Why Is This So Hard ?
The heart decides how the mind processes reality. If the heart wants the truth, the mind will receive it. If the heart wants something else, then the mind will jump thru whatever hoops it has to in order to give the heart what it wants. For reasons I can't understand, a great number of professing Christians don't want animals to be in Heaven. There's something buried in their heart that prevents them from accepting it. I can only imagine what that might be. When anyone dares to question where our pets go when they die, while some prayerfully contemplate Scripture for the answer, many others rush to answer that question with no regard for the Scripture, while huffing and puffing their bloviated answers with an arrogant spirit of self-elevated authenticity! I suppose when they die, all wisdom will die with them.
I honestly don't understand the disgust and repulsive flinching that occurs when you try to show some Christians that animals do have souls according to the Hebrew rendering of Genesis and they are going to be resurrected according to Romans 8:19-23. Do they think by acknowledging this Biblical fact that they will now have to become an animal rights activist or something? Do they think animals going to Heaven means they can no longer hunt or eat meat on the earth? What gives them that idea? Are they worried that resurrected chickens in the coming Kingdom will track everyone down who ate fried chicken on Sunday afternoons and give them guilt trips for all eternity? Are they worried about that squirrel they ran over because they were late for work? I seldom understand why people's minds go in the direction they go.
I've covered this subject in more exhaustive detail here and then again 4 years later here. Why is this so hard?
Why is this so hard to understand? Even for those who DO believe that animals DO INDEED go to Heaven, why do they think they have to publish thick books filled with endless notes and countless testimonies from so-called near-death experiences to believe what these 5 little verses say so plainly and clearly? It's right here! Yes, the souls of animals DO go to Heaven when they die and are destined to be resurrected. That's what, "being delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God" means for crying out loud.
It never ceases to amaze me how stubborn people can be when it comes to what they believe, even when they say they are Christians and won't believe 5 little verses that spell it all out, right there in plain English. I posted these 5 verses in response to someone online who demanded animals don't go to Heaven and when I did, he responded, "What does this passage have to do with animals going to Heaven?" So I responded...
Why is that so hard? Why did I have to break it all down like I did above? Was that truly necessary?
I was asked why most English translations don't say "the creature" but rather "the creation" in verses 19, 20 and 21. This is why I chose to quote from the King James. I'm not a "King James Only" advocate by any means, but I do believe it's English is superior to modern English because English itself is an analogue language which degrades in time. English scholars of the 17th century were more scholastically equipped to translate the Bible into English because of both, the superior source materials and the superior form of English which was being used at the time.
I chose to quote from the King James because most modern translations render the Greek word "ktisis" as "Creation" in verses 19, 20 and 21 and they're reasoning for doing so is because they noticed that the King James rendered "ktisis" as "creation" in verse 22 and since "ktisis" is the same Greek word being used in verse 19, 20 and 21, they thought the King James translators must have made a mistake by rendering it "creature" in those cases. But the modern translators should have done more homework. The King James translators knew exactly what they were doing.
The Greek word can either mean creation as a whole, or an individual creature within the creation. In order to translate that accurately in the English, the King James translators rendered it "creation" in verse 22 because Paul was obviously talking about "the whole" which also made it's way into the English. But in verse 19, 20 and 21, the King James translators rendered it "creature" because in those sentences, Paul was obviously referring to individual animals who expect and wait, which means they have consciousness (verse 19), who suffer against their will, which means they have a will (verse 20), whose waiting and expecting for the deliverance from the suffering of death to finally be gratified (verse 21).
"JOSH!! THERE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO TALK ABOUT THAN THIS!!!!"
I agree. Stop spreading your errors and I'll stop correcting you.
For me, this isn't so much an issue of animals, but an issue of what God's Word says about them. When people say that animals don't go to Heaven, they claim their authority is from Scripture which is a lie! The Bible is my passion and when someone says that the Bible says something that I know it doesn't say, or that it doesn't say something that I know it most definitely says, then I'm going to correct that error. People can believe what they want, but they have no right to say the Bible says something that I know it doesn't say.
If you think there are more important topics to discuss, then stop telling people that the Bible says animals don't have souls, that the Bible says animals don't have feelings, that the Bible says animals have no place in Heaven and I'll stop correcting you. Why don't YOU move on so I can correct you on something else?
