When does the soul enter the body?

[Viker]

Fair enough.
What lead you to that conclusion, may I ask?

Introspection on the matter. And doing my own exploration into things like the soul and what I've come to believe it is. I started out believing soul/spirit were separate things from our anatomy but it didn't pan out for me.

 

[SomeRandom]

Introspection on the matter. And doing my own exploration into things like the soul and what I've come to believe it is. I started out believing soul/spirit were separate things from our anatomy but it didn't pan out for me.

Okay so is your stance based on religion or philosophy?

 

[SomeRandom]

Your soul is what you are when you live your life. Notice that the Bible also declares animals as "living souls". And this is correct, because actually animals also have their own personality. Some dogs are friendly, others calm, others brave, and this is regardless of their race and age.

Then, the soul is not something that will enter in your body, but something that will be according to your behavior. When the conception happens, the new being has and is a soul already. He has a soul because he will act according to his thoughts or instincts. He is a soul because its him. Like saying you have your own DNA, and you are what your DNA is.

Ahh but what if identical twins? They share the same DNA after all.

 

[74x12]

I’m curious as to what the different religions actually specifically say on this matter. Since this is something I’ve often heard from various religious folks. (For somewhat obvious reasons lately lol.)
But I’ve also seen disagreements within the same religion even.

Please support your belief with your sacred texts or your interpretation or the beliefs of your sect etc.
Really anything that directly or indirectly informs your personal religious beliefs on the matter.



And please please be respectful guys. Everyone has the right to their own beliefs.

I'm not sure when God breathes in the breath of life and the baby becomes a living soul.

• Week 5 is one guess; because that's apparently when the embryo develops it's own blood for the first time and the holy scripture says the life is in the blood. This means you could say the embryo begins to have a life of it's own separate from the mother.
• Some may argue for the development of the bones also being a significant point when God would send the spirit into the baby. Or the heart, even the brain might be someone's guess.
• Others say of course the soul is there in the first place passed on from the mother and the father through their blood and life begins at conception. This would imply the baby is a kind of continuation of the life of the mother and father.
• Others would point to predestination as being involved. I mean God already knew so he chose someone from the womb. So who says they began? To God they always existed.
• One thing we know from the Bible is stillborn children had souls but they just died. So that's that.

Ultimately i don't know when it occurs. Do you?

 

[SomeRandom]

I'm not sure when God breathes in the breath of life and the baby becomes a living soul.

• Week 5 is one guess; because that's apparently when the embryo develops it's own blood for the first time and the holy scripture says the life is in the blood. This means you could say the embryo begins to have a life of it's own separate from the mother.
• Some may argue for the development of the bones also being a significant point when God would send the spirit into the baby. Or the heart, even the brain might be someone's guess.
• Others say of course the soul is there in the first place passed on from the mother and the father through their blood and life begins at conception. This would imply the baby is a kind of continuation of the life of the mother and father.
• Others would point to predestination as being involved. I mean God already knew so he chose someone from the womb. So who says they began? To God they always existed.
• One thing we know from the Bible is stillborn children had souls but they just died. So that's that.

Ultimately i don't know when it occurs. Do you?

No I do not.
God almighty is the last arbiter of reality. It’s up to him/her/it to decide.
I’m merely curious as to the religious positions is all

 

[Luchito Prays]

Ahh but what if identical twins? They share the same DNA after all.

The mention of DNA was just the analogy, but lets be fair. You are right with your question.

Even when the twins have (they don't literally share it) the same DNA, their bodies won't be the same. One of them might prefer eating lots of vegetables while the other one will be having lots of chicken in his diet. One of them might do exercises and biking while the other one might play ping pong as his only sport. Their bodies will still have the same DNA but will grow differently.

Lets push the answer a little further. Even when they have the same diet and sport, having the same DNA is not synonymous for them of having the same health, and so forth.

No one has the same soul as yours, your soul is individual and different from the rest.

 

[SomeRandom]

The mention of DNA was just the analogy, but lets be fair. You are right with your question.

Even when the twins have (they don't literally share it) the same DNA, their bodies won't be the same. One of them might prefer eating lots of vegetables while the other one will be having lots of chicken in his diet. One of them might do exercises and biking while the other one might play ping pong as his only sport. Their bodies will still have the same DNA but will grow differently.

Lets push the answer a little further. Even when they have the same diet and sport, having the same DNA is not synonymous for them of having the same health, and so forth.

No one has the same soul as yours, your soul is individual and different from the rest.

I find your answer a fair one.

But I can’t help but notice, when the topic of abortion comes up, unique DNA is often cited as a reason for the embryo being a completely different human. Thereby deserving of rights. But as you yourself indicate, DNA is not the be all and end all of a different human being. Correct?

Do you find my contention a fair one?
Just asking

 

[Viker]

Okay so is your stance based on religion or philosophy?

Both. This is where they both meet and concur.

 

[Luchito Prays]

I find your answer a fair one.

But I can’t help but notice, when the topic of abortion comes up, unique DNA is often cited as a reason for the embryo being a completely different human. Thereby deserving of rights. But as you yourself indicate, DNA is not the be all and end all of a different human being. Correct?

Do you find my contention a fair one?
Just asking

I think that in humans, a being with a unique DNA is identified as a different individual.
The individual inside the womb of the woman is not part of her, and by such, she doesn't have the right for having an abortion.

 

[We Never Know]

Ahh but what if identical twins? They share the same DNA after all.

"Identical Twins Accumulate Genetic Differences in the Womb

"DNA replication errors during cell division cause monozygotic twins to diverge from each other even during the earliest stages of development, a new study finds."

News: Identical Twins Accumulate Genetic... (The Scientist) - Behind the headlines - NLM

 

[SomeRandom]

I think that in humans, a being with a unique DNA is identified as a different individual.
The individual inside the womb of the woman is not part of her, and by such, she doesn't have the right for having an abortion.

