God Squad: Is there a pet heaven?
Where do our pets go after they die? Do they simply return back to the earth? And if so, what exactly does that mean? With the recent passing of Winston, our beloved dog of 14 years, I was devastated to learn that he won't be waiting for me in heaven.
- B., Appleton, Wis.
The official line of the major faiths is that animals don't go to heaven because they don't have souls. Like us, animals are created by God but, unlike us, they were not created in the image of God and therefore do not have souls.
To put this with an unfortunate spiritual bluntness: Animals are holier than vegetables but less holy than people. This doesn't mean that they can be abused, however, and it doesn't mean they're not capable of love and loyalty.
My Grandpa Lepa was a keeper at the Milwaukee Zoo, and my wife, Betty, and I raise guide dogs for the blind for the Guide Dog Foundation in Smithtown . (Note: Let me encourage you to support them or your nearest guide dog foundation. They do holy work and need help.) I love animals with all my heart, and dogs most of all. However, I'm not privileged to know all the admission standards in heaven. I deeply appreciate the spiritual sensitivity of vegetarians who, for various reasons, some religious and some not, believe that eating another living being who can feel pain is bad faith, bad karma or just plain bad.
The biblical support for this vegetarian argument comes from Genesis 9:3-5, where God decides after the great flood to allow Noah and his descendants to eat meat for the first time, saying, "Every moving thing that liveth shall be for food for you; as the green herb have I given you all. Only flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it . . ."
What this passage indicates to me is that we'll be held accountable to God for every animal we eat. What I believe is that there's an intuitive distinction between the life of animals and the life of people. Whether that difference extends to heaven, I don't know.
The point is, animals are also spiritually significant beings. They're not as significant as people but they present a test for us as to how deeply we can make compassion real in our wounded world.
As for me, I believe we won't be separated forever from those we love, including our pets. So, despite the official line, I believe that in heaven, your beloved Winston will be waiting for you, ready to lick your face and chew up your couch (provided there are couches in heaven).
May God comfort you, and may you live in such a way that the hidden things remain a matter for God. Our job is to love unconditionally until we know everything we were created to know.
I just read your column about church shopping. I too, was shopping a couple of years ago after moving to Sacramento, Calif. I was baptized Lutheran, but hadn't found a Lutheran church I could call home since childhood (I'm now 67). I grabbed the Yellow Pages and started writing down the names of local churches, all Methodist. I found one nearby.
The first Sunday I walked in the door, I heard this incredibly beautiful music. I looked toward the front, and there was a wonderful 'hippie-looking' guy playing a guitar. Next to him was a woman (I later learned was his wife) playing drums. There was also a young piano player, definitely from the '60s.
I fell in love with their music, and to cut to the chase, I knew I'd found my church. That was over two years ago. Our minister is a divorced woman (whose father was a minister). There was an assistant minister called "Sarge." The people in the church represent just about every ethnic group: Japanese, Mexican, African-American, Heinz 57, you name it. We have three or four gay couples, including two who are raising children. Last Sunday, we had a guest minister, an African-American lesbian. Her life partner played the piano, and both did some singing, in addition to the pastor's wonderful sermon. We have a large, enthusiastic youth group.
- K., Sacramento via e-mail
Amazing. I think the difference is mostly California. God bless you and rock on for God, dude! (or is it dudette?)
