1.48 Zie ik mijn huisdier in de hemel?
God heeft de mens de zorg voor dieren gegeven (Gen 2,19-20)Gen 2,19-20: Toen boetseerde de Heer God uit de aarde alle dieren op het land en alle vogels van de lucht, en bracht die bij de mens, om te zien hoe hij ze zou noemen: zoals de mens ze zou noemen, zo zouden ze heten. De mens gaf dus namen aan alle tamme dieren en aan alle vogels van de lucht, en aan al de wilde beesten; maar een hulp die bij hem paste vond de mens niet.. Sint Franciscus is een mooi voorbeeld van hoe we veel van dieren kunnen houden zonder te overdrijven. Soms kunnen we een heel bijzondere band hebben met een dier.
Er zijn grote verschillen tussen mensen en dieren, zoals het feit dat dieren hun instinct volgen terwijl mensen rationeel kunnen nadenken. De Bijbel vertelt over de dieren als ‘soort’, maar over mensen als unieke wezens. Ieder van ons is bewust door God geschapen. Dieren hebben buiten hun aardse leven geen doel. In de hemel zullen we compleet gelukkig zijn doordat we voor eeuwig God aanbidden. Daarom zullen we onze huisdieren daar niet missen.
What does the seventh commandment require?
The seventh commandment requires respect for the goods of others through the practice of justice and charity, temperance and solidarity. In particular it requires respect for promises made and contracts agreed to, reparation for injustice committed and restitution of stolen goods, and respect for the integrity of creation by the prudent and moderate use of the mineral, vegetable, and animal resources of the universe with special attention to those species which are in danger of extinction. [CCCC 506]
How should we treat animals?
Animals are our fellow creatures, which we should care for and in which we should delight, just as God delights in their existence.
Animals, too, are sentient creatures of God. It is a sin to torture them, to allow them to suffer, or to kill them uselessly. Nevertheless, man may not place love of animals above love of man. [Youcat 437]
How do the soul and body form a unity in the human being?
The human person is a being at once corporeal and spiritual. In man spirit and matter form one nature. This unity is so profound that, thanks to the spiritual principle which is the soul, the body which is material, becomes a living human body and participates in the dignity of the image of God. [CCCC 69]
What is the soul?
The soul is what makes every individual person a man: his spiritual life-principle and inmost being.The soul causes the material body to be a living human body. Through his soul, man is a creature who can say “I” and stand before God as an irreplaceable individual.
Men are bodily and spiritual creatures. A man’s spirit is more than a function of his body and cannot be explained in terms of man’s material composition. Reason tells us that there must be a spiritual principle that is united with the body but not identical to it. We call it the “soul”. Although the soul’s existence cannot be “proved” scientifically, man cannot be understood as a spiritual or intellectual being without accepting this spiritual principle that transcends matter. [Youcat 62]
From where does man get his soul?
The human soul is created directly by God and is not “produced” by the parents.
Man’s soul cannot be the product of an evolutionary development out of matter or the result of a generative union of the father and mother. With every man, amunique, spiritual person comes into the world; the Church expresses this mystery by saying that God gives him a soul, which cannot die; even if the person loses his body in death, he will find it again in the resurrection. To say, “I have a soul”, means that God created me not only as a creature but as a person and has called me to a never-ending relationship with him. [Youcat 63]
Whereas for other creatures who are not called to eternity, death means solely the end of existence on earth, in us sin creates an abyss in which we risk being engulfed for ever unless the Father who is in Heaven stretches out his hand to us. [Pope Benedict XVI, Homily 13 Jan. 2008]
