XPost: alt.paranormal.reincarnation   
   From: westdorian@yahoo.com.au   
      
   "Brian P."  wrote in message   
   news:8d77c197aba430d82abd7e83c43f00e4@news.teranews.com...   
   > I have read more than one account of people seeing pets in NDEs which   
   > may offer some circumstantial evidence that pets exist in some facet of   
   the   
   > afterlife. I, like many participants on this newsgroup, have also loved   
   and   
   > lost pets and fully expect to   
   > see them in the afterlife. If you wish to read a   
      
   Ok, so people have had NDEs and have seen their pets. That's a good sign for   
   them having a soul and an afterlife.   
      
   > rather weighty tome that does develop this thought you may look at 'On God   
   > and Dogs, A Christian Theology of Compassion for Animals', by Stephen H.   
   > Webb, Oxford University Press, 1998, New York. Some of the ideas presented   
   > in the book on this topic include the notion that many theologians find   
   this   
   > discussion unnerving. Even though they are reluctant to speculate about   
   this   
   > they are rarely, as a profession, known to limit their powers of   
   speculation   
   > on other issues. To think about animal resurrection means that their   
   bodies   
   > and spirits are valued and will be restored; it means their lives, as well   
   > as deaths, must be treated with respect. For this reason, most Western   
   > theologians have not taken animal afterlife seriously. Others have argued   
   > that animals are morally neutral and, as such, will have neither the   
   future   
   > pleasures nor future pains. It could be argued that animals, by their very   
   > blamelessness, share a closeness to God that sin denies to humanity. Many   
   > theologians ridicule and ignore this topic, even those who discuss issues   
   of   
   > equal absurdity and impracticality. I like to think that God so enjoys a   
   > great variety and that most sentient creatures so greatly enjoy their   
   > existence that they will share in the restoration of the cosmos in the   
   > afterlife. If you read the Bible, there are numerous verse that support   
   > animals in   
   > heaven (and one or two that do not - the Bible does contain   
   contradictions).   
   > Probably the most well know reference is Isaiah's vision of the lion lying   
   > down with the lamb.   
   >     By the way, my wife and I own two Labradors. Many of our friends say   
   > that when they die they would love to come back as one of our dogs.   
      
   Hehe! A lot of pets get treated better than humans a lot of the time.   
      
   > --   
   > Brian   
   > --------------------------------------------------------------   
   > respond to bdplikaytis@bellsouth.net   
   >   
   >   
   > "Dorian West"  wrote in message   
   > news:409de659$0$20347$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...   
   > > Do things like silverfish, slugs, worms, amoeba, spiders, ants, flies   
   etc.   
   > > Have souls, NDEs and/or are reincarnated? I would like to know the   
   answer   
   > to   
   > > that 1, that's for sure.   
   > >   
   > >   
   >   
   >   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)