What do you believe about the afterlife . . . for pets?

[donco6]

Poll question: What do you believe about the afterlife . . . for pets?

OK, bear with me a bit. I'm sure the vast majority of Americans see "animals" as a lower life form, not blessed with self-awareness or higher-order human traits such as compassion, generosity, trust and love. And they most certainly don't believe any creatures other than human beings possess an "eternal soul".

I, however, don't believe in such a sharp distinction between "human" and "animal." I believe that life itself is eternal and cannot be destroyed. So in that sense, I believe everything enters an "afterlife" (which is really just "life" without the shell and limitations we live in now). No, I don't believe we run to greet Grandma and Grandpa in white robes and golden harps - but I believe we are WITH Grandma and Grandpa and everything that's ever lived. We are united with them in a way we can't comprehend now.

Hey, it's my belief and I'm stickin' with it.

So that leads to my question: What do you think about this with respect to pets? Is there a distinction between animals and man with respect to "eternity"?

On edit - grammar.

[Lithos]

1. I'm agnostic

So the point really isn't meaningful. However, if there is such a thing, then yes as humans really are nothing special in the grand order of things. If not, it's a moot point.

L-

[babylonsister]

2. It'd be nice to think your 'soul' lived on somehow; Fluffy has a soul, too.

For me, the jury is still out and will probably be til I die; then I'll make up my mind. :P

[Sanity Claws]

3. I even think they reincarnate

I think one of my kitties is the reincarnation of a kitty who died in March 1990. I'm flattered and very happy that he wanted to come back to me.

[donco6]

10. Now that's a whole 'nuther topic.

And one that should be discussed because I'm really curious about it. But I suppose they'd throw it off of GD.

[Shallah Kali]

23. me too!

I think one of my cats was formerly a hamster :)

[northofdenali]

4. My Cinnamon rides my dreams all the time -

AND I've stepped "over" her, moved "around" her, and "talked" with her -

she's been gone 2 years.

I am NOT religious in any way, but I can tell you that those closest to you stick around.

My Cinnamon (actually, I was her human, she ruled, not me):



Love and miss you big girl!

[blondie58]

18. she was a beautiful girl

I swear some days I love my critters more than my children! JK, but being a single mom with two teenage girls that test my patience, the unconditional love that an animal gives is priceless.











RainbowsBridge.com
Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge.
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind.
They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...




This site was inspired by and is dedicated to FiFi

Visit the Human side of Rainbows Bridge - BelovedHearts.com


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Cobalt-60]

5. I dont believe in an after life

but if I'm wrong, I'm not interested unless my pets can come too.
(Just like the twilight zone episode)

[Der Blaue Engel]

6. This reminds me of one of my favorite Twilight Zone eps

An old man at the gates of Heaven finds that his dog won't be allowed to come, and so he turns away, preferring to forgo Paradise if his friend cannot be there. A little farther down the road, he finds the real Heaven, where animals are welcome. Makes me cry every time, even though I don't belief in a literal afterlife.

[donco6]

8. I remember that.

Yes, it made me cry at the time, too.

[hlthe2b]

7. All I know is that a heaven without my four-legged babes

is no heaven at all...So, if there is a heaven or similar afterlife, it must surely include our beloved pets.

And yes, they deserve it far more than most people. I see more soul in the kind eyes of my doggie girl and more conscious thought in her actions when I'm sick, injured, or in danger, than those not blessed-- with time spent with animals-- can ever imagine.

[Kerrytravelers]

9. I plan on seeing Gigi in the great beyond. I have the dog bones ready.

I bet Sniffles and Pitter-pat will be there, too, wanting Momma to love 'em!

[133724]

11. Thinking about the beef that I will be having for dinner in a little bit....

and the cow's "soul"

[donco6]

13. Be AFRAID!

Be very afraid.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

21. Lol.

Heaven for 133724

[az chela]

12. If my pets arent there I AM NOT GOING!!!!!!!

[Nevernose]

14. The Church of Christ says no, but there's a loophole

The Church of Christ says no, but there's a loophole. At least according to a girl I knew in the twelfth grade.

