In an upcoming article, I will expound on actual, sanctifying, and sacramental graces, and why God made humans to receive that grace which brings us into right relationship with Him and into Heaven. In preparation, I wrote the below article to explain why God did not create nonhuman (nonrational) animals with immortal souls capable of receiving His grace.
Also, about three years ago, Gene Van Son explained why nonrational animals do not go to Heaven in his article Pets in Heaven? Don’t Bet on It. And I wrote an article titled Proving the Immortal Human Soul Exists, in which I provided extrabiblical reasons for the human soul’s continued existence after physical death.
As I just mentioned, the following article will explain why nonrational animals and other earthly creatures (plants and so forth) do not have souls that survive physical death. Before turning to these explanations, however, I would like to define what a soul is and distinguish among the different types of souls. For this, I will turn to St. Thomas Aquinas.
Types of Souls
In his Summa Theologiae, Aquinas generally defines the soul as the unifying and vivifying principle (or form) of living organisms. The soul makes an organism a living thing and unifies the parts to make a whole. We can apply this definition to plants, insects, fish, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals, including humans. But this does not mean that all souls are the same.
Aquinas says vegetive souls inform their matter (e.g., flowers, trees, tomatoes, etc.) to grow and reproduce. Sensitive souls have these powers plus they inform their matter (e.g., dogs, cats, cows, horses, etc.) to use sense powers and to move.
Those species with sensitive souls can also recognize and remember material objects, but they cannot know things beyond the material. According to Aquinas, both vegetive and sensitive souls rely on matter and, therefore, do not survive after the organism’s death (ST I, q. 78).
However, a rational soul (human soul) survives after bodily death because it is spiritual. Rational souls have the aforementioned powers plus the ability to think rationally (i.e., think conceptually about things and their purposes) and to choose morally correct courses of action out of love for the eternal Good.
In other words, the rational soul can know, understand, and choose things beyond the material. Click here and here to read a two-part article by Catholic Answers about the soul.
Human Vs. Animal Powers of Knowing
The human’s intellectual power includes knowing things beyond sense knowledge and imagination. Humans alone can understand themselves (introspection) and everything with which they come into contact (extrospection). We know and understand things beyond the concrete thing.
For instance, when I see a tree, I do not simply see something on which to urinate, like when a dog sees a tree. I understand the tree’s essence and conceptualize a great many purposes for which I can use the tree. I can examine one tree and understand the essence of all trees. Consequently, I can conceptualize the truth about trees and the truth itself. Truth is a concept we cannot detect with our senses. We can only understand it with our intellects.
I can also see a certain beauty in the tree that points to God’s beauty. I can see the need for trees to oxygenate our planet and their uses for a nearly endless number of construction projects. I can see the need to replenish this natural resource lest I create problems for mankind by not properly caring for God’s creation.
Accordingly, I can reflect on my actions before I decide (prospection) what to do with the tree and even evaluate my actions afterward (retrospection). I may want to use trees for a near-endless number of things, but I can also reflect on the imprudence of doing such a thing, something nonrational animals cannot do. In other words, God designed me to understand truths that transcend material creation and to reflect on them.
Also, as God is eternal Truth, and He made me in His image and likeness, He designed me to reflect Him, to understand Him at some level, and to love Him with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength. By love, I simply mean willing what is good for oneself and for others. A thing cannot do this unless it first understands what good is and what is good.
But God did not create nonrational animals to function like this. They can recognize, remember, and even imagine material things, but they cannot understand the essence of things or concepts such as truth, love, beauty, justice, or even themselves. They simply have no ability to understand. And they cannot love what they cannot understand.
(Fact #1: Animals have no conceptual powers to understand things or ideas, and they have no volitional [of the will] powers to choose objects and actions they cannot understand.)
However, God designed humans to love, understand, and know which actions conform to or conflict with truth, love, goodness, reality, etc. Also, He made us understand not only material things but also spiritual realities, including Heaven. Therefore, our intellectual powers know things beyond the material and point to a spiritual soul that God designed for eternity.
What is Heaven?
Heaven is nothing other than the Beatific Vision, the moment we receive God directly into our souls and see Him as He is. St. Paul writes, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then, face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood” (1 Corinthians 13). So, Heaven is the clear, unimpeded understanding (or clear, spiritual vision) of God. He will give this vision to those whom He designed to understand and who die in a state of grace.
