Why don't animals have souls? (Buddha, Revelation, Holy Spirit, Ghost)

[Tricky D]

Originally Posted by b.frank

You're talking about people with anti-social personality disorder

Not everyone who acts anti-social has a disorder.
Some just don't give a damn about others because they only care about themselves. They know that what they do is evil, but don't give a damn about their victims.

Why don't they get to have a soul (in your eyes)?

Because people who only care about themselves do not care if they have a soul or not.
If they cared they would also care about others instead of only themselves and they'd also regret the pain they've caused their victims.

[sunnstorms]

ParkTwain and Mark S, I looked "soul" up in Hebrew, and this is what I found:


SOUL (nephesh):
1) soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion
1a) that which breathes, the breathing substance or being, soul, the inner being of man
1b) living being
1c) living being (with life in the blood)
1d) the man himself, self, person or individual
1e) seat of the appetites
1f) seat of emotions and passions

soooo...?? Other than the 2 parts where it refers to man, animals have the same qualities...creature, appetite, emotions, desire,etc. Do those 2 definitions (1a and 1d)absolutely preclude animals from having a soul? "The lion will lay down with the lamb..." There will obviously be critters in Heaven! lol

[Oren]

Animals have souls just as we do. Man was made in Gods image...this doesn't mean physical characteristics, but the awareness. This awareness is what seperates man from animal and is the likeness to God.

[Marylandkitten]

Not to throw a gear into the works... but ... what about insects?

I believe animals have souls. But how many ants do I crush every day (I'm sorry lil guys!) that I don't even realize, just walking back and forth in the grass?

Or is bugs getting off topic? This wasn't sarcasm. This was a true worry!

[Seaharbour]

My two puppies have souls, kind hearted ones..

[goldengrain]

Originally Posted by Fiddlekitten

Not to throw a gear into the works... but ... what about insects?

I believe animals have souls. But how many ants do I crush every day (I'm sorry lil guys!) that I don't even realize, just walking back and forth in the grass?

Or is bugs getting off topic? This wasn't sarcasm. This was a true worry!

It's funny, but it seems that this is a question predominantly asked by the 'people of the book', Christians, Jews, Moslems.
Other religions do not question of the souls of other animals.
I don't think some Christians like the thought that we are the same 'kind' as other creatures, just differing in degree.

There are Buddhist monks, and probable some Hindus who believe taking life, even of bugs, is wrong. Some have cloth over their mouths and noses to prevent breathing in and killing bacteria, etc.

If we are all souls and death and killing are a part of the physical world, part of the clockwork that makes everything 'fit' and continue on, perhaps God is not as caring in some ways as some of us think. Violence is inescapably built into the systems of the world.

In Eden, the lion layed down with the lamb, so probably in heaven there is peace between all.

But God gave us this 'game' to play in which we witness this world as the only reality, and it is filled with (among other things) sickness, cruelty, death. Perhaps these things are really not so important to God? Perhaps God's values are not ours?

Is it any wonder that Mother Theresa lost her faith? Yet she continued. Perhaps the true God that we can know is the spirit in each of us that tries to do good in spite of the temptation to just give up?

So many religions, and even Buddhism(which does not claim to be a religion) say the only way to find God is within. Maybe the prayers and books and symbols and rituals and dieties are really nothing in themselves, but only provide pathways to direct our minds inward, to touch the divinity within us. And perhaps people who do not even profess an outward religion may have touched this divinity, but label it something else. And some of those who do the prayers, read the book, wear symbols, do rituals, still miss the mark and can only profess religion in an empty, shallow, outward, way.

[ParkTwain]

sunnstorms:

check out the Hebrew noun 'ruakh', meaning both 'spirit' and 'breath'

[Oxman]

These words are from someone else who did not provide his name.

If you don't believe the Bible it probably won't mean much to you. But, since I think, feel and have experienced the truth of the matter in my spirit I decided to share it.


