No Pets in the Pearly - John 3:16

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” - John 3:16
    Recently, I have heard people speak of pets they have lost. Some were long time members of their families and obviously well loved and care for. Then I hear the clanging of a harsh cymbal - “I’ll see them again one day.” What? I ask myself. When? Where? Ohhhh, you mean ‘in heaven.’ Sorry again, my faithful believer: no pets in the Pearly!
    John 3:16 specifically state that whoever believes in Jesus Christ will have everlasting life, not “whatever!” Even the psalmist says, after a litany of creatures that God has created -
You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.” Psalm 104:29
    There are those who would argue to the contrary citing Isaiah 11:6-9 -
“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
 The cow and the bear shall graze;
Their young ones shall lie down together;
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
 The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,
And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.
 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,
For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea”
    Unfortunately Isaiah didn’t say, “And they will play with Fido again . . . .”
    I have even heard the ridiculous comment that if part of our eternal happiness in heaven requires us to reconnect with our former pets it will be so. Trust me, our happiness in heaven will in no way rely on our seeing dead pets again. The glory of being in God’s holy presence is all we will need for eternal bliss.
    No, of all God’s creation, heaven is reserved for angels and men. Which is not to suggest that God could not, should He choose to, include our former pets in our heavenly experience. There simply is no scriptural support for such a notion.
    The problem with such convoluted thinking is that it stems from human sentiment or emotion. We feel a deep love and attachment to our pets and when they leave us we transfer this feeling of emotional loss into a desire to keep them alive in our hearts. One of the best methods for this is to try to convince ourselves that we will see them again. Aside from some twisted horror novel we understand that this is impossible; the beloved pet is dead. There is no animal resurrection. Again, the notion of such a thing finds no support in holy scripture. So we tend to assuage our feelings of loss with the misconception that we will see the deceased pet again . . . in heaven. That is, at least, if we have a belief in the afterlife. If we don’t then the whole issue is moot.
    We must find solace in the fact that we tended this deceased animal throughout its life. We cared for it in sickness and health and we enjoyed God’s blessing of camaraderie the pet shared with us. We followed God’s law and were good stewards. Beyond this gratification we must be especially careful not to attempt to create a heavenly gateway of our own liking as opposed to the heavenly gateway as described in holy scripture.
    We must remember that animals do not have souls. Only men have souls. Animals are not sinful or evil by nature and therefore cannot be ‘regenerated or ‘born again;’only men can be born again. Remember always, “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” - John 3:3.
May God’s blessings continue to shower you.