Forest Spirits

This is something I’ve thought about for a while all sparked by the question wether or not animals had souls. I think this is a point of contention for people in this sphere of ideology, and I think some of you might find this interesting

I guess this plays into aspects of reincarnation and beliefs surrounding it. Hindus of course believing that their ancestors come back as cows and making eating beef a huge taboo in their society, even though the ancient aryans who founded it were known to eat beef.

This isn’t about wether or not reincarnation is real, but more “do humans reincarnate as animals, therefore meaning that some animals have human souls?”

For me the answer is no. Humans and animals are so very different, and we are made as reflections of the divine image of god. Animals are divine in their own way, but the two are not interchangeable.

Do then animals have their own type of soul? This poses the question; what purpose would it serve for animals to have souls?

If animals have souls then they also have free will. Can animals be evil?

Animals act on instinct, not on their own personal choices. They act without thinking, which humans will do sometimes as well. But there is still a wide gulf between beast and man.

Souls are divine sparks the essence of god that remains within us that must be redeemed. The question that I was asked, that brought be down this path; was “can animals go to heaven?”

Do animals have souls that can be redeemed?

Animals don’t have souls. They are creations of god but they fit into the world in a different way than mankind. The whole point of this thread is this theory so I’ll stop stretching this out.