Worthy Christian Forums -> The Substance of Man: Body, Spirit, Soul

I have been trying to understand this...



I looked at that and thought why do our soul and spirit need dividing? I see our bodies as our flesh, bone, and blood. Our Souls as our mind, will, and emotion. Our Spirits as intuition, consciousness.

I don't understand. Why do we need a division of soul and spirit? For instance, I have studied many of the mystics so the concepts of body, soul, and spirit is not a foreign one. Many paths relate to this ideal in one form or another. But, as far as I can tell, not many paths say there needs to be a dividing of soul and spirit.

If we are are whole beings, what would be the point in a division????

There are some atheists who do believe in a type of life after death. As in spirits conjured up by mediums etc.

This does not compute with me, especially if they are atheists or agnostics. How can one believe in the spiritual realm when by all accounts, their core belief system denies a Spirit - God?


Does anyone have any idea how they explain this?

I'm realizing that I don't understand the spirit part of our body, our body is our house and I know its temporary, God gave us a brain to think with, how do we connect this with our spirit part? I'm born again and therefore God filled me with the Holy Spirit who lives in me and we all know the fruits, I have Gods spirit living in me and He's there to stay, so Gods Holy Spirit lives in me , when a person gets old or goes through depression their live can show the opposite of being filled with Gods Spirit, this puzzles me because I know the Holy Spirit is with us to stay, how does our spirit part (human and Gods Spirit )work?
Our soul is our body part? And how do we deal with our brain, spirit and flesh? I know I surrendered it to Jesus and He lives through me and in me and i thank Him for the Holy Spirit, but our flesh is so often in the way....................and our brain tries to make us think wrong (can be anything) I know we need to to wear the army of God and we don't need to make this difficult to understand, but its deep don't you think if you thnk about it?


Can anybody add to this?

Remember Paul's thorn in the flesh to keep him humble?

