Do Animals Have Souls?

[Bold Believer]

I believe Satan was created for the purpose of being just what his name implies: The Adversary. Evil was a mere principle until Satan tapped into it. God created the principle of evil because Scripture clearly states that all things were created by God

Evil isn't a "thing" it's simply the absence of good. And by your reasoning, Satan cannot be blamed for His rebellion against God, because God created Him to rebel. How can Satan be at fault for anything if God created him for that purpose?

By that same stripe, we can say every person in hell was created for the purpose of going to hell.

It gets a little difficult to wrap your brain around sometimes, but God did indeed create all things, the waster to destroy, and Jesus also chose twelve, saying that one was a devil, but it was necessary for the scriptures to be fulfilled. That the devil was perfect until sin was found in him, the scriptures clearly state, and frankly, there was nothing wrong with Adam and Eve until they disobeyed what God had said. That God knows all things from the beginning to the end there is no dispute, but to blame God for the choices that He knew others He created would make is to miss the graciousness of God in giving free will to both the faithful and obedient and to the disobedient and evil.

God cannot be charged with a fault. All that He does is perfect and right, even if we don't like it.

What I am disputing is the notion that God created Satan for the purpose of sinning, not the fact that God knew he would sin.

And again, if what you are claiming is to be believed, how can Satan be blamed for fulfilling the purpose i.e., "rebelling" "sinning," for which he was created?

Satan was created for EXACTLY that purpose. To be the adversary, to release sin to test Adam's obedience. All things were created within the first six days, including Gehenna, which Scripture tells us is SPECIFICALLY for the devil and his angels. God created Satan specifically for the purpose of releasing sin. He is STILL responsible (whether you like it or not). See Romans 9; God is the potter and he can create something to be a toilet or a throne. Satan...well, he's not a throne.

Now, exactly what does this have to do with whether animals have souls? They do. Just not like those of humans.

[Bold Believer]

and you can back that up scripturally with what passage?

Let me ask you this. In all of the passages which state anything about heaven, do you see any mention of animals, other than the white horse metaphor of Revelation 19? No. We do see angels mentioned who are responsible for the animal kingdom, which I have mentioned in a previous post.

Furthermore, I give you the word of the angels:

Acts 1:11 They also said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven." Again...did he LEAVE on a white horse? NO. Then he will not return on one. The Revelation 19 passage is metaphoric, John is using the Roman tradition of a victorious general on a white horse at the head of a victorious army to explain Christ's victory. Not hard to understand at all.

[humbleseeker]

NO they dont have souls.

[Bold Believer]

Humble, you can say that all you like, but Scripture doesn't seem to agree. The animals are called living souls (chay nephesh) in Genesis. Furthermore, they have representation in heaven, per Revelation.

[Guest LadyC]

sorry bb, but just because no other scripture mentions animals in heaven doesn't prove that the white horse of revelation is a metaphor. it may be, but it may not be. i believe it is a literal white horse.

[nebula]

Let me ask you this. In all of the passages which state anything about heaven, do you see any mention of animals, other than the white horse metaphor of Revelation 19? No.

You talk as if we were given a complete tour of Heaven through Scripture.

Really, our glimpse into Heaven is just that, a glimpse, and a small one at that.

John saw the Throne Room, not the entire place/realm (or whatever Heaven is).

Really, I bet the whole lot of us are going to be shocked at what we find there.

[Guest shiloh357]

I think we need to make clear the fact that "soul" and "spirit" are not interchangable terms. The Word of God makes a clear distinction betweeen them

The soul is the mind, will and emotions. The spirit is the part of us that is regenerated when we get saved. It is the part of us that lives on after we die.

The human soul and the soul of animals do not live on after death. Only human beings are promised a physical resurrection from the dead. Some will be raised incorruptable to live forever, and others will raised to stand and face judgment.

Animals are NEVER spoken of in Scripture has being raised to participate any kind of afterlife on this earth or the world to come.

To state that animals will be revived or "reanimated" to participate with us in the world to come is based on nothing but conjecture and has no solid scriptural basis.

The presence of animals in the New Heavens and New Earth only means that they are animals created to live in that time period. They are not animals who lived previously and were revived to live in the world to come.

[wyguy]

I believe Satan was created for the purpose of being just what his name implies: The Adversary. Evil was a mere principle until Satan tapped into it. God created the principle of evil because Scripture clearly states that all things were created by God

Evil isn't a "thing" it's simply the absence of good. And by your reasoning, Satan cannot be blamed for His rebellion against God, because God created Him to rebel. How can Satan be at fault for anything if God created him for that purpose?

By that same stripe, we can say every person in hell was created for the purpose of going to hell.

It gets a little difficult to wrap your brain around sometimes, but God did indeed create all things, the waster to destroy, and Jesus also chose twelve, saying that one was a devil, but it was necessary for the scriptures to be fulfilled. That the devil was perfect until sin was found in him, the scriptures clearly state, and frankly, there was nothing wrong with Adam and Eve until they disobeyed what God had said. That God knows all things from the beginning to the end there is no dispute, but to blame God for the choices that He knew others He created would make is to miss the graciousness of God in giving free will to both the faithful and obedient and to the disobedient and evil.

God cannot be charged with a fault. All that He does is perfect and right, even if we don't like it.

What I am disputing is the notion that God created Satan for the purpose of sinning, not the fact that God knew he would sin.

And again, if what you are claiming is to be believed, how can Satan be blamed for fulfilling the purpose i.e., "rebelling" "sinning," for which he was created?

Satan was created for EXACTLY that purpose. To be the adversary, to release sin to test Adam's obedience. All things were created within the first six days, including Gehenna, which Scripture tells us is SPECIFICALLY for the devil and his angels. God created Satan specifically for the purpose of releasing sin. He is STILL responsible (whether you like it or not). See Romans 9; God is the potter and he can create something to be a toilet or a throne. Satan...well, he's not a throne.

Now, exactly what does this have to do with whether animals have souls? They do. Just not like those of humans.

Releasing sin? Like evil, sin isn't a "thing" to be "released." Sin is simply the breaking of God's laws. And God did not create hell in the beginning. How, in any stretch of the imagination, could hell be considered "good" as God said His creation was in the beginning?

God created hell as the result of what Satan had done. And sorry, your assertion that God created Lucifer to rebel and to sin is, as my friend Shiloh likes to say, "sloppy theology."

That's like God creating a person for the purpose of robbing banks, and that person has no choice in the matter because God made him to do just that. So, the man goes out and fulfills the purpose for which he was created - he robs a bank. Then God jumps up and says "Ah ha! You sinned! You robbed a bank! It's off to hell with you!'

How much theological sense does that make?

But that's just what you are saying when it comes to Satan. He was created to rebel, he was created to sin, he was created to tempt men into damnation, and for doing the very thing which God ordained for him to do, God sends him to hell for it.

Please rethink what you are presenting...

[wyguy]

Certainly some animals are in heaven, horses are.

at least one white one is.

More than that...

Revelation 19:14 says, "The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean."