Animals Do Have Eternal Life

�Animals Do Have Eternal Life

This chapter is dedicated to Suzanne Eggebrecht, who inspired me to write it.

Psalm 36:6 states, "Oh Lord, Thou preservest man and beast." The word preservest here, comes from the Hebrew word, Yasha. It is the root word from which we get the word, Savior.

�� In Mark 16:15, Jesus told His disciples to, "Preach my gospel to all creation." The word gospel means, good news, in Greek. The word creation is ktisis in Greek. It is sometimes translated, creatures. Now how could it be good news to all creation, all creatures, unless it applied to all creation, all creatures? How much good news would it be, for instance if you told an American Sign Language speaking Gorilla or Chimp, "I've got good news for you. Humans go to a nice place called Heaven after we die, but you won't." In order for it to be good news for all creation, all creatures, it has to apply to all creation, all creatures. If Jesus had meant that His good news was to be preached only to all humans, He could very easily have said, "to all humanity" instead of, "to all creation."

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�� Do animals need to become Born Again? It is doubtful. Animals were never chased out of Eden, though their bodies are cursed by whatever the Fall was, is as all creation. And the free will of animals is somewhat limited, especially in the lower ones. Much of what they do is pure instinct. God is neither illogical, nor is He cruel. It would be both illogical and cruel to, for instance, condemn a spider for eating its mate, the way one would condemn a Human who committed the same atrocity. In Deuteronomy 1:39, little children were considered innocent of the sins the rest of the� Hebrew race was being condemned for, because they "have no knowledge." So it is obvious God makes allowances for lack of knowledge.

� Is God concerned with animals? From the book of Genesis on, the Bible is full of instances where God was concerned with the well being of animals. Noah was instructed in Genesis 7:2, very carefully, that he was supposed to rescue seven pairs of all food animals and one pair of all nonfood animals so they too, could continue after the Black Sea Flood. In Exodus 23:10, the habit of letting farm land lay unplowed and unused once every seven years was so that "the� poor among your people may get food from it and the wild animals may eat what they leave." In various verses in Deuteronomy 22, God commands the Israelites to return lost animals to their owners and to help animals who have fallen get back up on their feet. In Deuteronomy 24:4 God commands that one should "not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain." This verse was later used in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 9:9), to refer to workers being allowed the fringe benefits and pay of their job. Paul thought it referred to Humans, not oxen, but for centuries it was used quite literally to allow oxen to have a taste of the grain they were treading. It must have been quite frustrating for an ox to smell all that delicious grain and not be able to have any of it to eat for himself.

�� In Jonah 4:10 and 4:11 God rebukes Jonah for showing compassion for a plant but failing to show compassion for people and animals. "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"

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In Psalms 50:8 to 50:15 God presents an idea, that for its time, was very radical, the idea that animal sacrifices were futile, "Here O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you; I AM God, your God. I do not reprove you for your sacrifices and your burnt offerings are continually before me. I shall take no young bull out of your house, nor male goats out of your folds,. For every beast of the forest is Mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird of the mountains, and everything that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is Mine, and all it contains. Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of male goats?� Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High; and call upon Me in the day of trouble. I shall rescue you and you will honor Me."

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In Ecclesiastes 3:18 through 3:21, King Solomon mentions "that I said to myself concerning the sons of men, that God has surely tested them in order for them to see that they are but beasts. For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same. As one dies so dies the other; indeed, they all have the same breath and there is no advantage for man over beast, for all is vanity. All go to the same place. All come from the dust and all return to the dust." Then Solomon asks the question this whole pamphlet is about. "Who knows that the breath of man ascends upward and the breath of the beast descends downward to the Earth?" In� Psalm 104:29 through 104:30, this question is answered. God is shown as destroying animals by taking away His spirit and then creating them again by sending forth His spirit to renew the face of the ground. the word spirit here is the same Hebrew word (Ruwach) that is translated breath in Ecclesiastes. It is the same word that God uses to describe the resurrection of the� Hebrews in Ezekiel 37:9, which will be accomplished by blowing His breath/spirit back into them. So obviously God does blow His breath/spirit back into animals to "renew the face of the ground," giving them a resurrection of sorts too. If He didn't, Psalm 104 would not mention Him doing it.

�� The book of Job is full of many colorful animal descriptions. In Job 12:10 it states, "But ask the beasts and let them teach you; and the birds of the� Heavens and let them tell you; and let the fish of the sea declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this, in whose hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind?" The word "life" here is the word Nephesh which means breath, life, being, or soul. It is the same� Hebrew word that was used in Genesis 2:7 when God breathed into Adam's� nostrils and made Adam a living being. This is usually the passage that is quoted to prove that Humans have a soul. If Human beings have a soul, then animals must too, since the exact same word is used in reference to them.

� In Matthew 10:29 Jesus said, "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father."� Other translations translate it as "and yet not one of them is forgotten before God." Anything that God does not forget is eternal, for His memory is both eternal and complete.� He remembers not just their appearance, taste, touch, sound and smell but their individual awareness of being as well.��

Also people who have had near death experiences report seeing animals. One lady I know saw a deer and a sheep drinking together out of a crystal clear stream."

Also, perhaps the best argument of all, a bit of� compassionate logic: Heaven is paradise, but how can Heaven be paradise if it is without animals; the large, the small, the beautiful, the fierce or the friendly that so enrich our lives in THIS existence?

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�ARE YOU BRAVE ENOUGH TO TRY AN EXPERIMENT?

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