Where did your soul come from?

Paul of Eugene,

Yep. Job 12:10 "In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind." NAS translates as "the life of everything" and NIV as "the life of every creature".

Soul is life. God breathed into Adam and he became a living soul. Animals have souls, but there is no indication that their souls are eternal like ours. Just as animals have no concept of morality. Their souls are not the same as ours.


Helen,

Very good.

Started to post ISBE's definition of "soul" but decided not to. If anyone does not have access but wants it, I can post if asked. Also, ISBE is available with E-Sword, copyright has expired, but the material is still excellent (it is not like the date on the milk).

 

Very simplified:

Plants have a body
Animals have a body and a soul.
Mankind has a body, a soul, and a spirit.

All are alive at some point.
Only humans are immortal.

 

But in the Bible, the words for "soul" and "spirit" are often interchangeable. Also, what do you mean by "spirit" as distinguised from "soul?"

I am not sure that we are immortal; we are given immortality by God.

Would like to see other views on this. Maybe I'll start a thread on it!

 

A bit of 1, 2, 3 and 5.

Which is another way of saying "I don't know."

 

Wow, I have not heard some of those terms since Bible College! Let's see if I can remember:

Creationism - God quit creating on the 6th day and scripture does not indicate he created all living souls that same day - so NO.

Traducianism - Mom and Dad not only pass along all the genetic materials for life, but also those spiritual things as well. This is where the sin nature comes from and how all men are sinners from Adam. So, YES.

Generationism - I don't remember this one, but based on what I see posted I would have to say, NO.

Emanationism - Oh, yes, I think I remember this one. Basically, God has a huge bubble gum machine and when a baby is conceived, He pushes a lever and distributes a new soul that has never been used before. I think not, goes back to Creationism.

Evolutionism - Not is a million years!

 

I heard the explanation somewhere that we don't obtain an immortal soul until we die, perhaps related to taking on a new body. Has anyone else heard that explanation?

 

Heavens, what a gnarly mess in this thread. Land O' Goshen, where should I start?

First, consider the passage in the bible about 'dividing of soul and spirit' just like dividing joints and marrow. Think about it: you can't pull out a knife and cut a skeleton so that you have the joint in one hand and the marrow in the other. It's impossible. The marrow makes up the joint. So if Paul's analogy follows through to soul and spirit, then what do we conclude? That soul and spirit are not able to be separated. The point of the verse is that scripture can do impossible things, such as distinguish between things that we can't dinstinguish, such as joint & marrow, soul and spirit. He might as well have said "separate the mind from the thoughts." One makes up the other.

Second, this view supports Marcia's point that the words are often interchangable.

Third, God did not only create the world at the beginning of time, but he sustains it continually. For "in Him all things consist." Some have the idea that creation is like a watch: God wound it up at the beginnning, and it's been running on it's own spring ever since. Not so, for God holds the universe together continually. He is the cause of our existence, both at our birth and right now.

Fourth, Marcia is correct in that the idea of human souls 'emanating' from God is not a biblical concept. This is a form of pantheism.

Fifth, in the bible humans are always presented as unified. Yes, we have parts, such as a body and soul/spirit, but the parts are unified, and never presented as complete in themselves. We are creatures with a body & spirit, neither of which will exist in eternity without the other. We are not "Casper the friendly ghost" temporarily living in a body.....

Sixth, there is another thread about mortality & immortality. That thread has verses listed that shows that the very, very clear biblical position is that only God is immortal.

Therefore, since God creates and sustains us constantly, we did not evolve by chance from goo, nor did we emanate from God (we are sinful through and through), nor did we generate ourselves on our own steam. We were created by God.

For we are "fearfully and wonderfully made." But we are made. Creationism.

[ October 03, 2005, 03:49 PM: Message edited by: Humblesmith ]