thanks

THE Nature of Man

As anyone would know man has fallen to many sinful desires, and we know
that there is proof of this in the history of man,. the past wars and
conflicts of man has proven that our first Father Adam become a sinner
and fell from the Garden of Eden... , because he was tempted of the woman
,in which was beguiled by old Satan to eat the forbidden fruit..... Man in
turn was driven from the garden and from the presents of the lord God....
The seventh chapter of roman was written by apostle Paul, and he
described the two nature of the flesh which is the seed of Adam and how
that after he was saved and converted, from his sin, Paul describes
the nature of himself after his salvation, he tells the reader in that
chapter how that man has a vile nature and that nature come from the
fallen man and forefather Adam, he concludes that even after his
conversion and salvation , that he was still troubled with the old
natural sinful flesh is at war in his body, he explains that as long as
he follows the new spiritual man that has took up residence in his
heart and soul, that things are well and good and pure, he notes that
even when he is doing good that evil is always lurking it ugly head up
and bothering his new man which is the Christ nature..., Did you ever
wonder why we as human are always having wrong thoughts and attitudes
, well let me answer that thought and question. We know
that in our flesh there is no good thing to be desired that God would
accept as being good and pure.... . To make a long story a little short
there is nothing about the human nature that is good,.... our nature as
humans was caused by the fall of our first forefather Adam and
Eve , this is why we are in such of a state as sinful people ..., its born
right into us threw Adam and his fall in the Garden, maybe your reading
this and you would like to escape this terrible nature, well some bad
news is coming your way , as long as you live and breath you will have
the old flesh living inside the mortal body of yours, we don't have to
obey our evil fleshly desires this is true , but but know this you will have
those evil desires that are constantly trying to get you to obey our
evil desires....., the Bibles explains that if we walk in the spirit of the
lord we will not obey the flesh and therefore we will excuse that
desire and follow the pure way of the lord, but what I am trying to get
across in this article is as long as we are alive in the body , that
the fleshly man is alive with all the evil attached .. Apostle Paul was
trying to explain that there are two natures in people if a man has
been saved and forgiven, that don't mean that he has put away the fleshly
Adam nature, what it mean is that man will have to resist the old
fallen nature and obey the new man which was created in his or her
heart after being saved and born again of the spirit of God,..... Being born
again mean a birth of a new nature has happen in the soul and spirit of
man and a conversion has taken place and a new man created which is
from the lord salvation ...we know that we are never going to escape
this sinful wrenched fleshly body , unless the lord at death destroys
the old nature of Adam which we all have, the bible says that we all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God , and this is absolutely
the truth, and nothing but the truth, I have never meet anyone man or
woman that does not have sin in their lives, nor have I or never will I
meet a perfect human being and neither will you....let us conclude that
there is and escape for man and woman and this is a new nature a new
birth that can only be received threw a repentance and conversion and
salvation , which is by grace alone, we are not saved by works lest any
one should boast , but threw Grace with is truly a gift of the lord God
almighty, it is a must that you understand there is two thing in the
world and knowledge of men these are this Good and evil. The two
factors exist ... love and hate exist.... We have just touched on a few
things but these things are important for us to know and accept, Many
have fallen to unbelief and have settled their doom to and eternal
everlasting place of the dammed , a place made and designed by the lord
God for old slew foot old Satan,.... hell was never made or intended
for man but the devil and his fallen angles .. Some think this is a
fairy tale but will learn the hard way that as sure as you are alive
and reading this is as positive as that there is a hell to shun and a
heaven to gain ..some people are to stuborn to admit that there is a God,
they make fun of Christians who put their faith in Jesus Christ...they say
the Bible is a fairy tale, they are scorners and say were is the promise of
the Lord coming, since the fathers fell asleep the earth continues at it were
they hate anything that is pure or good, they have not fear of God nor are
they are not interested in the God we all have accepted ..they have chosen
the way of darkness, and have laughed at the truth to scorn the very creator
of all things, for them there is no excuse , because there vein hearts are without
understanding because they refused to retain God in their knowledge..God has
given them over to reprobate mind to believe a lie and be damed...note man that
has commited himself to unbelief has chosen this, no one but himself is to be blamed.
he or she made up their own minds..because God has set two tables before man ..the
table of good and the table of evil and told man to chose which table that you will eat
from..so we conclude that choise is up to each person....

The Gospel and God's Salvation is not for you IF YOU ARE SINLESS!

"This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." (1 Timothy 1:15)

"When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Mark 2:17)


What do you think?

PS: Merry Christmas!

The Buble states: "Di bit put your Trust in nobles, nor in the son of earthling man, to whom no salvation belongs. His [spirit] goes out, he goes [back to his ground {grave}]; in that day his thoughts do perish." [Psalm 146:3,4] At death man's spirit, his [life-force], which is sustained by breathing, "goes-out". It no longer exists. So man's senses of hearing, sight, touch, smell and taste, which depend upon his being able to think, all stop working. According to the Bible, the dead enter a state of complete unconscieousness. Think of what this means. Before God created Adam from the dust, there was no Adam. [Genesis 3:19] Adam did not exist. So, after Adam died, Adam returned to that same state of nonexistence. So the spirit is God's "Life-Force" the power of Life within each one of us.

When we are dead, both animals and humans are in this same state of complete unconsciousness. Note how the Bible makes his point: "As the one dies, so the other dies, and they all have but [one] spirit, so that there is [no] superiority of the man over the beast, for everything is vanity. All are going to one place. They have all come to be from the dust [grave], and they are all returning to the dust". [Ecclesiastes 3:91,20] So, the "spirit" that makes animals live is the same as that which makes humans live. When this "spirit" or invisible "life-force", goes out, both man and beast return to the dust from which they are made.

For the unbelievers -

I have touched on the subject of "Spirituality/Spiritualism" before but another question for you..


If we can be Spirtual beings without being created by God (from the Bible), then what purpose does having a spirit serve?

If one is an atheistic evolutionist but a believer in the spritual realm, my question is why would one possess a spirit?

