From “How I Know Dogs Go to Heaven” by Joshua Rogers, posted July 30, 2013 at http://www.joshuarogers.com
I was 10 years old when I saw my neighbor run over my dog, Spot. In a horrific flash, Spot went under the tire, thrashed around in the front yard for a few seconds and then collapsed in the ditch. I screamed out his name and ran to his side, hoping that I could somehow stop the inevitable.
A trickle of blood was running out of his mouth when I reached him, and when I laid my head on his chest, he gave one last whimper and died. I lay in the grass next to him and wept.
After our makeshift funeral that evening, I asked my dad whether Spot would be in heaven. He said something complicated about the possibility of animals having souls, but it just sounded like a bunch of grownup talk to me. So I went to bed figuring I would never see my dog again. But within a few hours, I changed my mind.
That night, I had a dream that I still remember to this day: Spot was in heaven, and he was walking alongside a tall, bearded man in a robe. I thought it was probably Moses.
That was all there was to the dream, but when I awoke the next morning, it was enough to convince me that I would eventually see Spot again. I went to the kitchen to get breakfast, and my brother Caleb joined me.
“I had a dream about Spot last night,” he said. “Spot was in heaven, and he was walking beside a man with a beard who looked like he was one of the disciples. I think God was trying to show me that Spot is in heaven.”
“I had the same dream!” I said excitedly, although I wasn’t exactly surprised. It seemed like something perfectly reasonable for God to do to assure us we would see our beloved dog again one day.
Twenty-seven years have passed since my brother and I had our joint dream about Spot. And although I still have a lot of unanswered questions about the afterlife, I’m certain of two things: Heaven is real, and when I get there, Spot will be waiting for me.
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That wonderful little story does not provide a solid Biblical or theological proof that we will see our dogs in heaven, but I do hope we will. If God grants that blessing, there are a few old friends I will be looking for.
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Heaven goes by favor (grace). If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.
–Mark Twain
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Genesis 9:16 — Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.
Revelation 5:13 — Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!”
1 Corinthians 2:9 — …As it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”
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O God, my Master, should I gain the grace
To see you face to face, when life is ended,
Grant that a little dog, who once pretended
That I was God, may see me face to face.
–Francis Jammes (1868-1938), French poet and novelist, prayer translated by B. C. Boulter
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Morgan
October 2000 – November 2009
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