If An Animal Sins ...

If an animal sins does it go to hell? or is it at least judged?

I know it might seem weird to ask but lately I'm just trying to learn more about Christianity. Is it possible for an animal to do something wrong willfully and sin? Who are we to say the limits of animals thoughts and actions. Some animals can be pretty brutal so who is to say they aren't intentionally being sinful?

Animals have no cognitive ability for morals or ethics (that I know of anyways) and so therefore could not "sin", on top of the fact that in Christianity animals are not considered to have souls.

Originally posted by Ralphy
If an animal sins does it go to hell? or is it at least judged?

I know it might seem weird to ask but lately I'm just trying to learn more about Christianity. Is it possible for an animal to do something wrong willfully and sin? Who are we to say the limits of animals thoughts and actions. Some animals can be pretty brutal so who is to say they aren't intentionally being sinful?

I don't think animals can sin, they also pray in there own special way that no one can notice and is not visible.

reply to post by Ralphy


Perhaps the judge is oneself, if you in your inner thoughts think you are bad you go to hell and if you think you been good you go to heaven. Do animals think they are bad when they do whats natrual for them? I think not.

When that said.. I don't believe in hell, I believe we all go to a heaven like paradise along with all other lifeforms on earth

Originally posted by definity

Originally posted by Ralphy
If an animal sins does it go to hell? or is it at least judged?

I know it might seem weird to ask but lately I'm just trying to learn more about Christianity. Is it possible for an animal to do something wrong willfully and sin? Who are we to say the limits of animals thoughts and actions. Some animals can be pretty brutal so who is to say they aren't intentionally being sinful?

I don't think animals can sin, they also pray in there own special way that no one can notice and is not visible.

That has to be the most illogical thing I've ever read.

you need morals to sin. animals have none

Animals can sin!

Proof:



I think they are going to Hell.

Personally, I do not believe in the concept of sin, but just based on the judeo-christian dogma, the overall feeling is that only humans have souls and thus only they are "sinners". If an animal commits revenge or whatever, that is just animals being animals.

Originally posted by rogerstigers
Personally, I do not believe in the concept of sin, but just based on the judeo-christian dogma, the overall feeling is that only humans have souls and thus only they are "sinners". If an animal commits revenge or whatever, that is just animals being animals.

We're animals too, so what you're saying is........

Uh-oh, Christian's won't agree with that. They need "original sin" in their religion for all the pieces to fit.

The idea of not sinning is because life is good and also linear, although one may perceive time in waves or cycles, life is linear as in point A born, and point B die.

I believe the whole concept of christianity is to embody the most enjoyable experience on this earth as possible.

Over thousands and thousands of years of harsh trial and error great kinks were worked out and wisdom gained on how that may be accomplished, and the human made.

to sin is to do something which may be unhealthy mentally or physically and therefor may negatively impact ones life,

there is no easy way out of life through death, but live a life full of sin and the days of your life leading up to your death may be hellish.

all these intellectual thought constructs and ideologies dont actually exist as well as the reality they are attempting to grasp and depict does, mans voice in history is but one long game of telephone, mumbled.

Reality..."Gods" earthly reality is one where it is except able and rewarding to kill another creature to absorb its energy,full of selfish masters of trickery and deception,

reality is a chaotic and epic battle, with no sides and no way to secure victory,

the successful chapter of human being is one where savage creatures begin to understand the potential of their feelings, the ability to understand, love, and work together to achieve something more lasting, something more peaceful and beautiful,
something that uses tid bits of ideas from the only other work theyve known,
the complex yet subtle,mystical, magical, scientific and mathematical enchanting
reality we inhabit,

that is the striving towards god, towards potential greatness, towards the infinite,
mimicking the perfection of great work in our scale and in our need.

Originally posted by AxlJones

Originally posted by definity

Originally posted by Ralphy
If an animal sins does it go to hell? or is it at least judged?

I know it might seem weird to ask but lately I'm just trying to learn more about Christianity. Is it possible for an animal to do something wrong willfully and sin? Who are we to say the limits of animals thoughts and actions. Some animals can be pretty brutal so who is to say they aren't intentionally being sinful?

I don't think animals can sin, they also pray in there own special way that no one can notice and is not visible.

That has to be the most illogical thing I've ever read.

Indeed. i am not even going to grace this thread with an attempt to answer this...question.

reply to post by Ralphy

Is it possible for an animal to do something wrong willfully and sin?

