reveal that the serpents won't be.

19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. 20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Eccl 3:19-20

 

[Lightskin]

Does anyone think there are animals in Heaven? Jesus comes back on a white horse so I think there is....

“God loves animals and humans alike.” Psalm 36