If having a spirit connects one to the Spiritual realm, then why not have belief in God Who IS Spirit?

Why believe in one aspect of Spirituality/spiritual realm but not another?

I am a maturing Christian, newly saved and avout to be baptized as an adult for the 1st time. Can anyone tell me exactly what relationship the consciousness has with the soul?

If a man were lying in a coma for 5 years, and kept "alive" only by machines for all that time, where-o-where would his soul be? Trapped in the body & unconscious or in some kind of limbo?






God bless,
Gauntlet

I would appreciate hearing from anyone who is estranged from a parent, sibling or an adult child. If reconciled, what brought it about? How many of you have grandchildren who you aren't allowed to see? Do reconciliations last? Do you know what actually caused the estrangement or did they just disappear or withdraw?

I am estranged from my mother and have become aware of how many families are broken, and many of them are Christian. My friend is actually making a film documentary on this topic after her two adult sons broke with the family. I'm trying to make sense of all this and would appreciate hearing your stories.

Pam

There is a war with the flesh and the spirit, as all Christians know, the Carnal mind vs. the spiritual mind. There is a constant war going on, we are set free from our sins through Jesus Christ, and walk in spirit, though we still sin, and fall short in sin, God always provides for us.

Romans 7:13-35

13 Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.
14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin.
15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do.
16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.
19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice.
20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

Now I would like to discuss,

1. the result of sin on the spirit. When we give in to temptation, what happens to our spirit?
2. Sin and it's nature, what comes of sin? and where it came from.
3. Walking in spirit, what happens when we follow God, and seek him, rather than giving into temptation, what does walking in spirit mean?

This year, I have demonstrated Agape love a few times and I have learned that it can be a painful way to love someone. I had to study to figure out why my heart can be more broken than I ever knew it could. This is what I found:

Love. It's such a simple word. And such a complex emotion. Even when we desire to love in a simple, uncomplicated way, love has a way of twisting itself back on us, catching us unawares. It's not easy to keep the different kinds of love, the different kinds of relationships, in their proper contexts. Even when we desire with our whole hearts to pursue love it is often very difficult to keep from falling in love.

Love does not like to sit still while we neatly pigeonhole it. There are an infinite number of ways we can love people, art, nature, and God. The lines may be fairly easy to see in some kinds of love, but the lines differentiating the love for a friend and the love for a lover are extraordinarily complex. The goal or result of love is not always marriage. God, judging from the way he set things up in Eden, and the way he made us physically, no doubt intends most of us to be married, but that’s not to say that loving friendships between men and women aren’t also good and right.

Sometimes our feelings fall totally on one side of the line or the other, but more often I've found the differences to be quantitative rather than qualitative. In other words, it's not the kind of love that differs so much as the degree. The deep but unromantic affection we can feel for a friend (which we may call phileo), can very easily be transformed into a compelling, dramatic, romantic love (eros) with appallingly little rhyme or reason. There doesn't seem to be a way for us to tell our hearts to switch gears, or to stop our feelings at a certain point. Our affection for a friend and our romantic love for a lover both issue from the same spring.

When someone starts discovering our spirit and heart in the pursuit of love, spends time with us, gives of himself or herself; becomes involved in our life, we sometimes can't help falling in love in the process of growing to love, even when we are pursuing love with a pure heart.

That's all right if the other person is also falling in love. But what if he isn't? What if he's still operating within the context of phileo love? With all our good intentions about pursuing love, what are we to do when eros starts to eclipse phileo in our hearts?

If we understand where our friend's heart is at, we probably don't even want the intense feelings of eros to develop, knowing that it will just make things difficult. It often makes the continuation of the friendship virtually impossible, even though we really desire to be free from the pressures of those kind of feelings and to return to the easiness and the freedom of phileo. But what on earth are we to do with those emotions?

Can we suppress them and get back to the easy relationship we used to have? Do we just stop seeing our friend because it's too painful? Do we weep and rage and get bitter because he or she made us fall in love and had no intention of following through on it? Do we just hold it all inside and try to pretend it isn't there so we don't scare him away? What do we do?

