In the past I have been asked if there is some kind of afterlife for animals. This question is understandable. When an animal becomes a pet and is regarded like a family member, one would like to think their existence goes on somewhere else rather than just terminating altogether. The reason for this is that the animal has been loved and one does not relish the thought of being forever separated from something loved so much.
We tend to attribute human characteristics to a pet. I know in our family, my wife and daughter would sometimes carry on an imagined dialogue with one pretending to speak for the pet. But the truth is, a pet is an animal, not a human being. Death does not mean to an animal what it means to us. Animals do not think and reason like human beings. They do not possess human intelligence. In fact, Scripture refers to them as "brute beasts" (2 Peter 2:12; Jude 1:10). Note the definition of brute.
Brute - Of animals: Wanting in reason or understanding; chiefly in phrases brute beasts, the brute creation,= the 'lower animals'.
You do not reason with an animal as you reason with a human being. You can train animals to do some pretty amazing things, but you do not train them by sitting them down and explaining to them what they need to do. In order to train an animal, you have to work with his physical senses by presenting rewards and punishments until the animal learns the behaviour you want. The animal learns only through his physical senses apart from any reasoning. For example, you can train a dog to come to you in response to a certain word. You make the sound and the animal responds. The animal learns to recognize the sound of the word and to respond to it. But the animal does not know the meaning of the word. He merely recognizes the sound. When a parrot talks, he is merely making learned noises. He has no understanding of the meaning of what he is saying. This is because he is a brute beast. He has no reason or understanding. And when an animal does something like a bird building a nest or a beaver building a dam, he does so instinctively, not intelligently. This is not a learned behaviour, like a human being might learn to build a house. This is rather instinctive behaviour.
When you present a stimulus to an animal such as food, or sound, or physical affection, the animal is capable of being aware of that stimulus and responding to it. Take food as an example. One day an animal might see food and want it whereas on another day he might see it and reject it. This is not something that plants do. Plants show no awareness of objects with which they come in contact. But animals and humans do show awareness of objects around them and they are capable of responding to those objects by either desiring them or not desiring them. However,there is a difference between the awareness of animals and the awareness of humans. An animal is aware of food, but he not aware of food as food. A dog does not look at a hunk of meat and think of it as meat. He does not say to himself, "Gee, I'm hungry and that hunk of beef looks great. I think I'll have some." The animal simply feels hunger, sees and smells the meat, and eats it. But he does not see himself as a feeling, seeing, smelling, eating being as you do. He does things, but he does not understand that he does them. Being a brute beast he has no such power of reason and understanding. He is not capable of self-reflection as you are. He does not look upon his own actions and judge them as you do. He simply does or does not do things based upon his physical sensations. Although he is aware of objects and can respond to them, he is not aware that he is aware. His awareness cannot turn and examine itself. Or to put it another way, an animal possesses consciousness, but not self-consciousness. From this we conclude that an animal's awareness is strictly tied to his physical being and sensation without any rational thought or self-consciousness. Therefore, when an animal dies, when his physical being ceases to be, his awareness ceases with it.
You are a human being with a rational, understanding soul that is aware of things and is aware that he is aware. Your awareness can reflect upon your physical being and pass judgment on its desires and actions. You possess self-consciousness. The fact that you can be aware of your physical being and its functions and pass judgment upon them shows that your awareness is not strictly tied to your physical being. There is something about you that can act apart from your physical being. Therefore, your awareness will continue after your body dies. But such is not the case with animals. An animal's awareness dies with his body. And this is precisely what the Scriptures teach:
Ecclesiastes 3:20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.
21 Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
When a man and a beast die, the bodies of both go back to the dust. But when a man dies, his spirit goes to God whereas the spirit of the beast goes down to the earth like his body.
Now I realize that what I am saying is probably little comfort to someone who has just lost a beloved pet. But keep in mind that an animal has no self-consciousness. He does not reflect upon himself. Therefore, when a animal is dying, he does not know he is dying. He is just dying. It is as natural for him to die as it is to breathe and eat. To be sure, he will fight to live. But he does this merely by instinct. It is not like he understands what death is and is, therefore, trying to avoid it. So death does not have the meaning to an animal that it has to you.
I realize that I have waxed somewhat philosophical today, but I trust this will make sense to you and give you a better understanding of the difference between animals and human beings. But you will notice that there is one part of this meditation that remains to be considered and that is the part about regaining pets. God willing, we shall consider that next time.
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