If God is omnipresent...Would that mean he resides in nature as well? Also it says if we didn't praise God then the rocks and trees will....So does this mean they have a spirit/soul?
God is omnipresent, meaning there is nowhere you can hide from Him. And the rocks and trees dont have souls...I'm sure GOd meant that if we didnt praise Him, SOMETHING would because God, being the creator of the universe, is to be praised no matter what.
some think animals do have souls, some think they dont. i dont want to start an argument but i'm one of those that think they dont. However, GOd uses them to help and bless us in many different ways. So in a way i believe they are connected with God and are part of God's character. Common pets such as cats and dogs demonstrate God's unconditional love.
Well, look at it from the tree's point of view.....if you knew that your destiny was to be recycled into 3000 toilet rolls, would you want eternal conciousness?
Very funny! Well... Perhaps God and God's creation are one in the same? Like the dreamer and the dream. That makes sense, doesn't it? The painter and the painting exist as one, and the painter's being is expressed in his/her creation. So... I say, yes, the trees have a spirit, but the spirit is expressed as a whole, as a oneness. In the words of Bill Hicks, perhaps we're all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively.
seahorse- "God is omnipresent, meaning there is nowhere you can hide from Him." Why would I want to hide from a completely benevolent being? Animals have souls, but trees dont? What is the soul? Most importantly isn't it was ensures your immortality? We know this body dies, so there has to be something, remote, that harbors our consciousness. Else we would one day no longer be conscious and most of humanity can't handle that. Where in the Bible does it say Animals go to heaven? What is the point of a soul if you aren't immortal? Maybe animals just have retarded souls.
God is present within all things, for all things are God's expression. We are not separate from God anymore than a dreamer is separate from her dreams. There is a whole, a unity beyond thought and concepts. The rest is only real as a false partiality.
i dont like a religion which says animals dont go to heaven. it doesnt makes sense, and it puts humans on such a high petistle. were one of millions of species, and were the most arrogant.
Indeed. Probably because we were the ones with the opposable thumbs and ability to reason rather than act on instinct. It's allowed us to do and create many things that our animal friends haven't. I don't think that animals have souls either, but I do believe that G-d uses them to bless our lives. Personally, I believe that the room the L-rd has prepared for me in Heaven is gonna be jam-packed with all of my old pets when I get there. *claps hands with glee* It's gonna be a furry fun fest, that's for sure.
some animals can reason, well depends on what your deinition of reason is... Chimps can problem solve, and learn ho to use tools rom their parents...Clever Haans [the horse] studied peoples reactions to deliver the "right" answer to questions...i dont think that is instinct really...
Reason is instinct. We developed the ability to reason based on our evolutionary approach to survival. Put simply, we learned to think the way we do because learned to hunt. Hunting for us implies a sense of timing. "Footprints here -now-, so an animal must be nearby." Hunting in a human sense implies logic and reason. It implies not only 'smelling' or 'seeing' prey in the immediate, but also picking up clues (develop a sense of past: the animal -was- here and went -this- way), and determining where they lead ( develop a sense of future: the animal is now somewhere -there-). It's an evolutionary trait that works very well for us, and thus it continued to develop due to its efficiency. We learned to track footprints, gather evidence and discover the prey. Scientists also claim our diet helped increase our mental capacities and develop our thinking/reasoning skills. We can see where we came from, considering the fact that primates show potential elementary signs of these abilities. Going beyond even that, some show signs of basic intelligence and emotion. We aren't the only creatures on Earth capable of developing reason, emotion and logic. For instance, a Gorrilla named Koko has been the object of study since the 1970's. Due, to the lack of efficient vocal chords, Koko cannot express herself verbally. Remarkably, however, she has been able to understand spoken English and can communicate with a vocabulary of 2,000 signs. Given an IQ test, her results scored between 70-95. The average human IQ is 100. From Koko.org: "In addition to intensive studies of vocabulary acquisition, the project has investigated spontaneous gorilla language use. This involves the study of innovative linguistic strategies, invention of new signs and compound words, simultaneous signing, self-directed signing, displacement, prevarication, reference to time and emotional states, gestural modulation, metaphorical word use, humor, definition, argument, insult, threat, fantasy play, storytelling and moral judgment. The depth and variety of gorilla language use has significantly exceeded initial expectations. Indeed, evidence has been found for the existence, in less developed form, of almost every aspect of human behavior." Koko has been noted to have emotional feeling (she became attached to pets). The purpose behind our state of consciousness and its abilities is rooted in our species' lifestyle. Evidence and research has shown primates to have similar traits to humans. Humans, however, developed these genetic traits to higher levels because conditions and opportunities arised that allowed us to. Not merely by chance, no. What works stays, what doesn't work disappears because, practically, it doesn't work. Our trump card was reasoning, while the lion's was its speed, power and sharp teeth (speaking very generally). No one is greater or lesser than the other. Biodiversity, harmony and balance. You'll find that often in nature. We are no more up the illusionary ladder of importance than the glob of algae, the great oaks or the prowling tiger.
