Is there a soul?

[robtex]

Is Boris a theist?

~Victor

I don't know. But if I had to guess I would think he is not. I liked his arguement from evolution because it acknowledges the fact that anyone who believes in a soul rejects evolution on some level.

I like the way he states that the soul is proposed to be 100 % immaterial and than qualifies on why this is inprobable by showing the reducancy of functions through neuroscience. And in the arguement from interaction how the theist theory of the soul makes it neccessary for this immaterial componet to intereact with the material componet yet there is no indirect dectection from this.

 

[Bennettresearch]

I don't know. But if I had to guess I would think he is not. I liked his arguement from evolution because it acknowledges the fact that anyone who believes in a soul rejects evolution on some level.

I like the way he states that the soul is proposed to be 100 % immaterial and than qualifies on why this is inprobable by showing the reducancy of functions through neuroscience. And in the arguement from interaction how the theist theory of the soul makes it neccessary for this immaterial componet to intereact with the material componet yet there is no indirect dectection from this.

Hi Robtex,

You are wrong. I believe in a soul and I also believe in evolution. The world and the Universe are not static and neither should we be static. Once we have achieved such scientific, technological and academic prowess, what other place would there be to go but into the spirit?

 

[robtex]

Hi Robtex,

You are wrong. I believe in a soul and I also believe in evolution. The world and the Universe are not static and neither should we be static. Once we have achieved such scientific, technological and academic prowess, what other place would there be to go but into the spirit?

BR,

in evolution there is nothing living outside the parameters of the evolutionary process. The soul has not been proposed to evolve from anything thus falling outside the premise evolution offers. Unless the soul is composed of one the four componets that make up dna, and thus would be measurable and evolved from a lesser form the theory of the soul does not mesh with the theory of evolution.

 

[Bennettresearch]

Hi Rob,

I was not trying to link the two or resolve the science of evolution with anything spiritual. I can see that evolution is an empirical science that can be proven, so I am not going to kick at it just because I am religious. What I would point out is that evolution does not explain adequately where anything came from, only the mechanism that is evolving. So this leaves open the possiblity that if there ever was an observable fact about creation, it wouldn't necessarily contradict evolution. This is why I can believe in both per se, because I am still willing to be objective.

 

[robtex]

Hi Rob,

I was not trying to link the two or resolve the science of evolution with anything spiritual. I can see that evolution is an empirical science that can be proven, so I am not going to kick at it just because I am religious. What I would point out is that evolution does not explain adequately where anything came from, only the mechanism that is evolving. So this leaves open the possiblity that if there ever was an observable fact about creation, it wouldn't necessarily contradict evolution. This is why I can believe in both per se, because I am still willing to be objective.

True that evolution does not explain where life came from. But since you brought it up what are your reasons for your conviction of the existance of a soul?

Oh and who is the mystery fruballer who fruballed my last post ? thank you ghost frubal person:bounce

 

[glasgowchick]

I have always had a hard time understanding what our soul is, I do understand that God breathed into us the breath of life and man became a living soul..So in that sense, the soul is ourselves..Here is where I get confused, what is the Body, Spirit and Soul...

1--If body and soul are the person [ what is the Spirit ]

2 If Soul and Spirit have the same meaning, then what does is mean in 1Thess 5:23 were we read, May the God of peace sanctify you wholly and may your Spirit and Soul and Body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ..

Going by that, the Soul and Spirit is different..

So it seems to me that man consists of three parts..Body, soul and spirit..

I do believe that when we die, our body goes back to the Ground and our Spirit goes back to God who gave it..Ok Im starting to get myself in a muddle here so I will stop..sorry for the confusion

 

[CMIYC]

If you can sell something then it must exist. Here is a company that will give you good cash for your soul. So, go get rich if you have one.lol

http://www.wewantyoursoul.com/

 

[robtex]

I have always had a hard time understanding what our soul is, I do understand that God breathed into us the breath of life and man became a living soul..So in that sense, the soul is ourselves..Here is where I get confused, what is the Body, Spirit and Soul...

1--If body and soul are the person [ what is the Spirit ]

2 If Soul and Spirit have the same meaning, then what does is mean in 1Thess 5:23 were we read, May the God of peace sanctify you wholly and may your Spirit and Soul and Body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ..

Going by that, the Soul and Spirit is different..

So it seems to me that man consists of three parts..Body, soul and spirit..

