PoetPhilosopher
Veteran Member
In theistic evolution, does human beings having souls mean other species have souls?
Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.
Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!
I believe humans have individual souls and animal species have group souls at the current level of evolution. A domesticated animal that experiences and reciprocates true love with a human can 'individualize' from their group souls and eventually advance to human.In theistic evolution, does human beings having souls mean other species have souls?
In the Biblical definition of a "soul" every living breathing creature is a soul. It isn't something you possess...its something you are.In theistic evolution, does human beings having souls mean other species have souls?
The answer to this depends on who you ask -- there are theistic evolutionists that have all sorts of different opinions on this. There are those who believe only humans have souls. There are those who believe all life forms have souls. And there are those who believe all things have souls, even rocks, trees, and rivers.In theistic evolution, does human beings having souls mean other species have souls?
I’m undecided if nonhuman beings have souls.In theistic evolution, does human beings having souls mean other species have souls?
I’m undecided if nonhuman beings have souls.
But i’m not undecided about non living things like rocks not having souls
If I was God I would have done it when the being was sufficiently evolved for it to understand right from wrong to some degree.Well here's the challenge, my friend...
Imagine that human beings evolved, and that they have souls. The big question is, at what point in the evolutionary process did either the divine breathe souls into them, or they evolved to have souls?
In theistic evolution, does human beings having souls mean other species have souls?
I believe humans have individual souls...
Well here's the challenge, my friend...
Imagine that human beings evolved, and that they have souls. The big question is, at what point in the evolutionary process did either the divine breathe souls into them, or they evolved to have souls?
That depends on the person, as "theistic evolution" only states that there is/are deity/deities that created all.In theistic evolution, does human beings having souls mean other species have souls?
The term soul is always challenging as to what someone identifies as that. For discussion sake, generally speaking we could imagine it to be what is still identified as uniquely "you", yet transcends and exists prior to that egoic self identification which is a matter of evolution or development. That is, it is the pure "essence" of who you are before and beyond your personality and all it's programmings.In theistic evolution, does human beings having souls mean other species have souls?
That depends on the person, as "theistic evolution" only states that there is/are deity/deities that created all.
Well there are a million Sanskrit word. That one sent me to Wikipedia:Wouldn't this view be Vishishtadvaita - qualified nondualism?
I do believe we are using a different definition of "Creation" in this context. IMO, it means that a deity/deities created all, not necessarily whether they are interactive with Creation once created. Nor do I think "Revelation" has to be part of this by definition.Not only Created, but also involved in the physical existence through Revelation. The Deist view may believe in a Creator God, but not a God apparently involved with Creation.
I do believe we are using a different definition of "Creation" in this context. IMO, it means that a deity/deities created all, not necessarily whether they are interactive with Creation once created.
Nor do I think "Revelation" has to be part of this by definition.
IMO, "many" is the catch-word here, especially since "theistic evolutionists' are all over the "map" on this-- and a lot of other things as well.It may be variable within Deism, but many Deist believe in God a Creator of our physical existence.
IMO, "many" is the catch-word here, especially since "theistic evolutionists' are all over the "map" on this-- and a lot of other things as well.
ADDED: Here:
Francis Collins describes theistic evolution as the position that "evolution is real, but that it was set in motion by God", and characterizes it as accepting "that evolution occurred as biologists describe it, but under the direction of God". Adherents of theistic evolution also have no trouble accepting other tenets of origin sciences with their religious beliefs. They include:
- the prevailing cosmological model, with the universe coming into being about 13.8 billion years ago through quantum fluctuations;
- the likelihood of a multiverse, in which our universe branched off from others, that explains our fine-tuned universe;
- early chemical elements originating through stellar nucleosynthesis;
- the solar nebular theory of the formation of the Solar System and planet Earth;
- billions of years of geological history bringing forth the formation of plate tectonics, Earth's oceans, and the atmosphere;
- the origins of life through chemical processes and formation of multicellular life;
- billions of years of biological evolution through natural mechanisms;
- humans are also the byproduct of these natural processes;
- human behavior, cognition, and consciousness are a result of these evolutionary mechanisms;
- morality, religion, intelligence, emotions, politics, and other cultural and psychological facets are the result of the same evolutionary processes;
- archaeology also provides large amounts of evidence for cultural evolution of early Homo sapiens, prior to the start of the Bronze Age and Iron Age;
- Despite no supernatural intervention in any of these phenomena, humans are unique. The concern for the Moral Law (the knowledge of right and wrong) and the continuous search for God among all human cultures defy evolutionary explanations and point to our spiritual nature. -- Theistic evolution - Wikipedia