Another one of the things they don’t teach in Bible College is that when you’re visiting folk and they start telling you that if their cat, Fluffy, won’t be in heaven then it just won’t be heaven that you MUST NOT CHANGE THE EXPRESSION ON YOUR FACE.
Do not roll your eyes, sigh deeply, look at the carpet or laugh our loud. Just keep your game face on. If the pet in question is in the room you are allowed to smile in its direction. Chances are the cat will just glance at you in disdainful affectation and will continue to wash itself or resume sleeping.
Somehow you may manage to introduce the idea that being in the presence of God for all eternity is, in itself, the definition of heaven, but the whole theology of ‘does my cat go to heaven’ is probably something best left to academics to deal with after they finish redefining justification.
So, given that over 65 million copies of Tim LaHaye’s Left Behind book series have been sold, this is probably a real concern for lots of folks. Seriously.
Here’s a question and answer that I found on one Christian blog to a question about what will happen to pets after the rapture.
Q. I’ve read your response to a previous writer who expressed fear about his/her pets once the Rapture happens. I understand that we have no need to fear about missing our pets and/or whether pets will be with us in heaven because the Lord wants only our happiness when we come to be with Him, and am comforted by that. However, my real fear pertains to what will happen to our pets once we are gone?
I don’t have any relatives or friends near by and I live alone. I’m assuming after the Rapture, it will be each man for himself for those unbelievers left behind, so I don’t have much faith that those left behind would be kind enough to look for pets in abandoned houses. I envision that after the Rapture, my pets (who are strictly housebound) will just be left to starve to death.
Do you have any words of wisdom or thoughts about this for me?
A: Have you ever considered what a witnessing opportunity this could be? If you have friends who are not believers, have you considered asking them to take care of your pets in the event of your sudden disappearance, even if they don’t live nearby? It’s sure to start a discussion about why you think you might be disappearing.
If they don’t become believers after seeing your sincerity about the Rapture, they almost certainly will after you’re gone, and will adopt your pets. If they become believers before the Rapture, then pick someone else and repeat the process.
One possible solution has been groups of atheists offering their services to care for the remaining pets of departed Christians.”
(I’m not going to link. I suppose if you google this text you’ll find the site in question. It is a genuine site, run by an genuine fellow Christian, seeking to serve his Lord.)
If you perform a google search of a term similar to the the title of this article you’ll see lots of links.
Another solution is to enter an arrangement with confirmed atheists to care for your pets since they’ll all be ‘left behind’. There are a few websites offering this ‘service’.
A common theme is that ‘service providers’ confirm they are atheists who will not be raptured and, for a pre-paid fee, will collect and care for the pet in question. (Pre-paid makes sense you won’t be around to process the payment, after all.) Some even forward any donations to charity.
The largest question may be whether those who remain behind after Christians are removed will still qualify as atheists (we’ll just have to take their word that all Christians disappearing will still not change their minds)
Here is the site for Eternal Earth Bound Pets.
Post Rapture Pet Care seem to play it very straight, though with tongue firmly in cheek.
Hear a brief soundclip from an atheist explaining the concept here.
Now, these folk are laughing at us, not with us. I’m aware of that.
But when over 65 million copies of Left Behind are sold we sort of ask for it.
And it is funny.
I’ve seen this before but most recently HT: Issues etc
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