Do dogs go to heaven?

Do dogs go to heaven?
 
That's what you get you get when you ask the high school Sunday school class what topics they want to cover.  The times we had asked them that question the previous two weeks, they all looked at the floor and had that deadened silence that the wary emit in times of stress. So as a teacher of extraordinary skills, I used the forced post-it note on the wall approach. Then, we found that they wanted to talk about college, high school, and friends. Remembering that it was Sunday school, prayer and forgiveness got a couple of votes.  Someone in a clever test to see if the Sunday school teacher was sincere about wanting to let the kids pick the topic posted "do dogs go to heaven?".
 
Snickers and chuckles went around the room. As a teacher of this great group, I was sincere about letting them choose the topics. So "do dogs go to heaven" made the cut for the voting. It made the voting round. In fact it got more votes than "who is Jesus".  The masses had spoken and I have committed to lead a class on it. Teasers have been dropped over the past four weeks. "Don't miss class in a few weeks because we are going to discuss heaven bound dogs."
 
In two weeks the topic the high school Sunday school class at Bridgeway will ponder this question. This blog is the first shot at it.
 
In an effort to learn about this issue, I went to the place I go for all of my theological knowledge. Google returned 1.5 million hits for “do dogs go to heaven.”  For perspective, “Japan nuclear crisis” generated 15 million hits. But really 1.5 million hits point to a real concern over the issue.
 
As you can imagine, as with any good religious argument, the positions are all over the place. Of course dogs (and cats for the felinists) go to heaven because only dogs love us unconditionally. No, they don’t go to heaven because they don’t have souls. The middle ground is that dogs go to dog heaven but don’t get to hang out with us. Poor Shaggy and Scooby, if two beings deserved to spend eternity together it is those two. The coolest entry I found was about Christians who were sure that their dogs were soulless and not going to heaven and in response were making plans to have their dogs taken care of after the rapture. What a good use for all of the atheists? After they get all of the driverless cars and pilotless planes pulled over and landed safely they can feed the dogs. I’ll leave a key under the “welcome” mat. There’s some beer in the fridge. Help yourself.
 
I really don’t know where I come down on this issue. I have owned my fair share of dogs. I have cried over their loss. Dead dog movies and books make me cry like a baby; Old Yeller, and Where the Red Fern Grows are my two favorites. In the end, I think that I have never loved a dog enough to be concerned about that question. I know that makes me a bad person in some people’s eyes. I would agree with you. So while that is my position, I can see why, if you love your dog more than I just confessed to, you want dogs to be heaven bound.
 
Rather than “do dogs go to heaven?” the question that I hear is “who is God?” Looking through the glass dimly, people have long used who gets into heaven as a descriptor of God. Only the good get into heaven – God is a God of justice. Only those who declare Christ as savior – God is fair; he plays by his rules. Everybody gets in – God is a God of mercy. My dog gets in – God really loves me and wants me to be happy. My neighbor’s dog who barked incessantly gets in – there really was a purgatory.
 
I think in the end I leave it to Paul in 1 Corinthians 15: 32 – 55. Where after several verses, he calls it all a mystery, and I usually say “huh?”
 
Wouldn’t it be funny if the answer had been in the bible all along? We just didn’t know that Jesus was dyslexic. “My God who are in heaven. Holy be your name.
 
Who would name their dog Holy?
 
Take care.
 
Roger