How would you answer this?

[nebula]

My brother forwarded these questions to me - posted by someone else on a youth board he frequents - asking how I would answer. I thought it would be fun to see what others here had to say.

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"Okay! In light of my recent quietness on the board, I decided to post

something! (I know you're all just so thrilled.) Well then, after taking

my shower this morning, I started to think... when is/was the soul of

the individual person concieved? What is it like before it's concieved?

So then! Let's get some opinionated responses to these questions:

When do you think the soul is created? Why? (Please be very specific.)

What do you think it is like before the soul enters the body? (If such

applies; see first question.)

What do you think it is like to be souless and bodyless? Do you think

you float around some dark void till you're created? Or just don't

exist? Let's hear it!

Do you think the soul can be destroyed?

What exactly IS the soul? A personified apparition of energy that makes

up the entirety of a person's being? Some mystic ball of light that

magically maintains the essence of a person? A pachinko ball? Meatwad's

brain? (Aqua Teen Hunger Force--W00t!)

Finally, I'd like everyone to give REASONS for their answers, whether

it be bible of a self-explored answer. Also, do pardon my sillyness; all

the questions were serious, I just threw in a bit of humor."

~Red the Impailer

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(That's the name he goes by!)

[nebula]

Here's what I answered:

When do you think the soul is created? Why? (Please be very specific.)

I believe that what either you or I think does not change what is.

What do you think it is like before the soul enters the body? (If such applies; see first question.)

Since I have no memory before my physical body's age of three, I cannot say.

What do you think it is like to be souless and bodyless?

A spirit without a mind, will, and emotions?

Do you think you float around some dark void till you're created? Or just don't exist? Let's hear it!

My guess would be that I existed in the heart of God from eternity. Just my guess, though.

Do you think the soul can be destroyed?

I'd lean towards, "No." Reason? I believe in the "afterlife."

But again, since I haven't been there yet, I can't say for sure. I guess we'll all find out later, huh?

What exactly IS the soul? A personified apparition of energy that makes up the entirety of a person's being? Some mystic ball of light that magically maintains the essence of a person? A pachinko ball? Meatwad's brain? (Aqua Teen Hunger Force--W00t!)

I've heard "the soul" being described as a person's mind, will and emotions.

[2bba]

~Red the Impailer

When do you think the soul is created? Why? (Please be very specific.)

God does not live within time, therefore we were created in the absence of time, there is no when.

What do you think it is like before the soul enters the body? (If such

applies; see first question.)

Psalms 139:15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

There was no before. Time started for us when we entered the womb.

What do you think it is like to be souless and bodyless? Do you think

you float around some dark void till you're created? Or just don't

exist? Let's hear it!

What does a hammer or pliers think before they are forged?

They do not exist.

Do you think the soul can be destroyed?

No. That is an attribute that God has given us, immortality. If the soul could be destroyed there would be no reason for the Lake of Fire that lasts forever.

What exactly IS the soul?

I think each soul extends to the distance of God

[stevehut]

I have no idea. Never given it a moment's thought.

[Guest Calamity]

When do you think the soul is created? Why? (Please be very specific.)

I think it's created at our conception, and not before.

Gen. 2

[7] And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

What do you think it is like before the soul enters the body? (If such

applies; see first question.)

Not being Mormon or New Age, I don't believe there's a "before":

What do you think it is like to be souless and bodyless? Do you think

you float around some dark void till you're created? Or just don't

exist? Let's hear it!

Not Mormon or New Age, so I don't think there is any pre-existence of man.

I Cor. 15

[45] And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

[46] Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

Zech.12

[1] The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, saith the LORD, which stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him.

Do you think the soul can be destroyed?

If you're meaning soul, as in a general sense like most use it, no. It can't be destroyed. It remains eternally either in Heaven or hell. If you're meaning our personal personalities, they end when this earthly body dies.

What exactly IS the soul? A personified apparition of energy that makes

up the entirety of a person's being? Some mystic ball of light that

magically maintains the essence of a person?

No mysticicism (sp?) or magic involved.

Mormon thought:

The plan of the Mormon prophets goes like this "Life for you did not begin here on earth. You lived before you were born you will live on in the spirit world after your mortal life is ended." "We all once lived in the presence of God the eternal father. In the world before your were a spirit child of his. With this divine parentage, your destiny, through righteous living, is to become like your Father in Heaven and return to his presence."

I certainly believe God foreknew us, but we didn't have to "exist" for that to be true.

[Dad Ernie]

Greetings Nebula,

I started to think... when is/was the soul of the individual person concieved? What is it like before it's concieved?

I think I must start with defining the appropriate terms. A human being is a "tripartate" creature:

1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The body:

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Genesis 3:19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

The soul (nephesh):

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Ecclesiastes 2:24 There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God.

Ecclesiastes 6:2 A man to whom God hath given riches, wealth, and honour, so that he wanteth nothing for his soul of all that he desireth, yet God giveth him not power to eat thereof, but a stranger eateth it: this is vanity, and it is an evil disease.

The spirit (ruwach):

Job 32:8 But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.

Job 34:14 If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath;

Psalms 32:2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.

Proverbs 17:27 He that hath knowledge spareth his words: and a man of understanding is of an excellent spirit.

Proverbs 18:14 The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?

Proverbs 20:27 The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.

Ecclesiastes 3:21 Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

The body, is pretty obvious. It is dust, a temporary vehicle in which the "Nephesh and the "Ruwach" reside.

The soul, is what is concerned with giving the body "life" or animation. It concerns itself with just the body. A baby has a fully developed and functioning "soul". This is perhaps the best example in that it concerns itself with ONLY itself, its wants, its needs and seeks to make the body content.

The spirit, OTOH, differs in that we see that "TRUE" life, life that is open to God comes from it:

Job 33:4 The Spirit of God hath made me (THE REAL ME, NOT JUST THE BODY/SOUL), and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life (THE BODY OF DUST).

Isaiah 38:16 O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live.

John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Romans 8:10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

2 Corinthians 3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

Galatians 6:8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.

That is not to say there is NOT an evil spirit as well, because at the point life begins in the womb, the "spirit" begins to develop. How it develops and what it develops in to is dependent upon the parents' "spirit", the environment, the conditions which cause the "spirit" to develop into either an evil one or one that is attuned to God. My personal belief is that the word "heart" is often used to refer to the "spirit of a man", and I believe they can be used interchangeably, as long as we are speaking of the "spiritual heart of a man".

It is by the spirit we are able to reach into the "spiritual realm". The soul does not have this capability. It is the spirit that lifts up the soul which in turn benefits the body with either health or disease and destruction.

When do you think the soul is created? Why? (Please be very specific.)

As I have pointed out above, "At the point when life is imparted into the fertilized egg." (God determines if life is imparted)

What do you think it is like before the soul enters the body? (If such

applies; see first question.)

The soul is the "breath of God", it returns to Him upon the death of the body.

What do you think it is like to be souless and bodyless? Do you think

you float around some dark void till you're created? Or just don't exist? Let's hear it!

REAL "life" is in the "spirit" and God has prepared a place for it upon our ascension to Him.

Do you think the soul can be destroyed?

Kind of a moot question now if what I said above is true.

What exactly IS the soul? A personified apparition of energy that makes

up the entirety of a person's being? Some mystic ball of light that

magically maintains the essence of a person? A pachinko ball? Meatwad's

brain? (Aqua Teen Hunger Force--W00t!)

I believe I answered this well enough above.

Blessings,

Dad Ernie