Believers in Christ: Ecclesiastes says that animals have a spirit and that they return to dust as we do.?

Grrrr.

And what about shoes? They have souls?

Spirits in living entities may be considered to be emotions or temperaments; all flesh returns to dust or decays. The spirit is not a soul, and God only breathed his soul into Mankind.

Everything that has breath does praise God: in its own manner, as God created it to. The birds sing and the winds blow.

The Bible was written for humans like you and I. If you do what the Bible says for you to do to glorify God, God said for you to have dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air and the beast of the field.-Ge:1:28: I also believe that covers the cats, dogs, and canaries in Your House.

As for the Rapture; If you have not been born again you may not be included either.

spirit and soul are two different things look them up

spirit (from Latin spiritus "breath") has many differing meanings and connotations, all of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body. The spirit of a human being is thus the animating, sensitive or vital principle in that individual, similar to the soul taken to be the seat of the mental, intellectual and emotional powers. The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap, as both contrast with body and both are imagined as surviving the bodily death in religion and occultism,[1] and "spirit" can also have the sense of "ghost", i.e. manifestations of the spirit of a deceased person.

The term may also refer to any being imagined as incorporeal or immaterial, such as demons or deities, in Christianity specifically the Holy Spirit experienced by the disciples at Pentecost.

A soul, in certain spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions, is the incorporeal essence of a person or living thing.[1] Many philosophical and spiritual systems teach that humans are souls; some attribute souls to all living things and even to inanimate objects (such as rivers); this belief is commonly called animism.[2] The soul is often believed to exit the body and live on after a person’s death, and some religions posit that God creates souls. The soul has often been deemed integral or essential to consciousness and personality, and soul sometimes functions as a synonym for spirit, mind or self,[3] although the soul is said to function in a distinct enough way from both the spirit and the psyche that the terms should not be treated interchangeably.[4][5][6]

1) My question is does that mean animals are included in the Rapture?

Obviously that is NOT what that passage means.

2) So if me and my house serve the Lord and my dogs are part of my household

Normally, the phrase "my house" (as used in the Bible) refers to the **people** of the house: animals were not part of "the house" (and dogs, in particular, were unclean animals). Look at ANY passage in the Bible where the phrase "my house" is used - you will see that the meaning is "the people of my household" (definition 3)

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/house

Conclusion: I am not saying that pets will not receive eternal life; all I am saying is that the verses you have used do not support such a claim.

Jim, http://www.bible-reviews.com/

My hunch is probably not. When Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes, he was expressing the concept that the spirit was life; otherwise, without a spirit, the animals would be lifeless. That's my opinion.

According to 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Jesus is going to return to this earth for His saints (believers, all those who have accepted God's gift of salvation). He'll do this in order to raise the bodies of those who died along with those who are still living and take us all to Heaven with HIm. I don't see anything in those verses about animals.

Having said that, there will still be plenty of animals on the earth during the Millennial Kingdom! Isaiah alone has several prophecies like "the wolf will lie down with the lamb" and that children will play near snakes' homes, etc (chapters 9 and 11, for example). Total peace and harmony--for 1000 years--now THAT is worth waiting for!

I don't know stuff that deep yet... still learning. :)

The Bible says that animals do not have souls. But Heaven is the most amazing, happiest, greatest, BEST, place, so I'd think our pets would be there with us.

No. Animals will not be resurrected at Armageddon and animals do not go to heaven either.

Where do you find the rapture in the bible?

Spirrit but not a soul.