Which part of us the soul is?

magiani

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I wonder which part of us the soul is.

I believe we have many parts. Everyone has ego(or free will), child, critics and there are also other parts of us and we have our experiences during our life, we have our mind and feelings.
We have also the spirit that is given from above and can be more or less(I believe its pure energy) but the soul is something else. I wonder what is the soul? Does anyone has some insight on this?
 

HTacianas

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I wonder which part of us the soul is.

I believe we have many parts. Everyone has ego(or free will), child, critics and there are also other parts of us and we have our experiences during our life, we have our mind and feelings.
We have also the spirit that is given from above and can be more or less(I believe its pure energy) but the soul is something else. I wonder what is the soul? Does anyone has some insight on this?

You're likely to get any number of answers to your question, all would be more philosophical than scientific.

I read once a commentary about the soul that I accept though I don't remember who it was that said it, and I've expanded on it to myself so I don't remember where that opinion ends and where mine begins.

All sentient beings have a soul and it can be recognized through personality. Just as a person has a soul with its own personality, a dog has a soul. The soul itself can be changed or molded through training or education, or by imitation of others, or even by abuse. I sometimes ponder what form of matter the soul is but there's really no answer to that question.

You mention also a spirit separate from the soul. That is what separates mankind from animals. The spirit reaches out to God and listens and obeys. The soul itself is more animalistic and carnal. Those who follow the soul rather than the spirit are those described by 2 Peter 2:10-20.
 
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Aussie Pete

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I wonder which part of us the soul is.

I believe we have many parts. Everyone has ego(or free will), child, critics and there are also other parts of us and we have our experiences during our life, we have our mind and feelings.
We have also the spirit that is given from above and can be more or less(I believe its pure energy) but the soul is something else. I wonder what is the soul? Does anyone has some insight on this?
The soul is made up primarily of mind, emotion and will. It is the organ of expression - as Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord..." The soul is governed in the unbeliever by self will which is driven by the life that is in the soul.

Adam had natural life. He never received spiritual life because he ate from the wrong tree. The natural life is what motivates the unsaved. It is tied to the world system and so is effectively controlled by Satan (12 John 5:19).

The spirit is the vessel that was supposed to contain the life of God as represented by the Tree of Life. When Adam disobeyed, he was evicted from Eden and access to the tree of life was forbidden. The spirit of man is dead to God. So fallen man has no choice but to live from the soul - reason, logic, feelings and self-will. We know how good that's turned out to be.

To be born again is to receive a new, live spirit where Lord Jesus can live. God's intent is that we are governed by our spirit (which is conscience, communion and intuition). Our spirit man receives communication from the Lord Jesus. If we are consecrated fully, we choose to live according to the prompting in our spirit man. This requires the cooperation of the will. Will decides according to desire. I our desire is of self, we will be ruled by self and our Christian life will be failure and defeat. If we follow the desires that God places in our spirit man, we will live in victory, with love, joy and peace. Christians usually start out living from the soul. Some never break free of the selfish desires and selfish ambitions in the soul. Others begin to exchange the life in the soul for the life in the spirit.

Many Christians are like the rich young ruler. They have too much to lose to give up all for the sake of the Kingdom. Yet nothing in this life makes it to the next. How much better to live for Christ now while we have the opportunity.

This link will help you: What are we as Body, Soul and Spirit? - Christian Life Frankston
 
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Andrewn

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I wonder what is the soul? Does anyone has some insight on this?
Since you post this question in the Christian Forums, I assume you mean to ask "What is the soul in the Bible?"

The word that Greek philosophers used to talk about the "soul" is "psyche." Unfortunately this Greek word was used in the LXX to translate Hebrew "nefesh," which is not really the "soul" in the Greek sense. The NT, which is written in Greek, uses the word "psyche" occasionally meaning "nefesh" and other times meaning "soul."

So, what is the "soul" in Christianity? The following article attempts to give an answer that may be a suitable basis for discussion:

Soul - Wikipedia
 
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eleos1954

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I wonder which part of us the soul is.

I believe we have many parts. Everyone has ego(or free will), child, critics and there are also other parts of us and we have our experiences during our life, we have our mind and feelings.
We have also the spirit that is given from above and can be more or less(I believe its pure energy) but the soul is something else. I wonder what is the soul? Does anyone has some insight on this?

(I believe its pure energy)

This is correct ... it is the breath of life (energy given from God).

A "soul" is not something we possess, rather it is what we are ... not something separate from us .... the soul is a person.

Scripture gives us a simple equation for understanding the nature of humans:
Body (dust of the ground; the earth's elements) plus
Breath of life ("spirit" of life from God) equals
A living person (a soul).