First of all, if it is true that our love is based on a quantitative rather than a qualitative foundation, to hope that we can banish eros in favor of phileo is not very realistic. Once our care has grown beyond an affection to a deeper love, how are we suddenly going to empty out some of that feeling unless we lie to ourselves? (We can do that simply by trying to make ourselves believe that we don't really care that much, or by dwelling on his or her faults and weaknesses in a way that's totally out of proportion. Needless to say, it's a very unhealthy, unloving way to solve the problem, but it's also quite common.) And the other alternative, to stop seeing each other, is certainly one way to avoid the problem, but not solve it, or grow from it, or learn whatever the Lord is trying to teach either of us through it.

A related problem enters the picture here because we're all so conditioned to the "love-and-marriage" syndrome. That is, that they're supposed to go together, especially in the Christian ethic where marriage is the only legitimate option beyond friendship. From there we have sometimes made the mistake of thinking that it is the only legitimate option for people who respect, care for, and love each other.

Instead of relaxing in the knowledge that it is perfectly possible for a man and a woman to have great respect for each other, to care deeply about each other and even to love each other without getting married, we get a mite over-anxious, perhaps, about the "Is this the one?" question. And that produces that "weirdness" which results from expectations — expectations of having the relationship lead somewhere, of being loved, of being fulfilled, of being cherished and cared for in a special way. These expectations rob a relationship of spontaneity and unselfconsciousness; they make us terribly preoccupied with ourselves and an imagined, even planned — for — future; they rob us of the freedom to enjoy each other with true agape love. And as soon as expectations start taking over our minds, the pursuit of love is doomed, because at that point we are no longer seeking the other person's total good, but seeking our own satisfaction. (1 am talking here about expectations which arise out of one's own selfish desires-in spite of communication between the two and the tenor of their relationship. If one of them is leading the other on, however, or being less than honest and straightforward about his or her feelings and intentions, that is another situation entirely.)

The key to the solution of this problem lies not in our fighting the fact that we love someone, not in trying to love less in order to get back to phileo but in trying to love more, to get beyond eros to agape, the kind of love the Lord has for us. The exciting and beautiful thing about agape love is finding out that you truly can love someone very deeply and yet allow him complete freedom to respond to you in whatever way God leads him to respond.

This type of relationship demands a kind of freedom that is impossible when we are bound by expectations. It requires a love that isn't concerned with the fulfillment of our own ends. This in turn requires trusting God to fulfill those needs.

The goal or result of love is not always marriage. God, judging from the way he set things up in Eden, and the way he made us physically, no doubt intends most of us to be married, but that's not to say that loving friendships between men and women aren't also good and right. We don't love just one person during our lives; we love many, in varying degrees and in many ways. Love is not a rein sum game in which the more we love one the less we can love others. Rather, the more we learn how to love one the more we are able to love others.

We need to legitimize love between men and women who don't feel the Lord is leading them into marriage. (I am definitely not using love here to include sexual love.) We need to understand that it is all right to love a friend. Such friends often help to fill those deep needs for love and affection before we do find that one person we'd like to marry. And that's OK. That's what we're here for — to help each other out, to love each other as Christ loves us.

But this type of relationship demands a kind of freedom that is impossible when we are bound by expectations. It requires a love that isn't concerned with the fulfillment of our own ends. This in turn requires trusting God to fulfill those needs.

What it comes down to, then, is, first of all, how much do we really love that person? Do we love to the point that we want him to be part of our life, that we need him in order to be fulfilled and happy? Or do we love him enough that we want him to be happy, even if it means without us? Do we love him so much that we think we'll die without him? Whose interests are we seeking to serve — his or ours? How much do we really love him? Enough to pray that God would send him the right woman to be his mate, even if it might turn out to he someone else? Enough to put concern for his happiness above our concern to have our own needs fulfilled? Isn't that what Jesus would do?

