What is a "soul?"

[David1701]

21 hours ago, Josheb said:

Same question I asked others: If the soul is the intersection of body and soul, as some have stated, does God then have a body?

I would not say that the soul is the intersection of body and soul, which does not seem to make sense.  How can the soul be the intersection of itself and something else?

If the soul is man's thinking and emotions, then it would be affected by his body and his spirit, including the interaction of both with the environment in which he lives.  This cannot be the case with God, who is immutable.

As for whether or not God has a body (not referring to the second Person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, who clearly has a body): I'm not sure that I can answer that question.  There are places in the Bible, which speak of God as having body parts (outstretched arm, etc.); but are these to be taken literally?  In many cases, I think not.  These expressions are probably mainly accommodations to our experience and thinking, using figurative language.

Another issue is God's omnipresence.  How does this work, if God has a body?  Is it like Jesus, being in a body, but, simultaneously, able to be everywhere at once, in spirit?  Maybe, but I'm uncertain.

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Christian doctrine has long held the does not (although both the incarnation and the premise no one can look upon Him and live would seem to indicate otherwise (did you catch that last part @Frits?) If the soul is the intersection of the spirit and soul and God has no body how then can He have a soul (yet clearly, as Frits has shown us, God claims Himself to have a soul). Is His soul a product of Spirit and body? Are we then to argue God's constituent elements can be separated they way some here have argued the human body, soul, and spirit can be separated? 

Our bodies are mortal, which is why the spirit/soul can be separated from them.  God is entirely immortal, so I do not see how separation could happen, if God has a body.

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Assuming these inquiries are answered in a consistent manner it would appear we can readily discard the classic tripartite model without injury to conscience or disobedience to God's word and rethink (pun intended ) that paradigm. While useful, the tripartite model proves too inconsistent with the whole of scripture. 

I'm not convinced.

[Frits]

50 minutes ago, Alive said:

OK---show me where in scripture it says that eternal life exists outside of Christ. I can cite many that say that eternal life is for those 'In Christ'.

You say it exactly right, eternal LIFE is only in the Lord Jesus Christ.  But an eternal condemnation in the lake of fire also exists. For the person condemned to the lake of fire in the final judgment, this obviously does not mean relaxed life or joy because of the term "eternal", but this indicates the "wailing and gnashing of teeth," thus misery and horror.
Eternity denotes to both situations;  the life that the Lord Jesus gives is eternal, but the horror because a man finally rejects Him is also eternal.

"And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." (Dan.12:2)

and:

"Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power" (2Th.1:9)

[Alive]

3 minutes ago, Frits said:

You say it exactly right, eternal LIFE is only in the Lord Jesus Christ.  But an eternal condemnation in the lake of fire also exists. For the person condemned to the lake of fire in the final judgment, this obviously does not mean relaxed life or joy because of the term "eternal", but this indicates the "wailing and gnashing of teeth," thus misery and horror.
Eternity denotes to both situations;  the life that the Lord Jesus gives is eternal, but the horror because a man finally rejects Him is also eternal.

"And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt." (Dan.12:2)

and:

"Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power" (2Th.1:9)

OK then--so think about this for a minute. What kind of life sustains an individual outside of Christ (eternal life)? What is it called, from where is it derived and what is its nature?

We agree that the only eternal Life is Christ Himself and we that are in Him have been gifted with that Life = Christ.

Show me scripture that says there is eternal life besides Christ.

There are tons of scriptures and the whole of the bible that clearly talks about death and destruction--its overwhelming.

If ya don't eat of the tree of Life--ya get to die after judgement.

Show me another kind of eternal life that isn't God Life.

[Frits]

57 minutes ago, Josheb said:

Prove that claim, please. 

 

The cessation of existence has plenty of meaning and is quite punitive. Some might well argue conscious agony is preferred to nothingness. 

This 'claim', if you call it, does not require additional proof. I do know that many criminals would like to disappear into 'nowhere', when they hear their punishment. But that's not possible for them, they must undergo.

[Frits]

6 minutes ago, Alive said:

Show me scripture that says there is eternal life besides Christ.

I have never said anywhere that there would be Eternal Life outside of the Lord Jesus Christ.  How do you get there?

 This discussion is about the aspect that the soul will experience "eternally", whether life or destruction.

[Alive]

3 minutes ago, Frits said:

I have never said anywhere that there would be Eternal Life outside of the Lord Jesus Christ.  How do you get there?

 This discussion is about the aspect that the soul will experience "eternally", whether life or destruction.

In my view--ya can't have it both ways. Right? Destruction is an eternal punishment, because there is no way back from it. Are we communicating?

In the end even death itself is destroyed.

Your position seems to be saying that 'destruction' is sustained for eternity. What kind of life is responsible for that? Seeing that there is only one kind of 'eternal life' and that Life is Christ. This is not rationally or logically sustainable.

If you have never been faced with this thinking before---do think about it for a while.

I know mechanically, what will sustain me for eternity. What will sustain the dead/destroyed?

[Alive]

I was waiting for fire and burning to come up as the next phase of the conversation.

Ya jumped the gun!

LOL

Just kidding. No gun was jumped.

[Alive]

Just now, Josheb said:

My bad. I was nodding my head as I wrote it because it's gonna cause an enormous digression. Might be easier to link the poster to the recent op on the topic. Want me to delete the post? 

Nah...its inevitable and profitable. The same logic is extant.

[Alive]

Gotta take a break--wife home soon.

Will leave it open and check in in a bit.

[Charlie744]

57 minutes ago, Josheb said:

My bad. I was nodding my head as I wrote it because it's gonna cause an enormous digression. Might be easier to link the poster to the recent op on the topic. Want me to delete the post? 

Sorry, you can’t delete a post.. they are eternal. They will be with us forever- some to everlasting enjoyment, some to everlasting destruction! Charlie