There are people in this world, who have for whatever reason, never had much contact with animals large or small. In fact, there are people who have never had any contact with animals at all. What a mystery these creatures must seem.
Here's a question that is perplexing about our little furry friends, especially when the question is so difficult to answer about humans. Is there an afterlife for animals, or are they little more than "Meat Robots", put on Earth to entertain those whom God created in His image?
What the real biblical answer to that question is, I do not know, but I have a gut feeling on the subject. Thankfully, I have had a relatively furry life, so to speak; having been around pet cats and dogs for most of my years. I simply cannot be in the same room with a cat or dog, without succumbing to the urge to scratch it on the neck or under the chin, or pat it on the back. I am also prone to speak to "it" in a friendly conversational manner. Yeah... it is indeed possible that I have lost my marbles.
I am fascinated at how these little creatures respond, with eye contact, body language, and a general presentation of either appreciation or apprehension. When a cat or dog looks into my eyes, how can I help but believe that a meeting of the souls is taking place? It is not so different than engaging in the same activity with our fellow humans. Didn't someone say that the eyes are the windows to the soul?
So there are actually two questions for me, rather than the one mentioned above. Do the animals have an eternal soul, and is their "spirit" the same as that which inhabits our own bodies? What I believe, is that God created these little ones, and has indeed bestowed upon them an eternal soul. But I do not believe that God's plan penciled them in on the same level as He did us.
No, there is life that powers the meat robots we call animals, and where there is life, there was the hand of God. God knows when the sparrow falls in the field, so says the Good Book, so surely there is more to their story than the time they spend on this planet.
But God created mankind in His own image, and he set us apart for reasons known only to Him. So the answer, I believe, is that humans and animals both possess a soul, which lives on. However, God also put in our mix, a Spirit, which is somehow connected to that which God is.
It will be one of those fascinating things that will become known to us when our time on Earth one day ends. There are many questions that fall into that category. Although, I am in no hurry to depart from my own meat robot, I still look forward to that day of understanding.
Perhaps I will meet my long lost furballs (Kitty, Pussy, John-John, Thumper (the rabbit), Domino, Lassie, Groucho, and Husker who just passed on last Friday) in the life hereafter. So until then my friends...
©2007 by Phil Harris
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