But it is shared by identical twins. Does this mean both twins are one person?

 

[SomeRandom]

"Identical Twins Accumulate Genetic Differences in the Womb

"DNA replication errors during cell division cause monozygotic twins to diverge from each other even during the earliest stages of development, a new study finds."

News: Identical Twins Accumulate Genetic... (The Scientist) - Behind the headlines - NLM

I’m not disputing that at all. Simply asking if the shared DNA qualifies them as seperate human beings. Not from a scientific stance, but from a religious one

 

[TransmutingSoul]

Do you mind elaborating?

It is a detailed subject.

"...Each individual life begins when the soul associates itself with the embryo at the time of conception. But the association is not material; the soul does not enter or leave the body and does not occupy physical space. Bahá’u’lláh uses the metaphor of the sun to explain the relationship between the soul and the body: “The soul of man is the sun by which his body is illumined, and from which it draweth its sustenance, and should be so regarded.”

The Rational Soul | The Human Soul | The Life of the Spirit | What Bahá’ís Believe

I can offer two other talks that give the concept as to how the Spirit connects to the mind and also the body.

The Appearance of the Spirit and the Mind in Man

and

The Appearance of the Spirit in the Body

Regards Tony

 

[stvdv]

I’m curious as to what the different religions actually specifically say on this matter. Since this is something I’ve often heard from various religious folks. (For somewhat obvious reasons lately lol.)
But I’ve also seen disagreements within the same religion even.

Please support your belief with your sacred texts or your interpretation or the beliefs of your sect etc.
Really anything that directly or indirectly informs your personal religious beliefs on the matter.



And please please be respectful guys. Everyone has the right to their own beliefs.

Sai Baba, my Master (Sanathana Dharma... the eternal Religion) has spoken about it (short video 2min12sec: How and When does the Vibration Enter the Baby's Body | Swami Reveals the Secret)

After 4 month and 9 days

 

[SomeRandom]

Sai Baba, my Master (Sanathana Dharma... the eternal Religion) has spoken about it (short video 2min12sec: How and When does the Vibration Enter the Baby's Body | Swami Reveals the Secret)

After 4 month and 9 days

Interesting.
Why do you think that is?

 

[TransmutingSoul]

How does this work for maternal twins?
What happens to the majority of souls who wound up end in a failed pregnancy?

The twins is an interesting subject, my guess, and my guess only is they share the same connection to the soul.

There is some great studies done in twins separated at birth and how they seems to still be connected.

As to the child that dies before it is born or even very young, this is one passage.

"...O thou beloved maidservant of God, although the loss of a son is indeed heart-breaking and beyond the limits of human endurance, yet one who knoweth and understandeth is assured that the son hath not been lost but, rather, hath stepped from this world into another, and she will find him in the divine realm. That reunion shall be for eternity, while in this world separation is inevitable and bringeth with it a burning grief…"

This Blog gives other thoughts and writings.

A Personal Reflection on Miscarriages and Stillbirths - Baha'i Blog

Regards Tony

 

[Truthseeker]

I’m curious as to what the different religions actually specifically say on this matter. Since this is something I’ve often heard from various religious folks. (For somewhat obvious reasons lately lol.)
But I’ve also seen disagreements within the same religion even.

Please support your belief with your sacred texts or your interpretation or the beliefs of your sect etc.
Really anything that directly or indirectly informs your personal religious beliefs on the matter.



And please please be respectful guys. Everyone has the right to their own beliefs.

"You have raised the point about the time of the appearance of the human soul. You are quite right in your deduction in this regard, as our teachings clearly confirm that the soul of man comes into being at conception."
(From a letter of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer, July 31, 1970)
Various, "Lights of Guidance"

The soul does not enter the body at conception, though, it is connected to the body at conception.

The rational soul -- that is to say, the human spirit -- has neither entered this body nor existed through it; so after the disintegration of the composition of the body, how should it be in need of a substance through which it may exist?
(Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 239)

 

[PruePhillip]

It is said at conception.

But it does not enter the body. It is like the light in the lamp.

Regards Tony

If it's not in the body where is? Hovering overhead? In the backyard? Back at the maternity ward?

 

[Trailblazer]

I’m curious as to what the different religions actually specifically say on this matter. Since this is something I’ve often heard from various religious folks. (For somewhat obvious reasons lately lol.)
But I’ve also seen disagreements within the same religion even.

Please support your belief with your sacred texts or your interpretation or the beliefs of your sect etc.
Really anything that directly or indirectly informs your personal religious beliefs on the matter.

And please please be respectful guys. Everyone has the right to their own beliefs.

According to Baha'i beliefs the soul does not enter the body, it becomes associated with the body and this happens when the soul associates itself with the embryo, not literally at the moment of conception, but after the zygote is formed. I think the first quote below should read 'around the time of conception' so the second quote below is more accurate.

Each individual life begins when the soul associates itself with the embryo at the time of conception. But the association is not material; the soul does not enter or leave the body and does not occupy physical space. Bahá’u’lláh uses the metaphor of the sun to explain the relationship between the soul and the body: “The soul of man is the sun by which his body is illumined, and from which it draweth its sustenance, and should be so regarded.”[4]
The Rational Soul | The Human Soul | The Life of the Spirit | What Bahá’ís Believe

"According to the Bahá’í Teachings the human soul starts with the formation of the embryo, and continues to develop and pass through stages of existence after its separation from the body. Its progress is thus infinite.”
Shoghi Effendi, Lights of Guidance, p. 204

 

[Trailblazer]

If it's not in the body where is? Hovering overhead? In the backyard? Back at the maternity ward?

I assume the soul is with God before it becomes associated with the human body.