All Dogs Go To Heaven?
Posted September 28th, 2008 by Murray @ ulblog
Filed under: False, Urban Legends
Tags: email, religion
Do a widely distributed series of photos of church signs really reflect a disagreement between two local churches over the hot topic of whether or not dogs can go to heaven?
“ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN,” the first picture reads, but the second is quick to disagree: “ONLY HUMANS GO TO HEAVEN READ THE BIBLE”.
So begins what appears to be a rather quirky theological debate about the souls of dogs (and eventually of rocks!), carried out entirely on church signs.
But, we ask ourselves, is it real? Did the religious communities represented by Our Lady of Martyrs Catholic Church and Beulah Cumberland Presbyterian Church really go to war with each other over whether or not pets can go to paradise?
As it happens, the answer is no, they didn’t…
It was a funny email, one that made me laugh out loud when it bounced into my email inbox a couple of weeks ago. The text went something like this:
| Our Lady Of Martyrs Catholic Church: | ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN |
| Beulah Cumberland Presbyterian Church: | ONLY HUMANS GO TO HEAVEN READ THE BIBLE |
| Our Lady Of Martyrs Catholic Church: | GOD LOVES ALL HIS CREATIONS DOGS INCLUDED |
| Beulah Cumberland Presbyterian Church: | DOGS DON’T HAVE SOULS THIS IS NOT OPEN FOR DEBATE |
| Our Lady Of Martyrs Catholic Church: | CATHOLIC DOGS GO TO HEAVEN PRESBYTERIAN DOGS CAN TALK TO THEIR PASTOR |
| Beulah Cumberland Presbyterian Church: | CONVERTING TO CATHOLOCISM DOES NOT MAGICALLY GRANT YOUR DOG A SOUL |
| Our Lady Of Martyrs Catholic Church: | FREE DOG SOULS WITH CONVERSION |
| Beulah Cumberland Presbyterian Church: | DOGS ARE ANIMALS THERE AREN’T ANY ROCKS IN HEAVEN EITHER |
| Our Lady Of Martyrs Catholic Church: | ALL ROCKS GO TO HEAVEN |
At first glance it seemed like a charming and harmless little disagreement, the type of which you might have encountered on an episode of The Vicar Of Dibley
The photos themselves seem realistic enough — there’s little doubt that we’re looking at pictures of real church signs. But if the signs themselves look real, it turns out that the words on them aren’t.
The detail that made me suspicious at first was the fact that the pictures of each sign appear to have been taken from exactly the same position in all of the frames.
In an of itself, this detail alone would be hard to pull off without some very careful setting up. Even a slight difference between a picture of one sign and the next picture of that sign would potentially stand out.
Not only that, but the pictures also appear to have been taken at the exact same time of day with, in the case of Our Lady of Martyrs Catholic Church, the exact same cars in the background, on the left, in every picture!
So, we can be reasonably certain, just on these details alone, that the images have been faked. It’s much more likely that the same images are being used for each message. However, to make absolutely certain, we head to the intertubes!
One quick Google search later and the top result returned is a site called “Church Sign Generator“. [1]
As it happens, this is a novelty web site that allows visitors to create their own messages on a variety of ’stock image’ church signs — including images of the signs outside Our Lady of Martyrs and Beulah Cumberland Presbyterian Church.
Normally the Church Sign Generator web site stamps the images it creates with its web address, but whoever was responsible for the “All Dogs Go To Heaven” strip also covered his or her tracks by removing this clue.
Conclusion
Pretty much an open-and-shut case. Someone discovered the Church Sign Generator web site, created an amusing disagreement between two churches on the matter of dogs and rocks and whether or not they can get into heaven, and an Internet Meme was born!
It’s worth mentioning that we could have attacked this particular project from at least one other direction. If we had been able to establish that Our Lady of Martyrs and Beulah Cumberland Presbyterian Church don’t belong to the same community, then the likelihood of a public disagreement of this nature — where claims are being made back and forth — would probably be very slim.
And there you have it! Personally, I don’t know if dogs do go to heaven or not, but I do believe one thing I’ve seen printed on a (fake) church sign:
Footnotes:
| 1. | You can view a PDF screengrab here, in case the site itself is ever taken offline. |
| Return |
October 7th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
Thank you. I noticed, too, that the cars on the left never changed, nor did the leaves blow in the trees or the grass move an inch. I also noticed the same framing, the same time of day, etc. I went so as to search the internet to see if these two churches are indeed across the street from one another when I ran across this blog. Too cool, thanks for putting the debate to rest for me.
Great detective work!
October 16th, 2008 at 11:56 am
You are probably right concerning the sign. For the ‘question’ posed in the sign refer the book HEAVEN by Randy Alcorn.
October 16th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
I THINK THAT IF YOU DON’T LIKE DOGS THAT’S OK, BUT COMPARE A DOG TO A ROCK IS UNCONCEIVABLE.ANY LIVING THING HAS AN ENTITY AND GOD MADE IT WITH A PURPOSE. SO I DO BELIEVE THAT ALSO DOGS CAN GO TO HEAVEN TOO BECAUSE THEY USUALLY GIVE JOY AND SUPPORT TO ITS OWNER NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS .
October 16th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Hi Mysti — you’re very welcome! Thanks for the positive feedback, it’s always appreciated!
October 17th, 2008 at 10:35 am
Nelson,…just for noting, comparing a rock to a dog maybe offensive to you because we see animals as “best friends” and playful kid-like frisbee catchers, and I love animals as well, have had many dogs all my life…but with rocks, we see them as something we sit/walk on. In that relation, I understand your offense.
However, I think the comparison above (even though a funny joke) is not about emotional/social ties, but the fact that both dogs and rocks don’t have souls. That’s all that was being compared.
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:45 pm
It is easily recognizable as a fraud because the shadows of the trees are exactly alike in each frame.
Now to answer the theological question from the source book:
Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 8:20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,
Rom 8:21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Rom 8:22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
We also know the Lion will lay down with the lamb and the children will play at the snakes den.
I haven’t looked into the rocks-sorry
October 24th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
Pastor Jack You left out a very important verse that specifically refers to beasts
Ecclesiastes 3:18-21 (KJV) I said in my heart concerning the estates of the sons of men, that, God might manifest themand that they might see me that they themselves are beasts. For that which befalleththe sons of men befalleth the beasts: even one thing befalleth them: As the one dieth so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so a man has no preeminence above a beast; for all is vanity. All go unto one place: all are of the dust and all turn to dust again.
We won’t have to worry about the rocks . At the time the lion will lay with the lamb that will be the time the Lor Jesus will dwell among men on the new earth.
October 24th, 2008 at 8:53 pm
Pastor Jack You left out a very important verse that specifically refers to beasts
Ecclesiastes 3:18-21 (KJV) I said in my heart concerning the estates of the sons of men, that, God might manifest themand that they might see me that they themselves are beasts. For that which befalleththe sons of men befalleth the beasts: even one thing befalleth them: As the one dieth so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so a man has no preeminence above a beast; for all is vanity. All go unto one place: all are of the dust and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man goeth upward and if the spirit of the beast goeth downward to the earth?
We won’t have to worry about the rocks . At the time the lion will lay with the lamb that will be the time the Lor Jesus will dwell among men on the new earth.