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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?
God is spirit and, therefore, to communicate with Him, and He with you, you must receive His spirit. Since spirit was not available after Adam's fall, during that period God put His spirit upon those that He wanted to communicate with. God put it upon them to give them revelation. This does not mean that spirit was available to everyone. From Genesis to Acts, there is no record of any instruction as to how to receive His spirit, because the Holy Spirit was not yet available to all, to wit:
John 7:39, "...for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified."
Ok, I've heard this before that animals do not have souls (according to Christianity anyway). But why is this?
Does sentience have anything to do with it?
Sometimes it feels like a dog really is man's best friend when they come lick your face after you've had a rough day. They do seem to react to moods and also it seems like they have the ability to "sense" bad people. Or am I reading too much into it?
"All sentient beings have Buddha nature."
Animals are sentient beings.
I don't know what you mean by "soul" ... do you?
This is all new to me. My dogs are my babies and in my life they will be in Heaven with me. I believe there will be a Heaven for them. Maybe they don't have souls but that doesn't mean they won't have eternal life. This is WOW to read all of this. I truly believe my babies will go up to Heaven.
Location: The world, where will fate take me this time?
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Of course that animals have souls, they are sons of God too, but their souls haven't experienced the evolution ours had (yet), so it still expresses in an animal form, but as we someday will be Christs, our dear pets will be human beings and will continue evolving until they become Christs themselves!
Our dogs will become human? I couldn't thing of a worse disaster for them.. Dogs in many ways are so much better than humans that I think that would be a major step down.
In my culture all living things have a spirit/soul, we believe that our Creator gave every living thing a spirit, from the smallest plant to the largest tree, every animal, every human, we believe that our Creator gave every living thing a Spirit. That is why in my culture every living thing is sacred.osay
I havent had the time to read this whole thread...but my answer is as follows:
Animals don't have souls...because they ARE souls. Genesis 2:2 says 'man CAME TO BE a living soul'. It doesnt say he was given one. Therefore, man and beasts are all living souls...
According to the bible the spirit of the Dog (beast) goes into the ground when it dies.
Ecclesiates 3:21: "Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?"
The soul that sins shall die, humans only have souls.
Ezekiel 18:4: Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
I havent had the time to read this whole thread...but my answer is as follows:
Animals don't have souls...because they ARE souls. Genesis 2:2 says 'man CAME TO BE a living soul'. It doesnt say he was given one. Therefore, man and beasts are all living souls...
Genesis does not state either that animals are living souls.
Genesis does not state either that animals are living souls.
Gen 1:20, 21, 24, and 25...both beasts in the water and on the land are referred to as living souls.
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