{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"If Dogs Go to Heaven\u2026 Why Not My Child? The Question That Broke a Mother\u2019s Heart","description":"It's Question Time, and today's episode features an engaging question from one of our listeners based on Tim's argument that animals (including beloved pets) go to heaven. If that's true, says this listener, then how is God good if my child who I love MORE than my pet might be going to Hell? Josh and Tim tackle this philosophically, theologically, and pastorally. Want to ask a question? Go to our website: https:\/\/www.freethinkingministries.co... Check out Tim's Second Edition of Mere Molinism: https:\/\/us.amazon.com\/Freedom-Divine-... Check out Josh's Novel: https:\/\/us.amazon.com\/Fracture-Joshua... Tim's Article and Argument for pets going to heave: https:\/\/www.freethinkingministries.co... The full e-mail: I love my dog, but I love my child more. The following may reveal my own selfishness in that I don\u2019t want my child to choose what he desires (a life without Christ). Though I believe in freewill, I am almost to the point where I wish God did not grant it. I\u2019d rather have my child \u201ca robot\u201d in Heaven with God and me than have him freely choose his eternal destination. I am concerned for a day when my son\u2019s sin takes him to the point of a totally seared conscience. Though my son is not a drug addict, a drug addict gets to the point of addiction when he knows not what he does in harming his own body, mind, etc. Isn\u2019t any sin this way? We know not what we do. We, as fallible creatures, don\u2019t know what\u2019s best for us. Only our Creator knows this, and yet He allows us to choose wrongly?!? Why?!? Why would God take an animal to heaven while allowing a mother or father who would die for their child (a human being made in God\u2019s image, unlike an animal, and \u201cworth more than the birds of the air\u201d) to be separated from him for eternity? It is said that to have loved and then lost is better than to have never loved at all, but I\u2019m not so sure right now. Pictures and memories of my son\u2019s \u201cinnocence\u201d in childhood haunt me. Yet some say God wipes away such memories in Heaven, but don\u2019t you think we will know more, not less, in Eternity? To wipe that child from one\u2019s memory seems diminishing. Even to suggest annihilation (a theory I don\u2019t favor) would not soften the wounds of loss to a mother\u2019s heart. No longer existing seems to delegitimize any life. Even the truth of someday having a better understanding of God\u2019s holiness and justice regarding my own flesh and blood is gut wrenching (I agree we all deserve Hell). Why are we to lay down our lives for sinners now in reaching them for Christ but will eventually rejoice in jubilation when the time of their destruction comes? Why would God have fashioned such motherly sentiments to unconditionally love and sacrificially nurture if we were to suffer this pain of eternal separation? If God loves me and if God knew my child would not follow Him, why did He bring about a world allowing him to be created? Or to survive infancy? Theoretically, even abortion (God forbid!) would have been a better outcome as, if I\u2019m correct in my theology, such would eventually reunite us. Is abortion a virtue in that all babes are saved from damnation? God forgive the thought! We are told to be fruitful and multiply, but why even risk having children if there\u2019s a possibility of having even one child\u2026or grandchild or great grandchild or a great-great separated from you forever? Obedience beyond understanding? I don\u2019t want one from my family tree or one acquaintance or even one stranger to be lost! The only remedy I see to this scenario as we are to love even our enemies is universal reconciliation, also a theory I do not favor...because of free will! Can you help me with these excruciating dilemmas? For my sanity\u2019s sake I have to believe all my children will be with God in eternity, but since I don\u2019t believe universalism is biblical, what of those others who will be separated eternally from loved ones? Is the only answer to trust God? Thank you greatly for your time; I appreciate any help you may provide this hurting mama. \u27a1\ufe0f CHAPTERS \u2b05\ufe0f  00:00 Introduction 04:00 What Led to An Argument About Animals Going to Heaven? 05:35 The Reasonable Hope That Pets Go To Heaven Argument 11:00 Introducing Kim's E-mail - I Kind of Wish My Child Was a Robot 16:48 Why Would God Take an Animal and not my Son? 38:55 Will We Not Remember Pain In Heaven? 47:52 We Will Rejoice with Jubilation When People Go to Hell? 53:13 Why Would God Give Me A Child He KNOWS Will Reject Him? 1:04:00 Why Even Risk Having Children If They COULD Go to Hell? 1:10:30 Is Universalism the Only REAL Hope? 1:19:23 Concluding Thoughts \u27a1\ufe0f SOCIALS \u2b05\ufe0f Website: https:\/\/freethinkingministries.com F acebook:   \/ freethinkinc   Instagram:   \/ freethinkinc   X: https:\/\/x.com\/freethinkmin TikTok:   \/ freethinkinc   #Apologetics #FreeThinking #Christianity ","author_name":"The Freethinking Podcasts","author_url":"http:\/\/freethinkingministries.com\/","html":"