Animals in the Afterlife

Animals played a large role in most ancient peoples' visions of the spiritual world. The mythologies of several ancient cultures claimed that when people passed on, their dogs were waiting to guide them to the land of the blessed. The Egyptians--cat people, as everyone knows--were especially emphatic in their belief that cats and other animals played a key part in the afterlife. One Native American legend states that when God set about to create the world, he brought his dog along with him.

What does the Bible say?

On the surface, the Bible seems to say very little about the place of animals in the afterlife. Look up "dog" in a concordance, and you won't find any evidence that the people of biblical times valued the role dogs play in day-to-day life. When the writer of Psalm 22, for example, says, "For dogs have compassed me," he is not describing a pleasant situation. It doesn't get much better when one looks to traditional Christian authors beyond the Bible either. Eminent churchmen like St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas have left a number of very discouraging passages about the place of pets, or any animals, in the world that waits beyond the borders of earthly life, but search a little deeper and you'll find a whole lot more.

Consider the story in Genesis of the very first covenant established between God and his people, made with Noah right after the flood. The clouds part and the world's first rainbow appears. God tells Noah that he is creating a 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 comes out of the ark, even every beast of the earth." God goes on to say that his covenant with "all flesh" shall never be "cut off," a strong suggestion that animals will not be excluded from his dealings with the world.

Then there's Luke 3:6, where it is written that, "All flesh shall see the salvation of God." Or Mark 16:15--a passage well-loved by that great friend of animals Saint Francis of Assisi. The risen Jesus tells the Apostles to go into the world and "preach the Gospel to every creature." Jesus filled his teachings with references to animals. His promise in Matthew and Luke that not even a sparrow falls to earth without God's knowing it subtly but powerfully suggests what every grieving pet owner feels: God refuses to forget a single one of his creatures, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant.

What about the argument that runs: "Animals can't go to heaven because the Bible says they don't have souls"? Norm Phelps points out in his book The Dominion of Love that the Hebrew term repeatedly used to describe animals in the Old Testament is nephesh chayah. Chayah means "living," while nephesh is the Hebrew term for the force that animates the body--what Phelps describes as "the whatever-it-is that makes a person or an animal a conscious, sentient individual." In most English versions of the Bible, different words are used to translate nephesh chayah depending on whether animals or people are being discussed. In Genesis 1:21 and 24, for example, Phelps points out that nephesh chayah is translated as "living creature." But in Genesis 2:7, where the term refers to people, not animals, it's translated as "living soul." The use of two different terms in the English translation completely blurs the fact that in the original Hebrew, no such distinction exists.

When Isaiah wanted to paint the ultimate picture of a Peaceable Kingdom, he used the following representations: "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them." Why would Isaiah use such rich and vivid animal imagery? Because he knew what every pet owner knows: A world without animals is a barren one. And clearly, a heaven without our pets would be less heavenly.