Dogs, Heaven, and You

So last week I posted a debate between two church signs - a Catholic church sign which lightheartedly maintained that all dogs go to heaven and a Presbyterian sign which argued (not so lightheartedly) that because dogs have no souls, they can't go to heaven.

Which sign was right?

Actually they both miss the point - in a big way. The underlying assumption of both signs is that the ultimate destiny of human beings is that “our souls go to heaven.” People who have gone to church all their lives have this idea that God's ultimate goal is to get us out of the world to float around as disembodied “souls” in a non-physical heaven. But that's not a Biblical idea. It actually springs more from the (pagan!) Greek philosophy of Plato than it does to the Bible.

The hope given to us in the Bible is that God's ultimate goal is to renew all of nature. The end of Revelation puts it this way: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. . . .” (Revelation 21: 1) The end of the Bible doesn't have us going up to the “sky” to live in the New Jerusalem. It has the New Jerusalem coming down to earth. (Revelation 21: 2)

What's the point?

God intends to restore, renew and perfect this physical universe he has made.
That's why the bible doesn't talk to much about “the immortality of the soul.” Instead it promises the resurrection of the dead. When Jesus was raised to life on Easter morning, he wasn't a disembodied ghost or spirit. He was a transformed human being, fully physical and capable of eating, drinking, being touched and touching. Yes, he was renewed and had transcended death but he was still physical. That's why the tomb was empty. His old body was transformed - but it was still his body.

What God did on Easter morning resurrection of Jesus, he intends to do for the universe itself – Renew, Restore, Make it the way he originally intended! Look at Romans 8, paying special attention to verse 11 and 19. You can see the process:

1. Jesus was raised from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit.

2. This same Spirit is currently at work in us renewing us our character and transforming us into God's people.

3. Just as the Holy Spirit is renewing our character, one day he will renew our bodies.

4. When that happens all of Nature will be set free from death and renewed.

This isn't just in the New Testament. Isaiah 11: 6- 9 says,

The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.

The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,
and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest.

They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.

There you have it. God's big project is not to get us out of the world but to get himself into it.

If I have just shocked you and you are wondering what kind of weird cult I belong to, you might look at two books by authors from two very different streams in the Christian faith - Heaven, by Randy Alcorn and Surprised by Hope, by N.T. Wright. They both do a great job of explaining our ultimate destiny as the Bible describes it.

So what about dogs? Well, if God is going to renew all of creation, I imagine dogs will get included.

On the other hand, I'm not so sure about cats.