Go To The Bible Before The Pope On Animals In Heaven

There have been a lot of news stories recently, like this one, about comments the Pope has made regarding animals in heaven. The stories I've seen have been largely misguided, inordinately focusing on issues like what the Popes have believed over the years and whether animals have souls. The history of papal opinions is far less significant than what the Bible teaches. And since the afterlife isn't limited to the spiritual (resurrection of bodies, a new earth, etc.), animals wouldn't need to have souls in order to be included in the afterlife in some way. They also wouldn't need to experience any sort of saving of their souls as humans need.

We've written some posts on these issues over the years. See here, for example.

Animals In The Afterlife

Greg Koukl recently posted a video on the subject. He makes some good points, but I largely disagree with him. Some commenters there made some good points in response, and I added a reply of my own. I address the issue in more depth in the thread here.