Do pets have a soul?

There are many misconceptions as to what the Soul actually is and beliefs vary, however to a Christian, God's word explains exactly what a Soul is....

In the Bible, “soul” is translated from the Hebrew ne′phesh and the Greek psy·khe′. Bible usage shows the soul to be a person or an animal or the life that a person or an animal enjoys. To many persons, however, “soul” means the immaterial or spirit part of a human being that survives the death of the physical body. Others understand it to be the principle of life. But these latter views are not Bible teachings.

What does the Bible say that helps us to understand what the soul is?

1 Pet. 3:20: “In Noah’s days . . . a few people, that is, eight souls, were carried safely through the water.”

Gen. 9:5: “Besides that, your blood of your souls [or, “lives”; Hebrew, from ne′phesh] shall I ask back.” (Here the soul is said to have blood.)

Josh. 11:11: “They went striking every soul [Hebrew, ne′phesh] that was in it with the edge of the sword.” (The soul is here shown to be something that can be touched by the sword, so these souls could not have been spirits.)

Where does the Bible say that animals are souls?

Gen. 1:20, 21, 24, 25: “God went on to say: ‘Let the waters swarm forth a swarm of living souls . . . ’ And God proceeded to create the great sea monsters and every living soul that moves about, which the waters swarmed forth according to their kinds, and every winged flying creature according to its kind. . . .

Lev. 24:17, 18: “In case a man strikes any soul [Hebrew, ne′phesh] of mankind fatally, he should be put to death without fail. And the fatal striker of the soul [Hebrew, ne′phesh] of a domestic animal should make compensation for it, soul for soul.”

(Notice that the same Hebrew word for soul is applied to both mankind and animals.)

What do scholars say?

“The Hebrew term for ‘soul’ (nephesh, that which breathes) was used by Moses . . . , signifying an ‘animated being’ and applicable equally to nonhuman beings. . . . New Testament usage of psychē (‘soul’) was comparable to nephesh.”—The New Encyclopædia Britannica (1976), Macropædia, Vol. 15, p. 152.

“The belief that the soul continues its existence after the dissolution of the body is a matter of philosophical or theological speculation rather than of simple faith, and is accordingly nowhere expressly taught in Holy Scripture.”—The Jewish Encyclopedia (1910), Vol. VI, p. 564.

Can the human soul die?

Ezek. 18:4: “Look! All the souls—to me they belong. As the soul of the father so likewise the soul of the son—to me they belong. The soul that is sinning—it itself will die.” (Some translations say “the man” or “the person.”)

Matt. 10:28: “Do not become fearful of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; but rather be in fear of him that can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” (Gehenna is symbolic for the lake of fire found in Revelation)

Acts 3:23: “Indeed, any soul that does not listen to that Prophet will be completely destroyed from among the people.”

So what the bible teaches is that the soul is you and yes, animals are souls too!

They have what is called an animal soul in that they live, but rely on instincts rather than on free will. Theologians will tell you that they do not have eternal life.

I like to think that anything that loves shares in the life of God in some way. I won't be surprised to find cats and dogs in Heaven, even if they have to dig under the fence.

Yes, everything that breathes is a soul that is functioning in a body.

The soul is the living breathing being itself and it dies-Ezek 18:4;Eccl 3:18-21

every living being has same identical soul, "from(Demi) Gods to a blade of grass"

The Bible says hardly anything about pets.I wish it said more.

Yes they do

NO THEY DIE FOREVER...WE ARE THE ONES IN GOD'S IMAGE..

No.