pre-existence of souls?

[arcturus88]

what are your thoughts on souls?

did they pre-exist before the physical human body (pre-existence model)and are implanted into the human at conception or are they created with the body at the time of conception (co-created model)?

i tend to go for the pre-existence model. it seems that God could place a soul into a particular life so as to allow for a particular set of tests or particular bit of learning.

 

[tecoyah]

what are your thoughts on souls?

did they pre-exist before the physical human body (pre-existence model)and are implanted into the human at conception or are they created with the body at the time of conception (co-created model)?

i tend to go for the pre-existence model. it seems that God could place a soul into a particular life so as to allow for a particular set of tests or particular bit of learning.

In my opinion, the use of the term "God" cheapens the concept of a soul....kinda takes it down a notch by extension.

Might be we are energy beings placed into a physical form for experience....who knows.

No need to make something up just because we don't understand it.

 

[arcturus88]

In my opinion, the use of the term "God" cheapens the concept of a soul....kinda takes it down a notch by extension.

Might be we are energy beings placed into a physical form for experience....who knows.

No need to make something up just because we don't understand it.

i guess i dont get why that would cheapen it?

if you zoom in on a lone cell, you can obtain some specific observable knowledge about that cell.

However, if you zoom out and see how it interacts with other cells and how it is even a part of a larger body, this may give you additional, broader and even more useable knowledge.

 

[tecoyah]

i guess i dont get why that would cheapen it?

if you zoom in on a lone cell, you can obtain some specific observable knowledge about that cell.

However, if you zoom out and see how it interacts with other cells and how it is even a part of a larger body, this may give you additional, broader and even more useable knowledge.

Very true, I suppose I do not quite understand how that tries into the concept of "Soul", or how tying it to a God helps it's study.

 

[David]

I'm of the opinion that the soul is just the results of brain activity and thus can't exist in a lower liform or before a life exist. As for whether it survives after death... Well there is serious scientific studies into out of body experiences and reincarnation (and some existing results in the latter's case). This would of course seem to contradict my previous point though I'm not convinced about out of body experiences and think reincarnation could be a sign of as yet undiscovered genetic memory in humans.

 

[Iolo]

what are your thoughts on souls?

did they pre-exist before the physical human body (pre-existence model)and are implanted into the human at conception or are they created with the body at the time of conception (co-created model)?

i tend to go for the pre-existence model. it seems that God could place a soul into a particular life so as to allow for a particular set of tests or particular bit of learning.

I never met one, anywhere, ever, and I seem to have missed out on the distribution.

 

[Road Warrior]

In my opinion, the use of the term "God" cheapens the concept of a soul....kinda takes it down a notch by extension.

Might be we are energy beings placed into a physical form for experience....who knows.

No need to make something up just because we don't understand it.

IMO, thinking of us as separate entities outside of our mortal existence makes us lesser. Instead of "souls" before and/or after dead, I look at the cycle of rain;

Water vaporizes out of the great ocean, precipitates and falls back as individual rain drops before finally rejoining great ocean. Does the raindrop cease to exist when it hits the ocean? No. Does that same raindrop reappear later? Never.

I think the same goes with what we think of as "souls". We're temporary raindrops simply enjoying a brief moment alone before rejoining all the other raindrops in the great ocean.

[YOUTUBE]Gu2pVPWGYMQ[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Road Warrior]

So abortions aren't a problem for you. Good. Me neither.

 

[tecoyah]

What I mean, is that your soul is your personality. As in "Old King Cole was a merry old soul".

In other words...God does not breath the soul into us?

 

[tecoyah]

Our DNA, along with environmental stimulus throughout our lives determine our soul.

I see the "soul", as nothing more than humankind pretending we are exceptional in the animal kingdom.....which is not needed.

The soul to me is simply self awareness, and conceit.

Yeah....we are special, the current top of the heap.

But, the idea of a soul is a pointless venture into imagined greatness.

 

[David]

The bottom line, is that the soul dies when the body dies, and therefore the soul begins when a body leaves the mother's body.

If you don't mind me asking, what religion are you? That's a pretty unorthodox view.

 

[Road Warrior]

What I mean, is that your soul is your personality. As in "Old King Cole was a merry old soul".

Partially. I think, more directly, a soul is the essence of what makes a person that particular person. Personality is only part of it. Psychologically, a child's personality isn't set until they are at least a couple of years old....if then.

