If the soul is immortal, does that mean it has always existed? (Jesus, reject)

[Pah]

Originally Posted by michel

Well, I'd say your post makes for interesting thinking - but as I am just taking this as yet another little bit off 'nitty gritty' that is inconsequential to my faith, I'll just savour your comment as a mind bending thought exercise. Rather reminds me of the one about parallel lines meet at infinity...........

Parallel lines meet at the north and south poles quite usefully.

I quess the question is, to undersatnd the statement, how much of eternity can be taken away and still remain eternity. This, however, IS a mind-bender - How many cardinal numbers can be removed and the set still be called an infinite set?

Just a little off topic diversion, folks. But in my opinion, in it's obscurity, the same as the topic.

[Warlord]

I believe the soul or spirit has always existed in some form with God before we were born.

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by Warlord

I believe the soul or spirit has always existed in some form with God before we were born.

You can't possibly believe that! That's Mormon doctrine, not Catholic doctrine!

[Theodore]

Time only exists within creation. Beyond creation there is only the eternal now.
The soul in not of creation, but resides within it. If the soul is eternal, how could something with a beginning have no end? I think we are part of God that has been "spun off". I think we were separated, but not really "created" from scratch.

[Warlord]

I don't necessarily believe everything the Catholic church says. I have my own opinions and theories on certain things.

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by joeboonda

Well, God has always existed, right? He spoke the world into existence out of nothing (first chapter of John), so our spirit matter has not always existed. After that everything had a beginning, and therefore a cause. So I conclude that our spirits were caused by our conception.

First of all, there is nothing in the first chapter of John (or in Genesis or anywhere else in the Bible) that says God created the heavens and the earth "out of nothing," only that He created them. You are drawing this conclusion on your own.

We appear to agree that God created our spirits. You believe that He did so at the moment of conception; I believe it was prior to conception. Do you want to discuss your reasons for believing as you do?

[eeyore]

I believe the spirit existed before our life here as well. Since the resurrection would imply that there will be at least some time when our body and spirit will be separate, it seems apparent, to me anyway, that our spirit can exist without our body. If that is the case, sure seems possible that our spirit could have existed long before our bodies where created.

[CMIYC]

We could all say, we have created heavens and earth, stars, sun and all the good and bad things surrounding us. If a tree falls in a jungle and there is nobody to hear it, will it make a sound? Would the universe exist if there was no one to acknowledge it? If there was nothing before creation or before the big bang. Then there was nothing, not even eternity. Everything exists because we perceive it so through observation and acknowledgement.