I honestly don't understand the disgust and repulsive flinching that occurs when you try to show some Christians that animals do have souls according to the Hebrew rendering of Genesis and they are going to be resurrected according to Romans 8:19-23. Do they think by acknowledging this Biblical fact that they will now have to become an animal rights activist or something? Do they think animals going to Heaven means they can no longer hunt or eat meat on the earth? What gives them that idea? Are they worried that resurrected chickens in the coming Kingdom will track everyone down who ate fried chicken on Sunday afternoons and give them guilt trips for all eternity? Are they worried about that squirrel they ran over because they were late for work? I seldom understand why people's minds go in the direction they go.
I've covered this subject in more exhaustive detail here and then again 4 years later here. Why is this so hard?
Romans 8:19-23. KJV
19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
23 And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Why is this so hard to understand? Even for those who DO believe that animals DO INDEED go to Heaven, why do they think they have to publish thick books filled with endless notes and countless testimonies from so-called near-death experiences to believe what these 5 little verses say so plainly and clearly? It's right here! Yes, the souls of animals DO go to Heaven when they die and are destined to be resurrected. That's what, "being delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God" means for crying out loud.
It never ceases to amaze me how stubborn people can be when it comes to what they believe, even when they say they are Christians and won't believe 5 little verses that spell it all out, right there in plain English. I posted these 5 verses in response to someone online who demanded animals don't go to Heaven and when I did, he responded, "What does this passage have to do with animals going to Heaven?" So I responded...
Let's try this again. Romans 8:19-23.
19 For the earnest expectation of the creature (animals) waits (consciously expecting, waiting) for the manifestation (the appearing) of the sons of God (resurrected Christians).
20 For the creature (the animal) was made subject to vanity (was forced under the curse of death), not willingly (not according to their will, which means they have a will, this went against their will), but by reason of Him (God) who hath subjected the same in hope (hope in the resurrection as described in the next verse),
21 Because the creature itself (the individual animals themselves) also (not just humans, but animals also) shall be delivered (saved) from the bondage of corruption (death) into the glorious liberty of the children of God (Heaven: The same Heaven where God's children will be.).
22 For we know that the whole creation (all living things on the earth) groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now (they're all conscious of pain and death and they don't like it any more than we do)
23 And not only they (the animals), but ourselves also (us human beings too!), which have the firstfruits of the Spirit (human beings who are saved because they've been given the Holy Spirit), even we ourselves groan within ourselves (even we Christians groan about the pain and corruption of death), waiting (just like the animals are waiting in verse 19)for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. (The resurrection.)
Why is that so hard? Why did I have to break it all down like I did above? Was that truly necessary?
I was asked why most English translations don't say "the creature" but rather "the creation" in verses 19, 20 and 21. This is why I chose to quote from the King James. I'm not a "King James Only" advocate by any means, but I do believe it's English is superior to modern English because English itself is an analogue language which degrades in time. English scholars of the 17th century were more scholastically equipped to translate the Bible into English because of both, the superior source materials and the superior form of English which was being used at the time.
I chose to quote from the King James because most modern translations render the Greek word "ktisis" as "Creation" in verses 19, 20 and 21 and they're reasoning for doing so is because they noticed that the King James rendered "ktisis" as "creation" in verse 22 and since "ktisis" is the same Greek word being used in verse 19, 20 and 21, they thought the King James translators must have made a mistake by rendering it "creature" in those cases. But the modern translators should have done more homework. The King James translators knew exactly what they were doing.
The Greek word can either mean creation as a whole, or an individual creature within the creation. In order to translate that accurately in the English, the King James translators rendered it "creation" in verse 22 because Paul was obviously talking about "the whole" which also made it's way into the English. But in verse 19, 20 and 21, the King James translators rendered it "creature" because in those sentences, Paul was obviously referring to individual animals who expect and wait, which means they have consciousness (verse 19), who suffer against their will, which means they have a will (verse 20), whose waiting and expecting for the deliverance from the suffering of death to finally be gratified (verse 21).
"JOSH!! THERE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS TO TALK ABOUT THAN THIS!!!!"
I agree. Stop spreading your errors and I'll stop correcting you.
For me, this isn't so much an issue of animals, but an issue of what God's Word says about them. When people say that animals don't go to Heaven, they claim their authority is from Scripture which is a lie! The Bible is my passion and when someone says that the Bible says something that I know it doesn't say, or that it doesn't say something that I know it most definitely says, then I'm going to correct that error. People can believe what they want, but they have no right to say the Bible says something that I know it doesn't say.
If you think there are more important topics to discuss, then stop telling people that the Bible says animals don't have souls, that the Bible says animals don't have feelings, that the Bible says animals have no place in Heaven and I'll stop correcting you. Why don't YOU move on so I can correct you on something else?
Yes, Animals DO Go To Heaven When They Die!
Yes, Animals STILL Go To Heaven When They Die! (2016 Update)