I do believe that when we die, our body goes back to the Ground and our Spirit goes back to God who gave it..Ok Im starting to get myself in a muddle here so I will stop..sorry for the confusion

You confused me too. Same question to you as to Bennetresearch. What are your reason(s) for your conviction in the existance of a soul?

 

[Scott1]

You confused me too. Same question to you as to Bennetresearch. What are your reason(s) for your conviction in the existance of a soul?

Don't know if this will confuse you more Rob... but my "conviction" might be based on a different concept of "soul" than some other Christians:

The human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual. The biblical account expresses this reality in symbolic language when it affirms that "then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."(Gen 2:7) Man, whole and entire, is therefore willed by God.

In Sacred Scripture the term "soul" often refers to human life or the entire human person. But "soul" also refers to the innermost aspect of man, that which is of greatest value in him, that by which he is most especially in God's image: "soul" signifies the spiritual principle in man.

Hope that helps.
Scott

 

[Quiddity]

Don't know if this will confuse you more Rob... but my "conviction" might be based on a different concept of "soul" than some other Christians:

The human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual. The biblical account expresses this reality in symbolic language when it affirms that "then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."(Gen 2:7) Man, whole and entire, is therefore willed by God.

In Sacred Scripture the term "soul" often refers to human life or the entire human person. But "soul" also refers to the innermost aspect of man, that which is of greatest value in him, that by which he is most especially in God's image: "soul" signifies the spiritual principle in man.

Hope that helps.
Scott

Nice..:clap

~Victor

 

[robtex]

The human person, created in the image of God, is a being at once corporeal and spiritual. The biblical account expresses this reality in symbolic language when it affirms that "then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."(Gen 2:7) Man, whole and entire, is therefore willed by God.
In Sacred Scripture the term "soul" often refers to human life or the entire human person.
Scott

Scott is the soul, according to you, a physical or spirtual enity or instead a metaphore or allegory for life of a human?

 

[Scott1]

Scott is the soul, according to you, a physical or spirtual enity or instead a metaphore or allegory for life of a human?

The human body shares in the dignity of "the image of God": it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple of the Spirit:

Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his very bodily condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world. Through him they are thus brought to their highest perfection and can raise their voice in praise freely given to the Creator. For this reason man may not despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and to hold it in honor since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day.

​

The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the "form" of the body: i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature.

 

[Radar]

There is no evidence of a soul so I would have to say No there is not one.

 

[Merlin]

Good post John hope you introduce yourself in the new members section if you haven't already done so. I would further add that human beings have been examined millions of times by both doctors and scientists. No genetic make-up we have has ever been proposed as a soul and many things religious groups describe as attritbutes of the "soul" are in fact personality traits that are conducted within our brain. If one is to google soul and research there are no science institution with hits and the person that seems to have done the most "research" on it, Ian Stevenson admitts he has never discovered one but suspects they exist.

To further complicate matters the theory of the soul being invisible brings about much skepticsm. Things that are invisible to mankind usually fall under two areas:

1) too far away to see
2) too small to see

The soul is suppose to inhabit the human body so too far away is unreasonalbe at the time it ascends into heaven (leaving the body that housed it) and too small to see directly conflicts with the notion of the soul having a human shape and preportions as presented in the christian and islamic religions.

Things that exist in a gaseous state, which some claim the soul to be, are still detectable by science and by the sense of smell. The proposition currenty by the religious groups that advocate we have souls is that the soul is oderless and unlike other gaseous compounds undetactable with various air testing techniques avaliable.

Theists who subscribe to both evolution and the human soul have yet, to my knowledge prepose what they believe the soul evolved from (as the theory in evolution everything evolved from something more simple) or that it even has the 4 genetic proteins that make up all living things including the most important, carbon which is in all living things.

With this in mind I would like to know why anyone believes they have a soul at all and why one would need to believe in a soul to believe in a god (if that is the case)?

That puzzle at least is easy. There were no souls until Petecost, when the Spirit was sent for the first time.

Not everyone has one though. Romans 29 and 30.

 

[Merlin]

If the soul is the creature itself, and presumably continues on after the body dies, how can this be if it is insubstantial? If it is some 'undetectable' energy, how can it recognise other souls? To say that something is indetectible is ubsurd.
Everything, I repeat everything that exists, has characteristics, or properties, and is therefore recognizable and detectable for those properties.
It is inconceivable that something could exist and be devoid of characteristics or properties, therefore, if a soul has independent existance, it cannot be insubstantial, but must consist of matter, or energy.
Sorry, May, but biblical references go no distance in convincing me of anything.

