I think it's a bit ironic that god supposedly gave us this "gift" and yet expects us to worship him for it. Whether its a soul or free will or even life/consciousness itself, why does this gift come with so many strings attached? If god was lonely or whatever is the reason people believe he made the universe, then doesn't the windfall of those actions fall on him?
Why do dogs go to Hell because they 'don't have a soul' (I put this in quotes because I don't believe it, necessarily). Why can't they just stay in limbo? They didn't do anything wrong... and if Heaven doesn't have puppies in it, I don't think it'd be a very fun heaven.
Back to the topic at hand, if there is something that humans have that animals don't and it's in the bible, I would presume it to be a soul.. but maybe this is just put in there so that people don't feel bad killing animals to eat them? I think the bible is just a collection of stories to help enforce morality and life choices.
..but maybe this is just put there so that people don't feel bad killing animals to eat them?
Sadly, I could see that bieng exactly the case. It has always been my opinion that the Bible, for all the good that it CAN have in it, is still simply an Idiots guide to Narcicism. God is the Big Bloke on Campus, we are his doting creations and animals are there only as tinder for the sacrificial alter. While I cant prove that animals have or dont have souls, I certainly cannot prescribe to the notion that animals, by default, go to "Hell". Hell is regarded as a punishment for denying God, not a place for creatures that werent given voice to go because they couldnt accept Christ as their savior...Bloody hell. The notion itself makes absolutely no sense!
Here, let me shine the beacon of logic on this problem of animals. If they do not have a soul, then when they die that's it for them. They wouldn't go to hell or anywhere else since there would be no "soul" to go anywhere. Personally, I don't believe in a soul at all, however if god ever did give me a gift I would try to return it to Wal-Mart because they'll literally take anything there even if it doesn't have a receipt. I bet I could get a ton of store credit to buy a bunch of garbage.
Personally, I don't think that God created mankind, so there really is not "gift" from god. There is factual proof of a spirit, though, in all animals. it is not just humankind. I think that we will never know how we were created until god, if there is one, comes down from heaven and declares it, or something else. That is the great mystery of life. Don't know where you came from and you don't know where you are going to.
Can you even prove of a heaven or hell? How can we prove anything in this world? We don't know where we came from. We don't REALLY know if there IS a god or a jesus. We can't prove it. We can't prove the battle at thermopalye of the 300 spartan's last stand. We don't know what REALLY happened. these are all just IDEAS, Ideas that peole give us, and they seem logical, so we take them. We really don't know anything about this world. We really can't even prove our on existence. That is both the beauty and mystery of life
They Aren't Ideas. The Bible is like one big Document. Different people told about Events that happened through the Prophecies and then the death of Jesus. Later they tell of the Revelation. the Last stand of 300 was a War Story, Not a Tale. The one Spartan that Returned to Sparta told the Story then the Story was passed down.
So I'm guessing that you have a time machine and can prove this, huh? With the story of the spartans, that could be a war LEGEND for all we know. we weren't there. With the Bible, How do you know that all this really happened maybe it is a fiction novel written by a really great mind. The way I see it, no- one can prove it unless we have a time machine and we are witnessing these events taking place.