And what kind of love is it, really? Is it the love that bubbles forth from a full vessel, a vessel overflowing with the love which pours through us from the Lord? Or is it a result of our own lack of spiritual fruit, so that we look to someone else to give us love, joy, and peace, rather than looking to God? If it's that kind of love we won't be able to truly pray for our friend's complete happiness — we'll be too concerned for our own. That kind of love is born not only of a lack within ourselves but of a lack of trust in God.

So the next concern is, how much do we trust God? Do we really trust him to supply all our needs? Do we trust his love for us and his knowledge of what the absolute best is for us, as well as for the one we love?

To the degree that we trust God and allow him to direct our lives and our relationships, we can be free from the leech of expectations and free to let the Lord love that person through us. And the degree to which we yield ourselves as vessels, allowing him to fill us with his life and his love, allowing him to transform us into his likeness — to that degree, and that degree only, will we be able to love with true agape love.

And if we can trust him, if we can yield, we can then pray wholeheartedly for our friend's happiness, secure in the knowledge that God is going to fulfill all our needs (not necessarily all our wants), and we don't have to depend on a person to do it. We can say with our whole being, "I love you, and there are no strings. I just want to be around to support you in whatever way you and the Lord want me to. I want to pray for you, share your burdens and be involved in your life because I love you, but I'm not expecting anything from you. I simply and truly want to see you happy and fulfilled." That is the pursuit of agape love. That is serving rather than being served, and loving rather than being loved.

In Gods love Tina

From the beginning Satan found the weak link, to be his stronghold. Just as he beguiled Eve into sin, he
continues to use the same tactics today, with growing intensity. Does anyone feel that by the action of agreeing, and
taking from the forbidden tree, that the world's conscience evolved chaoitically?


Gen 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou
eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Gen 3:4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:


1. The serpent caused Eve to be unfaithful to Adam.
2. The serpent caused Eve to curse and disobey God.
3. The serpent brougt evil to the world.
4. The serpent smote Job with boils when he listened to God.
5. The serpent used the loving kindness of God against Adam and
Eve, because God provided the other fruit for nourshment.

The Serpent perverted the Word of God, and sin has continued to evolve on the course with what
Satan had planned. Being of the Holy Spirit, how then can we blame God for our troubles?

God's love and forgiveness had to follow behind our disobedience, and Satan's influence.

God Bless Jesus Christ for the Remission of sins.


Everlasting
Bible Inspired Author
Moon Over Key Biscayne

[indent][/indent]Questions of the Heart...

How could my heart be conformed to the heart of our lord Jesus? Can a
man be so near to God that the world don't matter no more...could all
my troubles be given to the lord that my cares be none? Could my heart
be filled with love ever moment I live and breath the earthly air?
Could I stand as and honorable Christian not to be seen as a proud man
but a Godly man not of this world lust? Could I kneel at the bed of a
sick friend and pray that God will heal my sick friend? Could I always
see others needs instead of my own and pray to their end and not mine
?Could I love my enemy as you love your enemies dear lord ? Could my
bitter heart be made sweet with thy Holy spirit that God gives all men
who asked for it freely ? Could I talk to you lord at any given hour
and pray for things that my life needs ? Could I tell others about your
love for them that I might win souls for Jesus Christ heavenly kingdom?
Oh lord tell me what I can do to have a heart like unto your heart oh
lord Jesus Christ? Take my heart lord and use my life that I might lead
others to know your love and your mercy and forgiveness.. Make me like
the potter does the clay and form me to be yours lord threw and
threw...let me sing the songs of grace in thy house.. Let me lift my
hands to the holy and pure and loving God and only true God .. Let
shame never find me that I have failed to keep thy commandants.. Help
me lord to do all the above task in earnest and in truth ...I pray for
this to be read and help some bother and sister to think what we all
should desire to be in Christ.. Knowing already that my prayer will be
fully answered ..I ask a special blessing for any brother or sister
in Christ that read this that they may have Gods full blessing applied
to each hearts

Do you believe that the thoughts of a sinful nature is enough to damn you to hell?