Wild animals? NO. They are incapable of sinning. Everything they do regardless, is a matter of instinct and survival. Example: A starving mother (any species) eats her young. She can ill afford to feed them at the risk of her own life so she does the only thing she can. Survive to reproduce another day. That is in fact the "right thing" for her to do. That is not "immoral". Another: A lion jumps and kills a wildebeest giving birth, consuming the mother and her young. That is not immoral either. Just the easiest choice for the lion, the path of least resistance for a full belly. And if you ask them, tasty younglings...

Wolves will "run" a herd of elk back and forth to detect any weakness, then pounce. Thats their job. By culling weakness, they improve the herds strength and gene pool. Only the swift and strong survive to reproduce. This is by design.

Thats for wild animals. When people behave this way, they are "sinning" as you put it. People are supposed to know better and not eat each others babies and old sick folk. I know some will say that it happens in time of war or famine, and your right. Thats different. Like Russia in WWII. During the siege of "something - grad" , when all the food ran out, a zone was setup in the nearby woods where people would usher their kids to and "abandon" for others to find. The notion was you would be hard pressed to eat your own, but not somebody else's. In times of peace we arrest Jeffrey Dommer types don't we?

Confusion arises with this issue when our "domesticated" animals show wild tendencies. They are caught between our "training" and their own "instincts" and thus vacillate between what we consider "objectionable" and their own "natural desires". Humans are supposed to know the difference between right and wrong and observe that even if it means our own demise at the unjust hands of another. Sort of turn the other cheek thing, love your enemies thing, give them your coat too thing. Just describing the "Christianity thing" for the OP. How the doctrine lays it out. Now pounce you predators who think meek is weak and might makes right.

Originally posted by Ralphy
If an animal sins does it go to hell? or is it at least judged?

I know it might seem weird to ask but lately I'm just trying to learn more about Christianity. Is it possible for an animal to do something wrong willfully and sin? Who are we to say the limits of animals thoughts and actions. Some animals can be pretty brutal so who is to say they aren't intentionally being sinful?

Someone claimed earlier that "animals have no souls" in Christianity. This is incorrect. The Bible teaches that man is composed of three parts: Body, Soul and Spirit.

...animals have no spirit. They do have souls.
The spirit was the life breathed into man by God (ref. Genesis 3), and is unique to mankind.

For this reason, animals cannot enter heaven, nor hell... because both places are spiritual, and not physical (this is not to suggest that they are figurative or non-literal, but that they don't exist in the same dimensons as the world we inhabit).

Animals also cannot sin, because they are not governed by God's law in the same way that we are; lacking cognition in that regard. Paul's letter to the Romans says that "when the law came, sin sprang to life, and I died"... meaning that without the law, there is no sin.

Animals are without law, and are therefore without sin. They ARE, however, corrupted by OUR sin, just as the rest of the universe is. Romans again states that "creation itself groans, awaiting its redemption".

There will come a time where God Himself will make all things new... until then, animals are bound to this sinful world just as we are. They are corrupted by sin, but they themselves do not sin.

Hopefully that makes sense.

Originally posted by ManjushriPrajna
Animals have no cognitive ability for morals or ethics (that I know of anyways) and so therefore could not "sin", on top of the fact that in Christianity animals are not considered to have souls.

edit on 24-12-2011 by ManjushriPrajna because: (no reason given)

reply to post by ManjushriPrajna


Fact is,Christians do believe that animals have souls. All living beings have souls.
Awen24, .......spot on!!just one question,what's your definition or difference between soul and spirit?

So, to reply to some users, if we have no morals it is O.K to sin? The Ten Commandments don't actually matter as a set of Biblical laws, it's just our morality that sins us to Hell? I guess there is no reason for them then, and one could just be moraless and still go to Heaven!

reply to post by lonewolf19792000


(on animals praying)

Indeed. i am not even going to grace this thread with an attempt to answer this...question.

You dont need to...
I bet if the bible taught that animals pray in their own way, you would be saying something else.

From what I know a certain other religious book teaches that birds pray... but Im sure you will dismiss it as false just because its not there in the bible.

Either way, the One who created man is the one who created animals as well... I dont think any believer in this Creator(regardless of what you call Him) can say with certainty that certain animals dont try and make contact with Him.

Originally posted by Ralphy
......
I know it might seem weird to ask but lately I'm just trying to learn more about Christianity. ......

In general, christianity is not much on respect for nature. The belief is that animals don't have (soul or spirit or whatever they want to call it), they are not allowed in heaven.

If you look into other religions, perhaps native american, you will find respect for nature there.