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Its nice to know that we are discussing an age-old mystery.
Ecclesiastes 3:18-21
18 I also thought, "As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 19 Man's fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?"
In Genesis 9:5 God says "And for you lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal." What part of an animals can be responsible to an "accounting"?
Its true, animals are far more limited than we are in areas like higher reasoning and capacity for abstract thought. They are more subject to biological forces that take over a lot of what we consider "free will".
It also appears to be true that we are in a similar position in our relationship to God. Sometimes I feel like the love I have to offer God is similar to the love that my pet can offer me. I'm just a "dumb animal" compared to God. I am limited in understanding and subject to biological forces that appear to rule my "free will" sometimes.
Hunger is a big biological force. Its possible our pets would run away if we stopped feeding them. On the other hand, hungry humans do things that are hard to reconcile with "unconditional love". The cannibalism described in Jeremiah 19:9 is hard to take. And humans have been known to sacrifice their children to idols in hopes that it would ensure food and other biological needs for their community. There are other, less dramatic ways that we run away from other humans they stop feeding us.
Animals have a long history of loyalty and sacrificial acts of love for their masters. Not every animal in the world acts like that but then again, perhaps not every animal really loves his master or is sacrificially unselfish.
Animals also seem to pick up "emotional abuse" symptoms when they have been bound to cruel owners. The patterns are strikingly like human patterns. I know emotions are not all there is to love, but do we know for sure that animals don't have what it takes to REALLY love like we do? Maybe not with the same level of understanding but, then again, God doesn't seem to mind that we are not as understanding as he is....
The detail that seems to set us apart from the animals is that we are made in the image of God. What if that is just the "everlasting" part. What if animals have a soul/spirit (whatever) that is not everlasting? It loves, makes choices, gets judged by God, etc. but it doesn't last beyond death?
Anyway, the video made made me cry and wish we were already in the new earth.
And Daniel will be reading the OZ series this next year. I hope he likes it.
Emily Mc. | 
