🐶 Doggone It, But A Few Readers Bark Over Musing On Pets In Heaven 🔌
Weekend Plug-in 🔌
Editor’s note: Every Friday, “Weekend Plug-in” meets readers at the intersection of faith and news. Click to join nearly 10,000 subscribers who get this column delivered straight to their inbox. Got feedback or ideas? Email Bobby Ross Jr.
(ANALYSIS) Who let the dogs out?
Come to think of it, I guess I did.
I asked in a recent column — inspired by the adorableness of my basset hound, Frannie — if we might see furry friends in heaven.
I’ve received so much precious response to that piece, along with a few emails that reminded me why dogs — and not certain grumpy humans — are considered man’s best friend.
Frannie enjoys time outside in her Oklahoma City neighborhood. (Photo by Tamie Ross)
In the name of fairness, I’ll start with the negative feedback.
A reader named David Justice (not the retired baseball player, I’m pretty sure) called my article pathetic. He sent me a link to a piece titled “Humans are Not Animals,” written by Dave Miller of Apologetics Press.
“I suspect you do not have enough BIBLE knowledge to fit on the head of a pencil eraser,” Justice wrote. “Read Dave Miller’s article, and maybe you can get enlightened a little.”
I’m intrigued because I never contemplated fitting Bible knowledge on a pencil eraser. Then again, Matthew 19:26 indicates that “with God all things are possible.”
I thanked Justice for his email and asked if he could tell me his hometown since I was compiling responses to my column.
“Do you still stand by your article?” he replied without answering my question
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate reading and considering different perspectives,” I said.
Harold Jackson of Twin Lake, Michigan, brought Lassie — not to mention Adam and Eve — into the conversation.
“Why is it that we humanize dogs and eat steak?”Jackson asked. “When God created man, he knew that among the animals, there was not a suitable companion for Adam. Because God saw a need, he made Adam Eve rather than Lassie.
“In heaven, all things will be made new,” Jackson said. “If we still have a desire for the old, heaven may not be for us.”
My column inadvertently stepped knee deep into Christian debate over the nature of heaven itself, as my friend Jeremie Beller, dean of the Bible college at Oklahoma Christian University, pointed out.
READ: Will There Be Hound Dogs In Heaven? Beliefs Differ On Furry Friends In Eternity
2 Peter 3:10 says, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.”
Some believers take that verse to mean that God will wipe out the Earth.
“Some people say we will be disembodied spirits for eternity,” Beller explained. “We’re souls. Our body goes back to the dust. Our souls go to be with God. The physical world goes away.”
In that scenario, it’s ludicrous — even heretical — to suggest a dog might go to heaven.
Other believers point to the Bible’s descriptions of the bodily resurrection of Jesus.
Romans 8:11 says, “And if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.”
That side believes that God will redeem creation and everything in it — an eternal Garden of Eden, if you will.
According to that perspective, all creation will live forever in peace and harmony. That includes dogs and possibly cats (the cats are a more difficult theological discussion, if you’ve ever met one).
I’m drastically oversimplifying all of the above, but in my defense, please refer back to that pencil eraser statement.
Steven Clark Goad of Clearwater, Florida, voiced a more nuanced concern with my article.
“Thoroughly loved the doggy story about Frannie,” Goad wrote. “This may seem picky, and I can be a bit picky about how we express theological matters, but your use of ‘spending eternity’ some three or four times needs my picking.
“Eternity can’t be spent,” he added. “It’s forever.”
OK, questioning my Bible knowledge is one thing. But taking issue with a professional writer’s word choice? That is serious.
I kid. I kid. Goad makes a really good point.
And I like how he concluded his message: “I hope to see my canine and feline family members over yonder. That, too, may be poor theology, but it gives me comfort. God surely has a plethora of surprises for us.”
Tamie Ross takes Frannie for a walk on a cool fall morning in Oklahoma City. (Photo by Bobby Ross Jr.)
One of my favorite responses came from Connie Thomas of Monette, Arkansas.
“I read the article about your furbaby, Frannie, with a smile on my face and love in my heart,” Thomas said. “I'm an animal lover, and I've wrestled with this issue, it seems, forever. I don't know if pets will go to heaven, but I choose to believe they will.”
Thomas told me she planned to share my column with friends.
“A few of my friends are animal lovers,” she said, “but the ones that aren’t are the ones I’m showing this to.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at that.
I also enjoyed hearing from Mike Weimer of Athens, Alabama.
“I would not be surprised to be greeted by a wagging tailed dog in heaven, but I wouldn't want to be dogmatic on the subject,” wrote Weimer, who shared “A Lesson from Gracie” devotional he did on his wife’s poodle.
“However, I don't have similar expectations for seeing cats in heaven,” he added. “They give the impression that they think they are God.”
Like my wife, Tamie, and me, Mark and Susan McClain of Carmel, Indiana, love their hound dog: a wire-haired dachshund named Henry.
“He teaches us so much about love and the meaning of life,” Mark McClain said. “He makes us laugh every single day! He is an important part of our family. Yes, he will be with us in heaven someday.”
To support that belief, McClain cited Ecclesiastes 3:19: “Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless.”
“Many have argued that animals do not have a soul, which I believe is unsubstantiated from a biblical perspective,” McClain wrote. “The Bible seems to be silent on this matter.”
He recalled hearing a wise minister tell a child, “God will provide whatever it takes to make you happy, even if that means that your dog will be in heaven someday.”
To McClain, that means that Henry, Frannie and many other dogs will be in heaven.
Inside The Godbeat
Wildfires in the Los Angeles area have killed at least 27 people and destroyed more than 12,000 structures, according to news reports.
Religion writers have produced excellent coverage of the faith angle, including stories by The Associated Press’ Giovanna Dell’Orto, Luis Andres Henao and Peter Smith, The Christian Chronicle’s Calvin Cockrell, Christianity Today’s Emily Belz, the Forward’s Rob Eshman, Religion News Service’s Bob Smietana and United Methodist News Service’s Heather Hahn.
The Final Plug
I love the Texas Rangers, and baseball is my favorite sport, as I’ve mentioned once or twice or a million times.
But since I live in Oklahoma City, I’ve become a casual fan of the NBA’s Thunder (and I even have a personal connection).
I enjoyed going to Thursday night’s game with my son Brady, daughter Kendall and 6-year-old grandson Bennett. In a rematch of the NBA’s top teams, OKC avenged last week’s loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Bobby, Kendall, Bennett and Brady Ross enjoy Thursday night’s Oklahoma City Thunder win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. (Photo by Brady Ross)
Thunder up, everyone! And enjoy the weekend.
Bobby Ross Jr. writes the Weekend Plug-in column for Religion Unplugged and serves as editor-in-chief of The Christian Chronicle. A former religion writer for The Associated Press and The Oklahoman, Ross has reported from all 50 states and 18 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.