Dogs go the Heaven??

My best guess so far is that the Pope is starting from the traditional belief that there is no sadness in Heaven. Then, jumping to the thought that if the kid would be sad in heaven without Bowser, then Bowser would be there.

The idea that animals have souls (the part that lives eternally) is not accepted by the Church, and I can't recall when it was.

It may be that Francis' heart spoke before his mind could fully consider his words. It's not the first time the world has had a WTF? moment with him, and won't be the last.

I've been told by pastors of various religions that animals don't have soul, and therefore don't go to heaven.

Ultimately, it's up to me to take my life's lessons and decide what I choose to believe. I decided not to let some one else to do my critical thinking, and have decided beloved pets will be in heaven. :)

If I'm wrong in my beliefs, it isn't hurting anybody- and I'll find out one day.
In the meantime, it has given me great comfort believing I will see my pets again one day.

Just my two cents- and they're 100% copper.

There are scriptural references to animals in heaven ("The lion shall lie down with the lamb, blah blah blah") and there's nothing to indicate that they wouldn't be there, so why not? There's nothing to say that extraterrestrials aren't in heaven, so why not, either?

My chief beef with some traditionalists/fundamentalists is that they take the tact that "if it isn't in the Bible, it's not true," but you can make the case for a bazillion things not being in the Bible, yet they still exist. We'll find out when we get there, that's my perspective.

I once, not too long ago, had a coon hound that looked a lot like that one - slightly different colors, but about the same general construction plan. Several years ago, that dog saved my life, too. He's gone now. Disappeared while I was away. Most speculation is that a bear got him. He tangled with one a couple years ago, and didn't have a lot of sense not to do that again.

That dog once ate the side out of a tin shed because some of my stuff was in it, and he could smell it, and must have thought I was in there, too. He aimed to get to wherever I was, and wasn't going to let a little thing like steel siding keep him away.

I reckon he's laying around in the shade somewhere now, just waiting. He was always either pretty lazy, or just possessed of more patience than most people I know. I've got no doubts I'll run into him again one of these days. It never mattered how long I was gone - an hour or a year - it was all the same to him, and he always acted like the sun just came up whenever I came back around again. I expect it won't be much different next time I run into him.

He was gun-shy, not worth a damn for hunting, but he was my buddy.

I was talking to a preacher one day, and out of the blue he says "There's golf courses in heaven". I looked at him like he may have just lost a little bit of his mind, and then asked him why he thought that. He replied "Well, I love golfing. If there aren't any golf courses there, they couldn't seriously call it 'Heaven', so there must be golf courses there". It's hard to argue with logic like that. I reckon he's found out the truth of it now, too.

Likewise with dogs - how could they call it "Heaven" if they exclude Man's Best Friend?

That would be the paleontologists' section of Heaven. Just look for the road signs with arrows that say "Paleontologist Quarters" and go the other way.

I also recommend avoiding the areas labeled "Jihadists and Virgins".

@ninurta,



Hopefully he's correct. As an agnostic I don't at the moment really believe in heaven but with so little data it's just as possible true as not. That said, if there are golf courses then there must be fly fishing trout and salmon streams as well so my vote is that your pastor friend is correct.

Haven't you all heard the story of Rainbow Bridge? YES - our beloved companion animals are there in the afterlife.
rainbowsbridge.com/poem.htm

And furthermore, they come back to us in various reincarnations. Rightnow, I have a new kitty, who looks very similar to my most-recently lost kitty - and he "fit in" to the family immediately - no hissing or growling from anyone else. He even responds to the old name!!!