I have read comments that we will and that it is guaranteed. I want to believe that my girls will be waiting for me when I go home. Please tell me why you believe they will be there.
WILL PETS HAVE HEAVENLY HOMES?
Animals, especially our pets, are very special and blessed gifts of God's creation to many of us. When I first arrived here almost 2 years ago, I got well acquainted with Millie, our church dog. Millie was a poodle who belonged to Esther Bell, our volunteer secretary. She was pretty much an extension of Esther, and so Millie became an integrowl, I mean integral, part of the office staff. Being a huge dog lover, that was fine with me.
One day a few months later, I got a call from Esther from her veterinarian's office in Austin. Millie had died and she was too shaken to drive home. My wife and I picked up Esther and brought Millie home in a box. Esther called some of her friends to come over to her back yard, where my son Michael had dug a deep grave. I had never done a doggy funeral before so I quickly came up with some appropriate readings and prayers. It was a beautiful and very meaningful way to say goodbye to a very beloved member of the family and office staff.
Esther now has another poodle, Jenny, who is the newest church dog, sometimes sharing time with Riley, my beloved Maltese, as the welcome committee. Jenny is Esther's fifth consecutive poodle, whose collective lives have been shared with Esther for some 45 years. So it should be no surprise that I was very moved by Dave Mundy's article a couple of weeks ago about his aging Chihuahua named Itty Bit, as well as the other Chihuahuas in his life. He acknowledged that he'll likely be saying goodbye to his precious Itty Bit before long. I hope what follows will help him and others when the time comes that a beloved pets die.
Children often ask me when they lose a pet, “Will my pet go to heaven?” This controversial question, debated by Christians for centuries, is still relevant to folks of all ages. Admittedly, my initial response is simply that I really don't know for sure! Since the Bible doesn't specifically address it, we have to draw inferences based on what it says about other things.
The Lord promises that nothing can compare to what awaits us in heaven. We can't even begin to imagine the wonder and magnificence of it all (Romans 8:18; 2 Corinthians 4:17). God is there, loving us, taking away all of our hurts and sadness, and filling us with joy and peace. There the Lord heals, transforms, perfects and completes his people with his merciful love. Clearly Jesus loves animals and all the rest of creation as much as he loves us humans, so it seems strangely incomplete for them to be left out of God's Kingdom. Dare we believe that his grace will exclude our beloved pets, who bring such joy and love into our lives? Here they teach us love for our own sake, but in heaven we learn love for God's sake.
I'm not aware of anything in the Bible that specifically states that animals will not or cannot enjoy eternal life in heaven, but there are a few texts that imply that they might. I only have room to cite a couple. Psalm 36:6 says “Your justice is like the great deep; you save both man and beasts, O Lord.” Biblical images of life after life-after-death, include many animal images, the most famous being Isaiah 11:6-9 and the peaceful coexistence of wolf/lamb, leopard/goat, calf/lion, cow/bear, children/snakes, where the animals belong in the “new earth” as much as the trees, rivers and mountains do in Revelation 21-22.
It's commonly objected that animals have no souls and so cannot go to heaven. But some theologians believe that animals do indeed possess souls, as perhaps do plants, though not rational souls. Only human beings, created in the Image of God, possess rational souls, with a capacity for abstract thought and the ability to reason from premise to conclusion. These powers are present in animals, if at all, only to a very limited degree. Animals act by instinct whereas people are capable of making free and conscious decisions, both virtuous and sinful.
Others object that Christ came to save us, not animals. Truthfully, Jesus came to save the whole world (see John 3:16), and that happens through the salvation of humankind, the crown of God's creation (Psalm 8:5), which has fallen from its intended state of grace. This objection presupposes that animals need salvation. If it's true that they don't have rational souls and cannot make moral choices, but rather act on instinct, then they are incapable of sin. They do, however, require redemption in that they live under the God-given dominion of humanity, which is sinful and fallen.
We humans are designed to be caretakers and mediators of Creation. As such, our own salvation involves also the reconciliation and transfiguration of the whole animate and inanimate created order around us...i.e. its deliverance “from the bondage of corruption” and entry “into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (see Romans 8:21). In the “new earth” of the Age to Come, there is surely a place not only for humans, but also animals. In and through our redeemed humanity, I believe they too will share in God's re-creation, and so perhaps will rocks, trees, plants, fire and water (see Romans 8:18-25)! It's at least possible methinks...even likely!
(By Fr. Randy Melton, Priest of the Episcopal Church of the Messiah, Gonzales, Texas)
I believe this also. I'd like to share two experiences that I had that will stay with me forever...I really believe that our companions are still with us in some form--even after they pass on... We just need to keep an open mind.