Monday, 28 November 2011
Today we lost a week-old puppy that must have been
slightly defective from birth. Ned’s dog
Ellie gave birth to a litter of four cute puppies but one would not nurse
properly and could not digest what it did manage to eat. She was a concern to us from the day she was
born and though Ned and Nicole did all in their power to save the little thing
she could not be helped and saddened us all by taking her leave this afternoon.
The passing of this little creature called to my mind a
clever conversation that appeared on the Internet a few years ago. It was a short dialog carried out between the
marquees of two churches, the Our Lady of Martyrs Catholic Church and,
across the street, the Beulah Cumberland Presbyterian
Church. The conversation is shown in the
following images taken from the Internet.
 |
| All Dogs Go To Heaven |
 |
Rebuttal: Read The Bible
|
 |
| God Loves All His Creations |
 |
| Rebuttal: Dogs Don't Have Souls |
 |
| Catholic Dogs Go To Heaven |
 |
| Conversion Does Not Grant A Soul |
 |
| Yes It Does! |
 |
| No, It Doesn’t; Dogs Are No Different From Rocks |
 |
| OK, All Rocks Go To Heaven, Too |
There is no winner to this debate by appeal to the Bible because,
unfortunately, the condition of plants and animals in the next life is not
plainly dealt with in the Bible. But
the Bible does give some information in favor
of the Catholic viewpoint, especially when considered in the light of
restoration scripture.
Chapters one and two of the book of Genesis give two
accounts of the creation. The two
accounts are connected by verse 5 of Ch. 2;
“And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb
of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon
the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.” This verse implies that although the seven
creative labors were accomplished there was still no life on the planet until
“there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the
ground.”
Man is now created in the flesh and likewise
all the plants and animals. We know from
the Book of Moses that the first account describes the spiritual creation and
the second account the temporal:
For I, the Lord God, created all
things, of which I have spoken, spiritually, before they were naturally upon
the face of the earth. For I, the Lord God, had not caused it to rain upon the
face of the earth. And I, the Lord God, had created all the children of men;
and not yet a man to till the ground; for in heaven created I them; and there
was not yet flesh upon the earth, neither in the water, neither in the air;
But I, the Lord God, spake, and
there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
And I, the Lord God, formed man
from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;
and man became a living soul, the first flesh upon the earth, the first man
also; nevertheless, all things were before created; but spiritually were they created and made according to my word.
And out of the ground I, the Lord
God, formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and commanded
that they should come unto Adam, to see what he would call them; and they were also living souls; for I, God, breathed
into them the breath of life. (Moses 3:5-7, 19)
Here is our clue that the animals and plants have spirits
and constitute living souls just like Adam, you, and me. We also learn from Genesis that God valued
everything He created: “And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold,
it was very good (Gen 1:31) .” If the plants and
animals are living souls just like people, and God considers them to be “very
good”, there is no reason to believe they will not be resurrected along with
humans to enjoy the blessings of eternity.
In my mind the real difference between people and animals
is agency. Animals make decisions by
instinct, not by agency. They cannot be
tempted to lie, cheat, or steal. They
act out of natural instinct to preserve their species rather than out of desire
for wealth, power, or fame. They do not
need repentance but they do need resurrection as provided by the Savior’s
infinite atonement.
What else can we say about the state of animals in the
next life? The Lord provides some
insight in a revelation given to Joseph Smith early in the history of the
Church. This revelation contains
marvelous knowledge about the Millennium and the end of the world. It seems to have been given as a reward for
the faithfulness of the elders in rejecting false spirits and putting their
faith in the Prophet Joseph. Verse 24
describes conditions that will occur at the end of the Millennium.
And the end shall come, and the
heaven and the earth shall be consumed and pass away, and there shall be a new
heaven and a new earth.
For all old things shall pass away,
and all things shall become new, even the heaven and the earth, and all the
fulness thereof, both men and beasts,
the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea;
And not one hair, neither mote,
shall be lost, for it is the workmanship of mine hand. (D&C 29:23-25)
At this point death will have been done away and all
things will have become glorified, including people and animals. I think we are safe in including dog hairs in
the Lord’s promise in verse 25. The
animals are definitely the workmanship of his hand.
Joseph Smith received additional understanding of the
conditions in the next life in March 1832 as he was working on his inspired
translation of the Book of Revelation. In
response to a question posed about the four beasts referred to in Revelation
4:6, Joseph explained:
They are figurative expressions,
used by the Revelator, John, in
describing heaven, the paradise
of God, the happiness of man, and of
beasts, and of creeping things, and of the fowls of the air; that
which is spiritual being in the
likeness of that which is temporal;
and that which is temporal in
the likeness of that which is spiritual;
the spirit of man in the
likeness of his person, as also the spirit
of
the beast, and every other creature which God has created. (D&C
77:2)
Here is another instance where the Bible, correctly
interpreted, provides insight regarding the destinies of the beasts and the
fouls. They all have spirits, will be
resurrected, and will enjoy an eternal happiness prepared just for them.
In a later revelation referring to the next life, Joseph
Smith provides a glimpse of how things will be there.
When the Savior shall appear we
shall see him as he is. We shall see
that he is a man like ourselves.
And that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us
there, only it will be coupled
with eternal glory, which glory we do
not now enjoy. (D&C
130:1-2)
I am comfortable defining our mortal sociality as including
pets. Any social situation that does not
include pets surely could not provide the complete happiness we look forward
to.
Have any Church leaders since Joseph Smith expressed
opinions about the future of the beasts? Elder Orson Pratt once gave a
discourse in which he gave his personal view of how heaven will be. His description is not considered church
doctrine but no one since has refuted or criticized what he said.
A Saint who is one in deed and in
truth, does not look for an immaterial heaven, but he expects a heaven with
lands, houses, cities, vegetation, rivers, and animals; with thrones, temples, palaces, kings, princes, priests,
and angels; with food, raiment, musical instruments, etc.
(Orson Pratt, JD 14:40 41.)
Elder Pratt’s view sounds reasonable
to me and is couched in temple images. God has pronounced all of his creations
to be “very good” and I can’t believe he would intentionally leave any behind. Our love for vegetation, rivers, animals,
musical instruments, etc. is, I believe, inherited from our Father, who must
also love these things.
It is difficult for me to
imagine a Heavenly Reward that does not include the things that we
instinctively love here, especially family, friends, and pets. I have to agree with the good Vicar of “Our
Lady of Martyrs”. Surely “All Dogs Go To
Heaven!”