For millions of years radio waves from outerspace could not be detected. Did they therefore not exist? Did they start to exist only when we developed the knowledge to detect them?

I promis you that things exist now that we know nothing about YET. Or do you think we are at the end of the raod in our knowledge base.

Your 'non-detectability' arguments do not disprove souls, sorry.

 

[michel]

For millions of years radio waves from outerspace could not be detected. Did they therefore not exist? Did they start to exist only when we developed the knowledge to detect them?

I promis you that things exist now that we know nothing about YET. Or do you think we are at the end of the raod in our knowledge base.

Your 'non-detectability' arguments do not disprove souls, sorry.

I agree; I think what we perceive is only an iota of what there is; but no one ask for proof, please. That is conjecture.

 

[Mr Spinkles]

For millions of years radio waves from outerspace could not be detected. Did they therefore not exist? Did they start to exist only when we developed the knowledge to detect them?

No, but it didn't make sense to believe in radio waves until we developed the knowledge to detect them. You're right, lack of evidence does not necessarily mean something doesn't exist. However, until there is evidence for souls, I consider them in the same category of mythical beings as minotaurs, demons, witches, and the Loch Ness monster, all of which technically *could* be detected one day when we have the technology. I'm not holding my breath, though.

 

[glasgowchick]

You confused me too. Same question to you as to Bennetresearch. What are your reason(s) for your conviction in the existance of a soul?

Sorry for the confusion but I am just as confused myself when it comes to trying to explain it sorry But if you are asking why I believe there is something that leaves the body at death, I find that through Scripture..

Example the stoning of stephen, when he was about to die He said " Lord Jesus recieve my Spirit " ..Acts 7:59...

And Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, and yeilded up His Spirit. Matt 27:50..

Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell..Matt 10:28...

There are many more but those are just an example...So yes, wether I can explain what the soul is, I am sure that one has a soul that departs at death and goes back to God...

 

[glasgowchick]

and the lochness monster

Mr Spinkles, you have hurt my feelings, As a scotish lass you have bursted my bubble, my belief on beautiful nessie, blown right out the window how could you say such a thing.." Sniffs" and holds back the tears.You do know Im just messing around .

No, but it didn't make sense to believe in radio waves until we developed the knowledge to detect them. You're right, lack of evidence does not necessarily mean something doesn't exist. However, until there is evidence for souls, I consider them in the same category of mythical beings as minotaurs, demons, witches, and the Loch Ness monster, all of which technically *could* be detected one day when we have the technology. I'm not holding my breath, though.

 

[Merlin]

Wow, I didn't realize that atheists were that much of a minority!
(and michel...the world is obviously banana shaped! don't listen to those foolish scientists! they are minions of satan the devil right up there with santa, the easter bunny, and cupid!!! In fact, they are among the head ministers of Valeneastmas!!! so repeat after me, "the world is banana shaped the world is banana shaped!")

A few thoughts on the topic of souls....
If there is no you, how can you have a soul?
Ok, I know what you're thinking. "What!!! THERE"S NO ME!!!!" Just hold on a second though.
Break yourself down. What are you composed of? Start big if you would like, work your way down from the body, to organ systems, and so on. Sooner or later you will get to elements, and then atoms. Atoms are composed of electrons, protons, and neutrons. Now these, when you break them down are made out of the fundemental particles like quarks (an electron is already a fundemental particle). These supposedly can't be broken down any further. Ok. Now look at something else...your computer...a chair...it doesn't really matter. Break it down. Holy crap. Quarks, electrons and leptons?? Wow. My keyboard is as complex as you are. No offense though. But it's true. Everything is made out of the same substance. So then where do you end and the next thing begins? Where is the line drawn between objects? There is no line! Nothing seperates you and your computer! You are one and the same thing!
So if there is no definite you, and there is no definite me, there is no way that we can have seperate souls. Possibly a universal soul (universal consiousness), but not seperate, individual ones.

I agree, at a fundamental level we are all packets of energy. However, we are independent encapsulated packet of energy. There is absolutely no reason why a life form could not exist within this energy packet. That could be our soul? Then, if it learns how to during its 'lifetime', maybe it could go home to the universal energy source (God), or maybe it needs another lifetime or two?