DO DOGS/CATS GO TO HEAVEN?

In recent days, in three separate incidents, I have been again reminded and made aware of the relationship that exists between pets and human beings. All of that again brought up the question, “Do Dogs Go to Heaven When The Die?

When God created the world, the creation of man was set apart as unique from the animals on day six. It is described as God creating us in his image (Genesis 1:26-27). So the soul of man is different from the coursing of blood and the breathing of life found in animals. Man is unique and is meant to have a unique destiny. When the Son of God enters history, he comes as a human being, not as an animal. And he saves humans. And he conforms humans to his own nature as the God-man, not the God-animal.

By creation and redemption, God confers on man the unique standing as created in his image and redeemed into God’s very family.

I want to emphasize the utter distinction between humans and animals like the Bible does. Animals are different from us and are conceived in the Bible as not having unique capacities that allow them have a personal relationship with God. They can’t have it the way we have it. You can hear this in Psalm 32:9 - “Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.” In other words, when the psalmist wants to illustrate the loss of a distinctive thinking capacity of the human being, he uses animals as the illustration.

They don’t have it. Animals are unlike man in that they simply perish. Psalm 49:12 - “Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.”

To the person who just lost their dog or cat, I would say it is spiritually perilous to cultivate a love for an animal that has such a prominent place in your heart that you think you need him for eternity.