Nowhere does the Bible speak of the soul as an immortal entity capable of living apart from our body. Neither does it speak of the spirit as an entity which can exist independent of our physical nature. We are not made of independent parts temporarily connected, but of body, soul and spirit (breath of life) in one indivisible whole.

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word ruach occurs 377 times and is translated "wind ... .. breath," or "spirit" (Gen. 8: 1), "life principle" (Gen. 6:17; 7:22), "courage" (Josh. 2:11), "vitality" or "strength" (Judg. 15:19), "disposition" (Isa. 54:6), and "moral character" (Ezek. 11:19).

The "spirit" or "breath" of a person is identical with the "spirit" or "breath" of animals (Eccles. 3:19). This "spirit" or "breath" of a person returns to God at the time of death, and the body returns to the dust where it came from (Job 34:14; Eccles. 12:7). It is also translated "Spirit of God" (Isa. 63:10). In the New Testament the Greek word pneuma is similarly translated as "spirit" or "to breathe." It is also translated as ,"mood," "attitude," or "state of feeling" (Rom. 8:15; 1 Cor. 4:21; 2 Tim. 1:7; 1 John 4:6). Like ruach, it is sometimes translated "Spirit of God" (1 Cor. 2:11, 14; Eph. 4:30; Heb. 2:4; 1 Pet. 1:12; 2 Pet. 1:21).

Neither in the Old Testament nor the New Testament does ruach or pneuma refer to an intelligent entity capable of existence apart from the body

There is nothing immortal about us ... we receive immortality when Jesus returns.
 
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RaymondG

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I've always thought the soul is the embodiment of all of our thoughts memories, knowledge, beliefs etc.... And the spirit is the one that views and notices that thoughts beliefs etc.... The spirit is the eternal I AM, that never dies.

Therefore the soul grows and learns and changes....it is our personality and the shades for which we view the world.

The spirit, is the one who can decide to take off the shades, notices two beliefs and decide to follow one and disregard the other, etc...

Therefore, the soul of a child....is a clean house.......one in which the spirit can move through freely.... As we get older and gain more beliefs and knowledge, we fill up this house.....and evict the spirit.....
 
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Andrewn

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Nowhere does the Bible speak of the soul as an immortal entity capable of living apart from our body. Neither does it speak of the spirit as an entity which can exist independent of our physical nature. We are not made of independent parts temporarily connected, but of body, soul and spirit (breath of life) in one indivisible whole.
This and the rest of your post show SDA and JW beliefs that are incompatible with Christianity.
 
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Andrewn

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The spirit is the eternal I AM, that never dies.

As we get older and gain more beliefs and knowledge, we fill up this house.....and evict the spirit.....
I don't know what kind of philosophy this is but it's not Christian. Is it Hinduism? @Aussie Pete provided a good description of the relationship between soul and spirit.
 
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RaymondG

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I don't know what kind of philosophy this is but it's not Christian. Is it Hinduism? @Aussie Pete provided a good description of the relationship between soul and spirit.
Thanks for your words....are they gnostic....or new aged maybe? Cause they sure dont sound Christian.....

Ok, Now that I've tried a taste....I dont like it.....it doesnt make me feel better about myself......therefore I i will pass from now on.

But I find no fault in you continuing to make such statements, if they benefit you in anyway.
 
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Andrewn

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You were alive before you were born.......and after death, you will become what you were before you became who you are now. If who you are now is all you remain in this life, you will have no knowledge of who you really are, and who you really are will have no knowledge of who you are now.....because you are not who you think you are.... therefore you essentially die, never to rise again......but not really. Pretty simple, wouldnt you say?
I thought Gnosticism wasn't allowed in the CF?
 
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magiani

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I thought Gnosticism wasn't allowed in the CF?
It will be helpful if you share with us your believe in what soul is and how one can find it in oneself and others? Do you know if there is something useful in the scripts or maybe a christian philosophy that you know?
 
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Andrewn

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It will be helpful if you share with us your believe in what soul is and how one can find it in oneself and others? Do you know if there is something useful in the scripts or maybe a christian philosophy that you know?
The NT teaches that the soul is eternal. Beside this, it doesn't have clear teaching on what the soul is composed of. I say this with openness to being corrected.

In Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, there are 4 cognitive processes that constitute the mind and the NT talks about them:

1) Volition (or will).
2) Affect (feeling or emotion).
3) Motivation (goals and expectation).
4) Cognition (thinking).

The Lord Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your kardia, with all your psyche, with all your dianoia, and with all your ischys." Mar 12:30.

In Christianity, you can have one of 2 views: either 1) that these cognitive processes constitute the soul and that the spirit is separate (trichotomy); or 2) that the soul includes both the spirit and the mind (dichotomy).

@Aussie Pete is a tricholtomist and he has quoted a useful article. Our difference in opinion is probably minor.
 
