Do Animals Have Souls?
Animals: Tradition - Philosophy - Religion

FROM ChristianAnimalRights.com
August 2020

Many Christians have claimed that animals do not possess eternal souls. Perhaps they wish to justify contribution to humanity’s ongoing horrible treatment of them.

Many Christians have claimed that animals do not possess eternal souls. Perhaps they wish to justify contribution to humanity’s ongoing horrible treatment of them. However, if animals do not possess eternal souls, then we should treat animals with compassion and dignity because this is the only life they will ever experience. We should have less regard for the quality of our own lives if our great joy and glory is to come.

However, there are good reasons to conclude that the Bible supports the notion that animals have souls. God created the animals in Eden (Genesis 1:25) and called them “good.” Fast forward to the “New Heaven and the New Earth” - in which Eden will essentially be recreated for all eternity (Isaiah 65:25) - which speaks of predatory animals becoming tame and all creatures living in peace. The Bible is not clear whether these are “new” animals or the “recreated” animals of the old Earth but we like to believe these are the souls of earthly animals that have found restoration from their cruel treatment.

The most solid Biblical evidence of animals possessing an eternal soul is the Hebrew term nephesh chayah, which translates as “soul.” This Hebrew term described both animals (Genesis 1:30) and humans (Genesis 2:7) in the Garden of Eden.

If humans are said to have eternal souls (Matthew 25:46), then animals would as well since the Bible appears to assert that both humans and animals have souls.

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