She said that technically animals don't get into heaven because only human beings have souls. However, the Bible also says that all of your treasured possessions will be with you in heaven, e.g. your pets.

Question, though: there's at least one dog I really wouldn't mind not seeing again. I mean, I'm not exactly GLAD he's dead, but I'm not exactly missing him, either.

Of course, the point is moot for me, since I believe we've only got one life and when it's over, it's over.

[TahitiNut]

15. If Bo ain't there, I'm not going.

:shrug:

[William769]

16. Rainbow bridge baby!

[TlalocW]

17. A co-worker of mine

Says that she knew some Baptists who took great glee in telling children that deceased pets don't go to Heaven because they have no souls.

As for me, I don't know what to think, but whenever I read that paragraph called the Rainbow Bridge, I tear up at the thought of my beloved first ferret, Zoe, playing and scampering in a field then stiffening because she's realized I'm there now then running to greet me.

In fact, I'm doing it now. Damn.

TlalocW

[Individualist]

20. Tell your coworker to quote this to those Baptists:

"I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns . He has a name written on him that no one but he himself knows. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean." Rev. 19: 11-26

Then ask them to explain how those horses came to be in heaven since they insist animals don't have souls.

[donco6]

29. Heh. Touche. n/t

[smoogatz]

19. There's no empirical evidence that humans are in any way supernatural

or immortal, or that we have "souls" which are both supernatural AND immortal. Since we are animals in every way that seems to count, there's no reason to think that we'd be endowed with a supernatural, immortal something-or-other that the rest of the mammals on the planet lack. Either we all have it, or none of us do. Since there's no evidence to the contrary, I'll go with "B": none of us do.

And that's five minutes of my life I'll never get back.

[baldguy]

22. All dogs go to heaven.

Can't say the same of humans.

[kickysnana]

24. Twilight Zone says "Yes" Good enough for me. n/t

[dweller]

25. since they don't appear to worry over it

neither will i. My pets seem content and focused on this life, and so will i following their lead.

of course, i happen to believe there will be a next life, for them and for myself, just as i know deep in my bones that we will meet again as we circle this, and the next, wheel of life.

and while i have no emperical evidence to back this up, then again as i went out in the world today i noticed the Earth around me being reborn in Springtime, so who am i to say?

i am just a dweller here.

peace,
dp

[left is right]

26. I don't know about Heaven but

when my beloved Dachshund died a year ago both my daughter and I experienced brief post-death encounters. My encounter happened the day after he died, I was in the bathroom getting ready for work. Bailey couldn't stand for the door to be shut with me on the inside and him on the outside. He would always push the door open. Well, on this morning the door popped open, he was standing there, he wagged his tail and then scampered up the hall, as was his habit; at the end of the hall he vanished. My daughter, who works third shift, also encountered him that day. She says that she work up about 2PM to his traditional 1 woof that signaled he wanted to go out. Neither of us ever encountered him again. Both of us had always been extreme nonbelievers about ghosts and other supernatural phenomenon. We can't explain it but we both believed we encountered him. However, when Bailey's cat died six months later, neither of us experienced any post-death encounters with her. We always said that we had a dog and the dog had a cat, so maybe we didn't encounter her because she never really belonged to us.

[Dervill Crow]

27. When my pastor said pets definitely didn't go to heaven, that's when I parted company

with the Lutheran church and reverted to paganism. As Mark Twain said, "If there are no dogs in heaven, then I want to go where they went."

[Evoman]

28. If every single animal that ever lived went to heaven,

then heavens got to be a pretty big fucking place. Not only that, but it would be an evolutionists wet dream. Man, that would be cool. I would spend at least the next thousand years studying them.

[Dorian Gray]

30. I don't know.

But, I do think that animals fulfill their nature perfectly. They act by instinct, and in a way they are the perfect embodiment of creation. They are almost incapable of acting against their animal instinct.