My dog Cody has a soul.

[bob b]

:nono:
"Animals" consists of all non-plant living organisms. Fish and insects are types of animals, though I would find it hard to say that ants have souls. I'm sure at least some fish have souls, but insects just seem too mindless and simple.

The word "animal" is similar to the word "soul" in that they can have different meanings depending on the context in which they are used.

In the OT the Hebrew word "nephesh", translated "soul", refers to creatures with "the breath of life", so it should be obvious that an OT animal in this context is different than how a biologist might define the English word "animal". Thus, it is not always reasonable to apply a biological definition to an English translation word, if one wants to reflect the meaning the original author wished to convey.

 

[Jukia]

What then is the "breath of life"? Do you need lungs to have the breath of life? To have the possibility of having a soul?

 

[Real Sorceror]

I'd just like to throw this out there.

The Latin word "anima" means "soul". Anima is also (obviously) the root word for "animal".

 

[unspoken]

Wouldn't it be ultra-weird if animals had souls? :freak: I mean, we're emotionally attached to our pets, it's easy to think of dogs or cats or lions or something having souls (not saying that lions are pets... or even shoudl be pets, work with me ) But really, if all animals have souls, that means that every speck of plankton has a place in... whatever after-life God has prepared. While I might be excited to see my dog in heaven, I would not be excited to see my goldfish (I've been trying to kill him without actually assasinating him for months!) :shocked: heaven would loose a little of its perfectness with my fish there... :chuckle:

How do you spell assasinating, anyway? :doh:

 

[Memento Mori]

How do you spell assasinating, anyway? :doh:

Double "***" + "in" = assassin :duh:

In taxonomy there are 5 kingdom: plant, animal, fungi, prokaryotes, and protoctist.

Animal
n.A multicellular organism of the kingdom Animalia, differing from plants in certain typical characteristics such as capacity for locomotion, nonphotosynthetic metabolism, pronounced response to stimuli, restricted growth, and fixed bodily structure.

So an ant therefore applies as an animal.

But then again, ants are useless in heave because heaven doesn't contain an ecosystem because "life" is sustained without the need for food. Seeing as to how nothing can die food becomes without purpose because you couldn't kill whatever you were attempting to eat. So, an ant in heaven is redundant since their main function is to feed, reproduce and supply energy(food) for other beings.

 

[Real Sorceror]

Wouldn't it be ultra-weird if animals had souls? :freak: I mean, we're emotionally attached to our pets, it's easy to think of dogs or cats or lions or something having souls (not saying that lions are pets... or even shoudl be pets, work with me ) But really, if all animals have souls, that means that every speck of plankton has a place in... whatever after-life God has prepared. While I might be excited to see my dog in heaven, I would not be excited to see my goldfish (I've been trying to kill him without actually assasinating him for months!) :shocked: heaven would loose a little of its perfectness with my fish there... :chuckle:

How do you spell assasinating, anyway? :doh:

Ultra-wierd? Why? I think its obvious that certian animals have souls, while others do not. The main problem is where to draw the line?. A gorilla that speaks sign language quite clearly has a soul like a human(or something very similiar). A mindless plankton, in all probability, does not have a human-like soul(or has no soul at all). Now, what about all the animals in between those two extremes? Does a hamster have a soul?:idunno:
Any animal with a sense of "self" definitly has a soul. An animal with a sense of self can recognize its own face in a mirror. Being able to respond to a specific name might also be seen as this sense of individualism.