Nonrational animals clearly do not fit this description, which is why we describe them as nonrational. Animals may, and in my opinion, will, live on the new earth described in Revelation 21, but this does not mean that animals in this life will be there. In fact, nothing philosophically or scripturally supports the notion of resurrected animals in the next life.
(Fact #2: God did not make animals to understand Him or to seek the Beatific Vision.)
Humans Know God
Regarding our relationship with God, we have the capacity to know God, to love Him, to understand His purposes for us, and to execute our dominion freely and lovingly over the rest of the world in accordance with His will (ST I, q.96, a. 1, 2). This is something no nonrational animal could ever do.
God did not design animals to understand His purposes for creation or to seek an eternal relationship with Him based on grace, love, and truth. Animals do not even understand, nor will they ever understand, what grace, love, and truth are, not to mention justice, mercy, temperance, fortitude, prudence, and morality.
Like other living organisms (e.g., reptiles, insects, trees, grass, vegetables, etc.) God created, He created animals to serve man, and He gave them temporal purposes. Even though God loves all His creation, His love does not necessitate that everything He creates will survive physical death.
(Fact #3: God eternally loves all creatures, but He did not create all creatures to eternally love Him.)
43 thoughts on “Eight Reasons Why Animals Do Not Have Immortal Souls- Part I”
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Rick,
You might want to research Jung’s Theory of Synchronicity. (“Meaningful coincidences.”) Dr. Jung argued from his very unusual anecdotes that there is, indeed, an invisible Supernatural reality.
Arguments and assertions about God, gods, the nature of death, afterlife, spirit, and souls seem little different from past arguments over how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
I suspect that when we die, we die. If though, something else happens, there doesn’t seem to be any science-based reason to imagine that what will happen to me will be much different from what will happen to my dogs.
Were there actually an omniscient omnipotent being behind the creation and design of the universe, given the immense suffering this being has created, I think it’s name probably begins with a D rather than a G.
There were animals in the Garden, there will be animals in the New Jerusalem. We are marching back to The Garden. ‘I make ALL THINGS NEW’ Jesus Christ. God doesn’t throw away His artwork!
Thomas Aquinas got this one wrong along when a child got his soul in the womb.
Prove it, Billy. God did not make animals for Heaven, at least not the animals of this world, including the Garden. My article clearly articulates this.
The Garden was on EARTH. We certainly hope that we will not be doomed to spending eternity on earth!
Aquinas did not invent the idea that the time when a child comes alive (the “quickening”) is when his mother can first feel him move in her womb. He was merely repeating the consensus of most scientists of his day. It is a scientific question, not a philosophical or theological question.
Oops, Wrong link!
Bible in a Year:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bible-in-a-year-with-fr-mike-schmitz/id1539568321
Joe, I think a lot of folks would benefit from this podcast. Thanks for posting it!
“He that sacrificeth an ox, is as if he slew a man: he that killeth a sheep in sacrifice, as if he should brain a dog: he that offereth an oblation, as if he should offer swine’s blood; he that remembereth incense, as if he should bless an idol. All these things have they chosen in their ways, and their soul is delighted in their abominations.”
– Isaiah 66.3
What do you think this passage means, David? I ask because it is not equating the killing of an ox with murdering a human. If you think it means this, then your understanding of Scripture is atrocious. So, tell me what you think it means.
David, I deleted four of your posts due to their irrelevance. Please address the question I asked or I will delete all of your future replies. Thank you!
David, I deleted your last comment because you dodged my question again.
And…?
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I prefer C.S. Lewis’s take on animals in heaven (in “The Problem of Pain”) to yours. no offense.
No offense taken. Thank you for your comment, Bob! God bless!
You’re probably correct. However, there is some chance for my beloved cats. God put man in charge of animals. Naming reflects this authority. So, the Good Lord may honor a prayer or two for my pets. Also, there are creatures in heaven around the thrown singing God’s praises… I have no idea what I’m asking of God, so we’ll see. I am convinced that our capacity for love and joy will be totally fulfilled in the Kingdom, so there will be nothing to miss, or want.