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eleos1954

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This and the rest of your post show SDA and JW beliefs that are incompatible with Christianity.

According to Genesis 2:7 God did not make a body and put a soul into it like a letter into an envelope of dust; rather he formed man's body from the dust, then, by breathing divine breath into it, he made the body of dust live, i.e. the dust did not embody a soul, but it became a soul—a whole creature.

We are not immortal .... nothing about us is immortal. We receive immortality when Jesus returns.

Daniel 12:2
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

1 Corinthians 15:51-58
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” ...

The concept of the soul’s supposed immortality was first taught in ancient Egypt and Babylon. “The belief that the soul continues in existence after the dissolution of the body is…speculation…nowhere expressly taught in Holy Scripture…The belief in the immortality of the soul came to the Jews from contact with Greek thought and chiefly through the philosophy of Plato, its principal exponent, who was led to it through Orphic and Eleusinian mysteries in which Babylonian and Egyptian views were strangely blended”
 
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Andrewn

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According to Genesis 2:7 God did not make a body and put a soul into it like a letter into an envelope of dust; rather he formed man's body from the dust, then, by breathing divine breath into it, he made the body of dust live, i.e. the dust did not embody a soul, but it became a soul—a whole creature.

We are not immortal .... nothing about us is immortal. We receive immortality when Jesus returns.
Wrong analysis and wrong conclusion.

Gen 2:7 The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

As I mentioned already, translating "nefesh" into "soul" is a mistake that none of the modern translations commit. It's rendered here with the word "being" and this is exactly what "nefesh" means.

Ask anybody who is reasonably knowledgeable about Judaism what the word neshama means and you are virtually guaranteed to get the answer of ‘soul’. Alternatively, ask what is the Jewish word for soul, and the overwhelming winner will be the word neshama. This the Hebrew word translated "breath" in the verse above.

So, God actually did make a body and put a soul / breath into it like a letter into an envelope of dust. And this is how Adam became a living being.
 
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Andrewn

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Daniel 12:2
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
This is obviously about the physical bodies that sleep in the dust of the earth.
 
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Andrewn

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1 Corinthians 15:51-58
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” ...

The concept of the soul’s supposed immortality was first taught in ancient Egypt and Babylon. “The belief that the soul continues in existence after the dissolution of the body is…speculation…nowhere expressly taught in Holy Scripture…
Your claims are not true and I'm not sure why you quote this passage. Is it bec it has the word "sleep" that you assume it's talking about soul sleep? Of course not? It's clearly about resurrection of the body.

The bottom line is the words of the Apostle Paul, "We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord."
 
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jamesbond007

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I wonder which part of us the soul is.

I believe we have many parts. Everyone has ego(or free will), child, critics and there are also other parts of us and we have our experiences during our life, we have our mind and feelings.
We have also the spirit that is given from above and can be more or less(I believe its pure energy) but the soul is something else. I wonder what is the soul? Does anyone has some insight on this?

The soul is to be separated at death according to the Bible. I think there is an immaterial part which is the personality and the material part is the life of our body that we have in this physical world.

OTOH, the life spirit is to stay with each of us forever.
 
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eleos1954

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Your claims are not true and I'm not sure why you quote this passage. Is it bec it has the word "sleep" that you assume it's talking about soul sleep? Of course not? It's clearly about resurrection of the body.

The bottom line is the words of the Apostle Paul, "We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord."

Bible says we get new bodies. Paul says would RATHER be absent from the body ... doesn't say that we ARE .... we are NOT immortal in any way .... that happens when the Lord Jesus returns and His word is very clear about that.

1st Corinthians 15:44

New Living Translation
They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies.

Paul also said ... and made it very clear ...

1 Thessalonians 4

The Return of the Lord

13Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope. 14For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.15By the word of the Lord, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep. 16For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. 17After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.

18Therefore encourage one another with these words.
 
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Andrewn

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Bible says we get new bodies. Paul says would RATHER be absent from the body ... doesn't say that we ARE .... we are NOT immortal in any way .... that happens when the Lord Jesus returns and His word is very clear about that.
2Co 5:8 and the other passages that @Tra Phull quoted for you show that the standard Christian belief is the right belief. Souls are indeed conscious after being separated from the body. Evidence has been posted in the following thread:

Soul Sleep

1st Corinthians 15:44 New Living Translation They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies.
Yes, at the resurrection we'll have spiritual bodies like the Lord's. This doesn't support your view.

Paul also said ... and made it very clear ... 1 Thessalonians 4 The Return of the Lord 13Brothers, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope.

"Sleep in death" is not in the Bible. Is this JW's translation? But even then, you can't take every incident of the word "sleep" and project on it your understanding. The body falls asleep, the soul and spirit are conscious. Do you believe people have spirits?
 
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