How do we answer a question like "will there be pets in heaven?" If you understand heaven as a spiritual, spirity, wispy, ghost-like existence of spirits, enthralled with God in some kind of outer orbit in space, then clearly there would be no room for pets. But if you understand heaven as a new heavens and new earth, and you understand the present earth as being perfected in the new heavens and new earth, then we would have to say that there will be trees, there will be plants, there will be buildings, there will be mountains, there will be rivers, and there would be animals because God made animals for a reason to help with the way our world works.
So I believe in the new heavens and new earth, because I believe in a very earthy kind of new heavens and new earth, I believe there will be pets. So, if you like cats, your cats will be there, if you like dogs your dogs. My Dachsund won't be there because that Dachsund was mean and used to nip at me when I got in bed but our Bichon, who is now waiting for us, Webster, will be there and he'll meet us at the gate.
Do Animals Go to Heaven?
We know the scene; A child’s beloved pet - a goldfish, hamster, or cat - suddenly dies. The family gathers around a make-shift grave to give their last goodbye. Words of comfort are spoken to the grieving child. At some point, the universal question is asked, “Did the animal go to heaven?”
It sounds like an easy question to answer. Popular movies have often taken a stab at this topic. Pixar’s award-winning movie Soul, for example, clearly shows the soul of a cat on its way to the great beyond. But is this biblically accurate? Do animals go to heaven?
This is a deeply theological question, one based on a variety of factors. What do we mean by “heaven”? How does one get to heaven? What will we do in heaven? These questions are natural. Even the Pharisees ask about the nature of heaven regarding a woman who married seven brothers (Matthew 22:25). When it comes to animals in heaven, however, the question is more difficult to resolve. There are other factors to consider. Do animals have the capacity to respond to the saving message of the gospel? Is the animal soul equivalent to the soul of one made in God’s image? If animals can go to heaven, does this mean an animal can go to hell?
To answer this question, we need to pair the biblical understanding of heaven with the biblical depiction of animals. It is only as we rightly understand these two elements that we can definitively, and confidently answer this intriguing question.
To read more from this article, see Do Animals Go to Heaven?
Originally published Friday, 11 March 2016.
