Do animals have souls? (Creator, Earth, elder, creation, America)

[Meesheltx]

I spent this last weekend with my older brother, a Southern Baptist Minister, and a very interesting topic was brought up. I don't really like to argue with my brother too much because I want us to stay close, but I did want to bring this up here. Him and his friends kept saying things that seemed to say animals were unimportant. When my dad went to kill an ant he said "oh man, i hate killing things!" ( i know, he's a dork!), and Les' (my brother) best friend said "Why does it matter, its not like it has a soul!" Another example is when we were talking about our family dog who has been around for a long time, we mentioned that it was going to be $2,000 to get his leg amputated and Les said he would never even pay $400 to fix a dog, he would rather put them down. He kept saying things like, "its not like they're people! they're just dogs!" Well this is very confusing to me because he is very close to his dogs, although maybe not as close as I had originally thought. Does the bible say anything regarding this issue? How do yall's belief systems explain animal "souls" ?

[Green Gaia]

To be honest, I don't know if animals have souls or not... I'm not completely convinced that humans do, at least not like I think you mean. I believe that everything; people, animals, plants, rocks, etc., on the Earth are connected and because of that we should respect and be kind to all our fellow Earthlings.

[michel]

Originally Posted by Meesheltx

I spent this last weekend with my older brother, a Southern Baptist Minister, and a very interesting topic was brought up. I don't really like to argue with my brother too much because I want us to stay close, but I did want to bring this up here. Him and his friends kept saying things that seemed to say animals were unimportant. When my dad went to kill an ant he said "oh man, i hate killing things!" ( i know, he's a dork!), and Les' (my brother) best friend said "Why does it matter, its not like it has a soul!" Another example is when we were talking about our family dog who has been around for a long time, we mentioned that it was going to be $2,000 to get his leg amputated and Les said he would never even pay $400 to fix a dog, he would rather put them down. He kept saying things like, "its not like they're people! they're just dogs!" Well this is very confusing to me because he is very close to his dogs, although maybe not as close as I had originally thought. Does the bible say anything regarding this issue? How do yall's belief systems explain animal "souls" ?

I am sorry, but I am one of those strange people who believes that all forms of life are equaly valid and are due the same respect.

Strangely enough (and funny at that) my attitudes towards not killing animals has helped me overcome my fear of spiders, and of wasps - I used to be really scared by the latter, when I was younger.

Do they have souls ? -I think they most likely do. I go by the premise that everything that is 'alive' that reproduces and dies is life, and is due veneration for what it is.

Which makes life rather hard ; it is not enough (in my eyes) to be a vegetarian; plant life has just the same respect. As I learned from a very dear friend on this forun (who surprised me by admitting that he/she felt the same), the need to respect the giving of a life in order that I may be fed is important.

I have killed an animal - a dog, which was elderly, in pain, and for whom I thought the quality of life was dreadful. That was a few years ago, but it regularly comes back to 'haunt' me- did I do the right thing?

[painted wolf]

Animals are our elder bothers and sisters. They are equil to humans in my faith for this reason.
Naturally they have 'souls' as they are dispite outward apperances just like us, we all have the same creator.

from a more scientific viewpoint.
Animals think, feel pain and emotions just like humans do. Many show amazing ammounts of intelligence.. the ability to understand (ans sometimes use) human language, make and use tools, some can eaven count and understand the concept of zero.

we really arn't all that different from one another. And ultimately compassion not only for our own kind but everthing is, no matter what faith, or lack there of, is still a great virtue.
A person who is unmoved by suffering of an animal, is only a step away from being unmoved by the suffereing of fellow humans. "its not like they're Americans... or White/African/Asian... or Christians/Jews/Muslims whatever"

wa:do

[dan]

Everything has a spirit. A spirit and a body make up what we call a soul, so in the literal sense every animal does have a soul. If someone expresses sentiments like that about animals it appears they have very little regard for God's creations. Animals are here to enrich our lives. Anyone who does not respect their lives cannot claim to be filled with God's love.

My friend had to go find and kill a badger that had been attacking his chickens. He shot the thing with a twelve gauge shotgun. The spread hit this thing dead center and it sat their shrieking in pain, but it did not die! I don't know if any of you have ever tried to take down a badger, but it's like something out of a horror movie; those things are tough. The sound it made almost made me cry. It was horrible to listen to that thing scream and howl. It took three loads to finally kill the thing.

A prophet was once talking about heaven and how he couldn't wait to see his favorite horse again, so it's pretty fair to say that all dogs do, in fact, go to heaven.

[Meesheltx]

So...is it justifiable from a Christian viewpoint to unnecessarily kill animals. And is there anything in the Bible that would suggest that animals should not be considered an equal part in a family? I'm wondering how this works with his particular religion and i'm also curious to know non-christian viewpoints on this topic. Thanks for yalls feedback! :-)

[painted wolf]

it is never justified to unnessisarily kill anything.

wa:do

[Merlin]

Originally Posted by dan

Everything has a spirit. A spirit and a body make up what we call a soul, so in the literal sense every animal does have a soul. If someone expresses sentiments like that about animals it appears they have very little regard for God's creations. Animals are here to enrich our lives. Anyone who does not respect their lives cannot claim to be filled with God's love.

My friend had to go find and kill a badger that had been attacking his chickens. He shot the thing with a twelve gauge shotgun. The spread hit this thing dead center and it sat their shrieking in pain, but it did not die! I don't know if any of you have ever tried to take down a badger, but it's like something out of a horror movie; those things are tough. The sound it made almost made me cry. It was horrible to listen to that thing scream and howl. It took three loads to finally kill the thing.

A prophet was once talking about heaven and how he couldn't wait to see his favorite horse again, so it's pretty fair to say that all dogs do, in fact, go to heaven.

To the people who believe in Darwin, the question related to this is when did souls appear? Did we have a soul when we were a single celled creature in the primeval soup? If not when?

[painted wolf]

in my faith... and I believe in evolution as well...
Everything has a soul... rocks, rivers, the wind, trees, paramecium...
The real trick is for the religous to define just what is a soul...

wa:do

[Victor]

I believe they do. But they are different then that of humans. What's the difference?
I really don't know.

~Victor