The original creation. When we visit the original creation, we discover a number of truths. One apparent truth is the uniqueness of man compared to the lower animal creation. Only to man was it said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…." (Gen. 1: 26). Animals are next mentioned in the verse, but from the standpoint of their subservience to man.
[LEFT]The fate of man and animals. The wise man (from Proverbs) had much to say regarding man, his birth, life, and destiny. He wrote, "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was; and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it" (Eccl. 12: 7). Earlier, he wrote regarding man and the beast: "Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?" (Eccl. 3: 21.) This question is clearly answered in the above noted chapter twelve, verse seven.
Animals have a soul in the sense that they possess life. A common Hebrew word translated life (soul) is nephesh. Nephesh is used for the life or breath of both animals and man (Gen. 1: 20, 30; 19: 17). Life is that state that is the opposite of death. It is a state of animation, breathing, and awareness. Men and animals alike possess a soul in the sense of breath (nephesh). However, in the sense of possessing a part or element that lives forever, as man possesses, animals do not possess an eternal spirit (cp. Matt. 25: 46). The animal simply and totally returns to the dust, the spirit of man continues to exist (Eccl. 3: 21, cp. 12: 7).
The fact that animals do not possess an eternal soul in the sense that man does, does not de-emphasize their value as companions to man. Pets can and do become an important part in the lives of millions. Also, in man's charge over the animal kingdom, it behooves man to protect and not abuse the animals (Gen. 1: 26-28). [/LEFT]

[Ilene Wright]

Originally Posted by I LOVE NORTH CAROLINA

Only people have souls, animals don't need them because they cannot ask Jesus to become their Savior. But this does not mean that our pets won't be in Heaven. No one really knows for sure about that.

I saw a program about near death experiences once where this lady died and described going to heaven. In her NDE, she said there was ladder where dogs and cats were running up and down it. My dogs and cats have been so special to me through the years, and I can't imagine heaven without them. I like to think that they will be there. Actually, I like to think that they will go with me in the rapture, too.

[Hiram]

Animals have a soul as well as man and our proof once again can be found in scripture.

Man's body was formed from the dust of the ground and that is why we can find all the same elements in the physical body as the ground.

Genesis 2:7 "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul" (soul = nephesh in Hebrew).

What happens when you take the nails out of a crate. You have a stack of boards, but when you put the nails back in, then you once again have the crate. The same with man, if the breath of life is separated from man's body then there is no longer a living soul. When God combines the breath of life and body, man be-comes a living soul again.

At Genesis 2:7, the Word of God tells us that the breath of life from Him is what gives life to the body. Without the soul the body is dead. But where is the soul, the life of the body, the life of the flesh? The Word of God again is very accurate:

Leviticus 17:11-14 says, "For the life (nephesh in Hebrew) of the flesh is in the blood…No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood. And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust. For it (the blood) is the life (nephesh) of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life (nephesh) thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life (nephesh) of all flesh is the blood thereof…"

As shown in the above passage, the, word "life" is a translation of the Hebrew word "nephesh", which is translated as ‘soul’ in Genesis 2:7, as well as in 471 out of the 753 other places where it occurs. Therefore, what is nephesh, or soul? According to Genesis 2:7, the soul is what gives life to the body. Where is the nephesh, or soul/life? According to Genesis 2:7, the breath of life is what gives life to the body. According to Leviticus 17:11-14, it is in the blood: "For the life (nephesh, soul) of the flesh is in the blood." How does this soul life pass from generation to generation? Through the blood. That's why Acts 17:26 tells us, "And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth." The "one blood" of this passage is the blood of Adam, which passes from generation to generation, and is actually the blood that all of us have.

So, actually, soul is not something that only man has. Animals have a soul also, which, again, is in the blood. Although this is immediately understood from the above passage of Leviticus, where we are told that the life of all flesh is in the blood, let's go to other parts of Genesis to see it there as well:

Genesis 1:20-21, "And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that has life (KJV margin - soul) and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature (nephesh, soul) that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good"

Genesis 1:24 "And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature (nephesh, soul) after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so."

Genesis 1:29-30 "And God said "Behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yield seed; to you it shall be for food. And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to every thing that creeps upon the earth , wherein there is life (nephesh, KJV margin - a living soul), I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so."

Genesis 9:16 "And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature (nephesh, soul) of all flesh that is upon the earth."

And in the same fashion as to how God breathed into man's nostrils the "breath of life" and man became a living soul (Genesis.2:7), all animals have in their nostrils the "breath of life" from God as well (Genesis 1:30 [Septuagint]; 6:17; 7:15,21-22).



Now Spirit, that is a different question, and perhaps a different topic?