“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…”
Revelation 21:1a
Revelation 21:1a
Not
everyone considers them a part of the family, but anyone who’s ever had a
beloved pet knows that our four legged, winged, scaled, friends truly are our family
members. And anyone who’s ever suffered
the loss of a beloved pet has inevitably found themselves asking the question “do
animals go to heaven?” It’s this very
question that we’ll be investigating this Sunday, as we continue our “Summer of
All Request Sermons”.
The
first question that needs to be asked, is not whether animals go to heaven, or
even if animals have souls, but rather what do we mean (and what does the Bible
mean) when “heaven” is mentioned? I
think for most of us, heaven is that place in the clouds where angels live and
people play harps! Or maybe that fantasy
land where every dream and desire comes true.
But is that what the Bible means when it’s talking about heaven?
It
would seem that likely once we identify what “heaven” really is (or at least
what it could be) that our other questions will simply take care of
themselves! So will Old Yeller be
romping in the heavenly fields? You’ll
have to join us this Sunday and find out!
Great question and even better re-phrase of the "real" question. What is God's relationship with creation and creation's relationship with God? How are we to handle the seemingly human-centric slant of the Biblical texts when addressing all of creation (which God dearly loves)? Have a great Sunday!!
ReplyDeleteThe first summer that I am not going to Course of Study, I think I will borrow you idea. I really like it and I am very interested in reading the rest of your sermon on Monday (after I get to Wesley and get moved into my single room)!
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