Thank you, Father! I believe God hears our prayers for our animals’ wellbeing and may, on occasion, miraculously heal them at our request. But notice that we are the ones making the request, not them. This is because God did not design them to desire Him or to ask for such a thing. Regardless, I understand how you feel, but the evidence just doesn’t support the idea of resurrected animals. Also, as I mentioned in my article, I think animals, along with plants and a multitude of other things, will inhabit the new earth, just not the animals, plants, and other organisms of this world.
The bottom line – you don’t know. Aquinas or any other other Scholastics do not know. It is hubris for any human to speak definitely about any aspect of Heaven.
Thanks for your reply! True hubris is believing something as true that reality does not remotely support. I have given both scriptural and philosophical reasons for why animals do not have immortal souls. You have provided nothing to the contrary, and you can’t.
Folks,
If part I has you spun up, part II might kill you. Your pets are not made in the image and likeness of God. They cease to exist when they die. End of story.
Women, also, are not made in the image of God. Not at least according to Aquinas, who you rely on. He taught that they are mistakes, embryos that somehow did not turn out to be males, and though he grudgingly admitted that they have souls, fetuses (which he taught do not have human souls at first!) get their souls earlier if they are male. It is true that he was working with primitive science, and did not know about sperms and eggs, but even on his own terms he was misinformed and misogynist.
When you come to know Him intimately (Song of Songs 7:10 style), you will chuckle at the silliness of your emphatic certitude. Not even a sparrow brother. He loves them, delights in them, and these stunning creatures witness to His ineffable glory. It does not diminish our image bearing in the slightest for heaven to include Kit Kat the cat, furthermore, she has been a faithful witness to the Light in moments of darkness, and we know the destiny of good and faithful servants. Peace brother.
Peace to you too! But if God will chuckle at the silliness of my emphatic certitude, why won’t He chuckle at yours? At least my certitude is grounded in Scripture and philosophy. Yours is merely grounded in a wish. You should read part II of this article.
Like I said, Crisis, part II is going to ruin your day.
Ok . . . As I get ready for you to ruin my day, should I have 1) warm milk, 2) wine, or 3) a martini?
Crisis, where did Aquinas write that women are not made in the image of God?
Kudos for addressing this challenging topic!
I sense that appreciating the absolute difference between human life and nonhuman life (however fluffy!) was not such a challenge to earlier generations.
Thank you!
Thanks Joe!!
The biblical book Ecclesiastes is attributed to Solomon. I will quote the third chapter, verses 17-22:
"And I said in my heart: God shall judge both the just and the wicked, and then shall be the time of everything.
"I said in my heart concerning the sons of men, that God would prove them, and shew them to be like beasts.
"Therefore, the death of man, and of beasts, is one, and the condition of them both is equal: as man dieth, so they also die: all things breathe alike, and man hath nothing more than beast: all things are subject to vanity.
"And all things go to one place: of earth they were made, and into earth they return together.
"Who knoweth if the spirit of the children of Adam ascend upward, and if the spirit of the beasts descend downward?
"And I have found that nothing is better than for a man to rejoice in his work, for that is his portion. For who shall bring him to know the things that shall be after him."
From the Douay-Rheims Bible
Very well explained article differentiating human and animal souls. And the differences on how they relate, understand and respond to the world.
I agree with you that “Animals may, and in my opinion, will, live on the new earth described in Revelation 21, but this does not mean that animals in this life will be there”.
But, I do not completely rule out that they still may be there.
Thank you for your reply, David! It is the most cogent of all the replies to this article. However, you have taken this passage out of context. If you read the whole book of Ecclesiastes, you will see that the writer is lamenting the vanity of life without God. In the passage you referenced, Solomon is having a conversation with God in his heart. In context, the sons of men, who reject God and are like beasts, have the same condition – “all things are subject to vanity.” For these men, no one can know the spiritual difference between the children of Adam and the beasts. Do the spirits of men ascend and the spirits of beasts descend, they ask. They ask because they do not know. And they do not know because they reject the One who creates all things. In their state of vanity, man and beast are the same and their lots are the same. However, for those who follow God, the spirits of men and the spirits of beasts are different. The spirits of men ascend to God for judgement and either eternal happiness or misery. The spirits of beasts return to the earth (just like human bodies; see verse 20) and cease to exist. Although God gives animals the breath (spirit) of life, they cease to exist when He takes it from them. For humans, however, when God takes His breath of life from us, our bodies cease to exist, but our souls, which He made in His image and likeness, continue for eternity. So, to believe that animals and humans have the same destination is vanity according to Solomon. Only those who reject God don’t know the difference between a human and a beast.
