Megachurch pastor Robert Jeffress said most people will go to hell and those who go to heaven will not have their animals by their side.
“Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 3:19-21, ‘Here’s how we’re different. The animal has no spirit, but man has a spirit that descends to heaven even after he dies,'” Jeffress preached. “That’s how we’re different from the animals.”
But the kicker? Most people won’t go to heaven to know.
“Everybody’s spirit lives forever. Doesn’t matter what you believe—Jew, Atheist, Muslim, Catholic, Baptist—everybody’s going to live forever. Some are going to live forever in heaven with God. Others—the majority of people—are going to live in hell, separated from God,” Jeffress said.
Statistics indicate that just over 31 percent of the world’s population adheres to Christianity. Islam is second, with 22 percent; followed by nonreligious/religious nones at 15 percent; and nearly 14 percent call themselves Buddhists.
Salvation through Christ alone is necessary for salvation, Jeffress argues, and pets cannot go through that process.
The controversial pastor isn’t alone in his thought process.
In a blog on pet loss, Moira Anderson Allen writes:
The Christian concept of heaven is inextricably linked with the concepts of salvation, redemption, and resurrection. Christians don’t believe that “going to heaven” happens automatically; it’s the result of conscious decisions made during one’s life. While the Bible is very specific about the requirements for human salvation, it says nothing about salvation for animals. This has led many to assume that, since animals cannot be “saved,” they cannot possibly go to heaven.
Another way to look at this question, however, is to recall why the Bible states that redemption is “necessary” for humans. It is because, in scriptural terms, humans are “fallen” beings. Humans have free will, and thus the ability to choose between good and evil. Humans can choose salvation (and heaven), or choose to reject both.
Animals, however, have never “fallen”—and if one has not fallen, it is not at all clear that the intermediary step of “redemption” is necessary. Animals cannot “choose” between good and evil; when animals behave badly in our homes, it is generally because of a conflict between their God-given natures and our human requirements. Animals have no need to be saved because they are not considered “sinners.”
This doesn’t mean that we can necessarily assume that because animals have no “sin,” they are automatically received into heaven. What it does mean is that the whole issue of “redemption” does not seem to apply. Whether animals go to heaven or not, the question of “redemption” does not appear to be the basis for letting them in—or keeping them out.
Yet many disagree with Jeffress’ assessment.
Pastor John Piper addressed the issue in a podcast:
Here is the question. Did God create a group of beings only to destroy them in the end, a whole group like animals? Let’s have animals for history and no animals for eternity. I doubt it. Did He create amazing diversity in the animal realm only to simplify everything by getting rid of that diversity in the age to come so that you have stunning, amazed worship at God’s diversity in creation in history, but you don’t have it in the age to come. That is all gone. I doubt that. And so it does seem to me from these two texts (Isaiah 11 and 65) and from those two principles that there will be animals in the age to come.
So what do you think? Sound off!
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