Board index ‹ Heaven and Hell

[Dude]

What creatures go to the afterlife to be judged for their actions in life?

Is it only fully conscious humans that die, or does it also apply to babies, embryo's or zygotes as well?

And what about really smart chimps or dolphin's that are capable of learning and experiencing a wide range of emotions.

And what about people with severe brain deficiencies that have what amounts to no more than mere survival instincts?

And what about neanderthals, our sister species back in the ice age (I think) who were both smarter and stronger than the homo sapiens?

[jimwalton]

Only humans, and all humans, go to the afterlife.

> Is it only fully conscious humans that die, or does it also apply to babies, embryo's or zygotes as well?

Our science of zygotes was unknown to the ancients, but there are plenty of clues in the Bible that life begins at conception. We have every reason to believe that babies, embryos, and zygotes go to the afterlife. Just because they are undeveloped and/or unborn doesn't mean they're not human. Their chromosomal makeup tells us they are.

> And what about really smart chimps or dolphin's that are capable of learning and experiencing a wide range of emotions.

There is nothing in the Bible that indicates it's intelligence or emotions that qualify one for the afterlife. What the Bible says instead is that being human qualifies one for the afterlife.

> And what about people with severe brain deficiencies that have what amounts to no more than mere survival instincts?

There is nothing in the Bible that indicates it's intelligence that qualifies one for the afterlife. If one is human, there is an afterlife.

> And what about neanderthals, our sister species back in the ice age (I think) who were both smarter and stronger than the homo sapiens?

There is nothing in the Bible that indicates that intelligence or strength qualifies one for the afterlife. It is my particular perspective that Neanderthals did not have an afterlife.

[SunShine]

Well intelligence do play a role on where you go, for example a baby isn’t damned to hell because they are not intelligent enough to understand morality or read the New Testament so they get a free pass; same with animals like dogs, am pretty sure they just go straight to heaven since they are not really held accountable for their actions, at least on the same level as humans

[jimwalton]

Perhaps you'd like to share with me where in the Bible you get these ideas. Then we can talk.

[Dude]

Why does God only send humans to the afterlife?

[jimwalton]

Humans are the only beings who are souls. Genesis 2.7 tells us that humankind (and human are the only beings mentioned) "became living souls." This is not said of any other specie of living (or non-living) being. Soulness is characteristic of humanity alone. Why that is we are not told, just as the Bible doesn't tell us why lying, cheating, stealing, or adultery are wrong; just as the Bible doesn't tell us why planets and stars are generally and basically spherical in shape. We can speculate, but we're not told. As far as we know humans are the only beings to whom or to which God has revealed Himself.

[SunShine]

Do you think a 4 year old that does a bad thing like lie to mommy is damned to hell if they die the next day? And doesn’t say the Bible say something about the age of accountability?

[jimwalton]

> Do you think a 4 year old that does a bad thing like lie to mommy is damned to hell if they die the next day?

Of course not. That's absurd. People are damned to hell for rejecting Christ and for refusing to align themselves with Him in love and relationship.

> doesn’t say the Bible say something about the age of accountability?

The Bible hints at an age of accountability. In the book of Romans (5.13), Paul says people will only be held accountable for the information they had and what they did with it. There is a principal of reasonable accountability. According to Romans 5.13, people are not held accountable for what they had no possibility of knowing or knowing about. In Deuteronomy 1.39, the children who were too young to make a realistic decision are not judged, but are shown mercy; their level of accountability was directly related to their moral awareness. Isa. 7.15-16 teaches the same thing: God deals differently with people based on their knowledge.

[SunShine]

Do angels have souls?

[jimwalton]

We're not told. There is no notion in the Bible that angels are part of the plan of salvation, and there's no hint in the Bible that Jesus died to save angels, for angels, or to have any affect on their souls. That leads me to believe that angels don't have souls. We are told that some angels rebelled (Jude 6), and therefore that some angels stayed faithful to God, but we know little else. The angels who rebelled will be subject to judgment (Matt. 25.41). We're not told anything about souls in angelic beings.