Thank you for your reply, Pam!
Very good catch on the bible verse casting well deserved doubt the ensoulment of life and
subsequent possible states of existence after death. What the author is unaware of is the
superb theology which details the transmigration of souls as detailed in the Hindu ‘bible’
called the Bahagavad-gita (As it is) and that humans can devolve into animals as well as
animal souls may ascend up the sentience ladder. Also unexplained is that animals are
held to higher standards and will pay a price (Gen 9:5) for taking life. But how could he
know, never having studied outside St Thomas Aquinas.
OP, you have no idea what I’ve studied, and, as usual, you’ve jumped to conclusions. Now, instead of writing vaguely about some Hindu teaching, prove that animals have immortal souls. In other words, put up or shut up.
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I can clearly see my dog thinking, as he ponders the couch, knowing that if he jumps onto it my wife will yell at him next time she comes downstairs. Usually it’s about fifteen seconds, before he decides to jump.
Also — animals are capable of altruistic behavior, and unlike humans they do it without being threatened with hellfire if they don’t.
Good boy, Crisis, good boy. I would pat your head and throw a stick for you to fetch if you were here. Dogs indeed hesitate between courses of action, especially when they have been disciplined for some behavior. However, they do NOT understand why they have been disciplined or even what discipline is. They just know that it doesn’t feel good.
They have no idea why they can’t jump on the couch. For them, a couch is simply something that feels good against their bodies. If a dog could understand the essence of a couch, we would see little doggy factories making couches. But they have never created such a thing and they never will because God did not design them to understand anything. And they certainly cannot understand God, moral behavior, or whether or not an act is altruistic. They respond by instinct. That’s it.
I’ve has dogs all my life starting in childhood. They do show affection. Think of the many stories of digs saving him a lives, protecting g thier owners, especially children. I believe God in His goodness does make it possible pets will be part of His “new heavens & new Earth.”
Thank you, Clandr! Clearly, love and affection are two different things, and I never wrote that animals cannot show affection. One can show affection without loving and can love without showing affection. Please read Part II of my article for more on animals’ inability to understand.
Man has an animal nature (the cartels) and a spiritual nature (the Elves — the children of El = God (Hebrew). We see Americans exercising their animal nature in that half of adult Americans have diabetes, more than half have cardiovascular disease, and obesity among Americans costs the economy $1.42 trillion per year. (8% of the U.S. gross domestic product — Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian.) Not looking very rational thinking, right?
I remember a quote from Solomon where he asked: “Who knows if the soul of man ascends upward, and if the soul of animals descends downward?” Something like that. When I attended a Jesuit college, a Catholic priest argued that animals don’t think, and therefore, don’t have souls. The sociology lecturer argued that a cat can reflect. It is my experience that animals lack the co-enzymes in their diets that enable the production of a greater number of body-regulating enzymes. Since the primary source of co-enzymes is derived from vitamins, then a human on a poor diet is more prone to having problems. To state this in another form, it is a proven fact that a correlation exists between criminal behavior and poor nutrition.
That every human has a soul, and animals lack any form of spiritual nature is over-simplification. My pets have been with us for so long that we have an understanding with regard to certain basic functions. They let me know when certain things are on their minds, and to suppose that they don’t have the capacity to reflect (to think rationally) is incorrect. It is simply the constraints upon their diet that limits their ability to reflect.
Look. Read what is stated about this in the first chapter of Genesis, before the Fall. If you don’t believe that an animal can experience love, and that an animal can love humans that express love for it, then you haven’t owned many pets.
I won’t get into Maslow’s “Theory of Self-Actualization.”
Mr Doerr,
You are pulling things out of context to try to make points. I think that your time and effort would be better utilized with the “Bible in a Year” podcasts (https://youtu.be/7atxJubHPNw?feature=shared). I guarantee that you will find them to be highest quality.
God bless,
Joe
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-bible-in-a-year-with-fr-mike-schmitz/id1539568321