Question:
Answer:
The conversation might go something like this:
Parent: Is there a difference between a rock and a plant?
Child: Yes.
Parent: What do you think that difference is?
Child: Ummm . . . the plant is alive and the rock isn’t.
Parent: That’s right. There is something in the plant that makes it alive which the rock doesn’t have. Right?
Child: Right.
Parent: Well, the thing in the plant that makes the plant alive is called a soul. And since the rock is not alive, it doesn’t have a soul.
Child: So am I a plant, because I’m alive too?
Parent: No, there are different kinds of souls. Answer this question: are there other things that are alive?
Child: Yes, Fido is alive.
Parent: That’s right. Now, are you alive, too? Am I alive?
Child: Yes.
Parent: But, is Fido different than a plant? Can Fido do things that a plant can’t do?
Child: Yes!
Parent: Are you different than Fido? Can you do things that Fido can’t do?
Child: Of course!
Parent: So, the plant is alive, Fido is alive, and we are alive, but we all have different powers and we do different things, right?
Child: Right.
Parent: That is because we all have different kinds of souls. Plant soul gives the plant certain powers, animal soul gives the animal certain powers, and the human soul gives the human certain powers.
Child: Does that mean plant souls and animal souls will go to heaven like us?
Parent: No. When the plant dies, the plant soul dies with it. When Fido dies, Fido’s soul dies with him. But when humans die, the human soul doesn’t die, it continues to live. You see, that’s what makes us unique as a human. Our souls don’t die, and that makes it possible for us to exist in heaven.