“Do animals go to heaven?” – The contradictions to answering YES or NO!

• Tweet
• Email
• Sharebar

• Tweet
• Email

The question was posed to me recently, “Do animals go to heaven?” My answer was simple, “No, nether do you. It doesn’t exist.” I saw this great song on YouTube on the same day. I guess you could call it an atheist theme song. It simply asks “Why don’t bees go to heave, tress go to heaven… because man created god!”

It made me think, I wonder how many Christians believe in an animal’s ability to make it into heaven. I own pets. I understand the love people have for them. So, I am sure many believers think their animals will be right alongside them on the streets of gold someday. Whether they are right or wrong, it should make us question their logic.

Ask a Christian this questions sometime and be prepared to give them pause whether they say YES or NO. The following are two fake conversations to show them why they are wrong either way and how your responses can create some much need cognitive dissonance for them to dwell on for a little while.
SAMPLE CONVERSATION #1
Atheist (A)- Do you think animals go to heaven?
Christian(C)- Yes.
A- Why?
C- Well, god loves all the things he created and wouldn’t want them to suffer.
A- But the bible says that the only way into heaven is to believe in god and accept the death of his son Jesus as the sacrifice to end all sin. An animal has no ability to know what sin is or accept Jesus Christ as its Lord and Savior. The bible gives no exemptions for this.
C- Well, animals are exempt, I’m sure, since we can’t tell them about god.
A- Then what about mentally retarded children. Can a child with down syndrome be exempt too? Where does it say this in the bible? If they are unable to accept Jesus as their personal savior, are they like animals? Or, do they not get into heaven? (stare… and watch their face build with confusion)

SAMPLE CONVERSATION #2
Atheist (A)- Do you think animals go to heaven?
Christian(C)- No.
A- Why?
C- Only humans can get into heaven because we are god’s chosen creation that he loves most. Heaven was created for us and you have to be able to understand god and his son’s sacrifice in order to gain entrance and be repentant of your sin.
A- So, then why did god create all those animals? Just for fun? Are they purely for our enjoyment and then they die and that’s it?
C- Sure.
A- What about a person with a mental handicap that never had the ability to “understand” god or accept Jesus into his heart?
C- They are exempt.
A- Really? Where does it say that?
C- I don’t know… but my pastor told me that once.
A- What about a teenager that is saved, but gets in a car crash on the way home from a party where he drank and had sex? He gets into a coma, comes out brain damaged, and never has the mental capacity to ask god to forgive his sins. Is he like an animal and exempt even though he will still die with sin in his heart or is he guilty of never asking for forgiveness and doomed to hell?
A- Um, well, you are obviously filled with the demon of doubt… I will pray for you now so we can change the subject.

Ok, so the conversation might not go exactly like that and the believer might actually have a real, good, thought out response. But, I doubt it. either way they answer, you should be able to raise these other questions and make them explain it. Don’t be an ass. just tell them you want to know. Remember, heaven is different for different people and the bible is pretty vague about it (and hell). It’s another reason we know it’s imaginary – it’s whatever people make it out to be. Making them face that, and the fact that they don’t really have the answers to detailed questions about where they are gambling that they will spend eternity, is a simple, but strong conversational argument to make.

Believers can’t be told things to make the stop believing. You can only pose questions and leave them thinking. They either discover the truth on their own or not at all. Questioning heaven is one of those things. We can’t prove it doesn’t exist any more than they can prove it does exist. You can just point out the fallacies in the explanations and hope cognitive dissonance will do the rest. They are betting their whole life on a reward that doesn’t come until they die. You’d think an all loving god would lay it out a little better if he expected us all to make that gamble. Amazingly, he doesn’t.