Personality can be defined as set of characteristics or traits of a person

Personality Set for Life By 1st Grade, Study Suggests | LiveScience

Personality changes for the better with age

Personality Is Not Set By 30; It Can Change Throughout Life

 

[arcturus88]

Partially. I think, more directly, a soul is the essence of what makes a person that particular person. Personality is only part of it. Psychologically, a child's personality isn't set until they are at least a couple of years old....if then.

Personality can be defined as set of characteristics or traits of a person

Personality Set for Life By 1st Grade, Study Suggests | LiveScience

Personality changes for the better with age

Personality Is Not Set By 30; It Can Change Throughout Life

so its bigger than personality?

i agree. more appropriately, the personality is just one physical manifestation of the soul.

this life may simply be intended as a refinement of the soul(s).

 

[Polydectes]

To me the soul is the energy that animates the biological form. It must exist prior to the existence of the body in that case.

 

[arcturus88]

The Mormons believe in pre-existence too, but as I understand it, most Christians do not.

Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you...”

 

[Road Warrior]

what are your thoughts on souls?

did they pre-exist before the physical human body (pre-existence model)and are implanted into the human at conception or are they created with the body at the time of conception (co-created model)?

i tend to go for the pre-existence model. it seems that God could place a soul into a particular life so as to allow for a particular set of tests or particular bit of learning.

If souls pre-exist, then why is God punishing them by sending them to Earth? Doesn't that also require one to accept the idea of reincarnation?

My thoughts are the souls are grown and ascend to the higher existence of Heaven. Some are bigger (spiritually) than others when they transcend mortality.

 

[arcturus88]

If souls pre-exist, then why is God punishing them by sending them to Earth? Doesn't that also require one to accept the idea of reincarnation?

My thoughts are the souls are grown and ascend to the higher existence of Heaven. Some are bigger (spiritually) than others when they transcend mortality.

please peruse my pet theory and let me know your thoughts:

http://politicalfray.com/religion/4151-quarantine-evil.html

From the Bible, we learn that God cast out 1/3 of heaven's angels. Those that chose to follow lucifer were expelled from heaven.

But why?

I suspect that evil is a thing, a disease. A self-willed disease of sorts. It is also highly contagious and very corrosive to the being it infects (think WWZ).

As such, God quarantined evil to earth. He could not allow it to infect heaven and or the universe so he isolated it to one planet.

Then one must then wonder, why would God have souls (implanted in human bodies) reside on this planet infected with evil? That seems cruel, no?

Imagine however, that souls where in heaven at the time of lucifer's fall. souls that were developing in a kind of divine incubator. It may very well be that the souls were exposed to this evil while in this developmental stage. Angels, however, were fully developed able to rightly choose or not choose evil. Souls, on the other hand, were not yet fully developed; as such their "choice" was not a fair choice.

God had mandated that those infected with evil must be cast out and quarantined, however, what of these souls that were developing. they were exposed...but is it fair to cast them out? They were immature, not capable of real choice.

God devised a plan. He froze the souls in heaven and to let them develop on the quarantined planet where they would be able to rightfully choose evil or not. They will be placed into human bodies and as such into divinely created scenarios where the "choice" will truly be theirs.

 

[tecoyah]

Until a thing is shown to even exist any talk of "When" is not even worthy of speculation. It is fine for any individual to believe whatever they wish, but claiming it as reality for anyone else is unacceptable.

 

[Road Warrior]

please peruse my pet theory and let me know your thoughts:

http://politicalfray.com/religion/4151-quarantine-evil.html

1) The Bible, while containing a lot of ancient wisdom, also contains a lot of perceptions from relatively unsophisticated people 2000-4000 years ago.

2) If God is both all-knowing and all-powerful, then God knowingly created "evil" and there can be no doubt about the victor in a battle between good and evil.

3) I expect the vast majority of the story about Lucifer and fallen angels is apocryphal. although there is the possibility that it's a distortion of actual historical events such as fallen civilizations or the arrival of humans on the planet. This latter is intriguing, and there are tens of thousands of year gaps in our history, but has zero evidence backing it.

 

[arcturus88]

... but claiming it as reality for anyone else is unacceptable.

has this occurred on this thread?

how does one "claim a reality" for someone else?