All dogs go to Heaven, don’t they?

All dogs go to Heaven, don't they? It probably sounds like a strange question for my site about God and religion. Well, not really. It's actually very relevant, at least to me.  And maybe you’ll think it is for you also.

The first version of this goes back to May 2010.  Since then, a whole series of articles have come from this.  They're at Learning from a dog.

What follows, unless otherwise noted, is from May 28, 2010.

Today was a sad day - and yet it may also be a good day.

It depends on the answer to that question of whether or not all dogs go to Heaven.

To me, it's yes. I feel in my heart that it has to be yes. Tonight, I'll be doing some research to see if anything supports my faith that my friends will be waiting for me in Heaven.

If you read carefully, you noticed I said "friends". Almost 17 years ago, I met Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty. The first time I saw them, they didn't actually have names. They were just 2 four week old Shih Tzu's that were inseparable. Two brothers. Same litter. One squeezing between his brother and the wall to stay close to him.

Four weeks later, I was allowed to take them home. That's when they became Holmes & Moriarty.

Do all dogs come from Heaven?

Over the next 17+ years, many changes took place. I went through some of the darkest days of my life. Holmes & Moriarty were my reason for getting up in the morning. My reason to come home from work at the end of the day instead of working all night. What kept me going. Eventually, I met the woman who is now my wife. They were there when I got down on one knee and proposed to her. So they were with us for the best years of my life (so far) as well. No longer were they my only reason for being, but also now important to both of us.

Clearly, in our opinions, they were a gift from God to me to get me through those years. And my wife and I both consider the times we had with them since we met to also be a gift from God for the joy that they brought to us. So, dogs do come from Heaven, in our opinions.

But what does the Bible say?

After doing a search of an electronic version of the NIV I found 14 specific references to dogs. All of them were negative. Uh Oh.

So why didn't I just leave that part out? Well, I can't leave it out. It surprised me, that's for sure. But I can't leave it out. It would be dishonest. But does God really think dogs are that bad?

Is it just a cultural difference that in the Bible days, people didn't have pets? Although we keep dogs as pets now, they used to be wild animals.

There's also the fact that some things in the Bible are used to represent something else. For instance, mountains sometimes represent troubles. Or the seas meant there were troubles.

Maybe the more important thing is to look at some non-specific references to animals. After all, they are creations of God. How does He feel about His creations? For example, in the very first instance, in Genesis.

The Beginning

Ge 1:24 And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

That includes dogs. And they were good.

So far, so good. Continuing on then.

Ge 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
Ge 1:27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
Ge 1:28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

So God created all the animals. And man. And we, humans, were given the command to subdue the earth and rule over the life on it. Choosing to domesticate some of them could clearly be part of that command. As part of that process, attitudes about the animals changed. Some people still don't like dogs, so in them, the attitude may not have changed at all. But ultimately the judge is God. And the evidence is that He views all of His creatures as being good. Before the fall, that is. So they are from God.

But - is it true that all dogs go to Heaven?

But still - will they go to Heaven?

Well, there's an interesting segment in Romans.

God’s Wrath Against Mankind

Ro 1:18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

God's eternal power and divine nature can be clearly seen in what He has made. In that case, would these wonderful things he has made be left out of Heaven?

There's also another section in Romans, that the NIV calls "Future Glory".

Future Glory

Ro 8:18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.