Why plants have no soul

Tjufsen

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People wonder a bit about it then, whether plants have souls or not, they kind of do, but to explain a bit better then, everything that exists in our universe consists of energy, that's why you can set fire on rocks even with enough heat, but this energy is not directly dead, it lives a little, so when everything was just a sun in the beginning, the pressure and gravity inside it made matter to be shaped, it is actually solidified energy , it is kept going a little by the fact that it is constantly supplied with energy, otherwise it would have just solidified completely into stone, all matter then, but plants are really this energy then, which lives a little, a little that radiates from the earth, man has is a more evolved soul and a body to walk in, so that's why plants are a little different, they're more this energy around them, so they live, absolutely, just a little different than animals, and humans, we have more of a body to walk around in, move the soul around in, but everything lives around us, precisely because this energy lives a bit, that's why we don't just walk around dead too, without this energy that the sun, and so on, consists of, then we'd just be walking around, dead, and not really feeling alive, more like a robot then, but we feel real, and senses, so do plants, they are a slightly purer form of life, more like energy in its purity, humans are a lot weirder because we are more intelligent, but not necessarily better at behave, it's a bit because we're quite new too, plants, and animals, have lived much longer, they're wiser you could say, but they've always been kinder then, but I think maybe we humans will get there one day too, with that in mind, did god create this first energy, the first sun?
 

DialecticSkeptic

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Did God create this first energy, the first sun?

Please explain how this question relates to the thread topic, “Why plants have no soul.” I would like to respond, but I’ll need to know how these two things relate before I do.
 
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BobRyan

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People wonder a bit about it then, whether plants have souls or not, they kind of do, but to explain a bit better then, everything that exists in our universe consists of energy, that's why you can set fire on rocks even with enough heat, but this energy is not directly dead, it lives a little, so when everything was just a sun in the beginning, the pressure and gravity inside it made matter to be shaped, it is actually solidified energy , it is kept going a little by the fact that it is constantly supplied with energy, otherwise it would have just solidified completely into stone, all matter then, but plants are really this energy then, which lives a little, a little that radiates from the earth, man has is a more evolved soul and a body to walk in, so that's why plants are a little different, they're more this energy around them, so they live, absolutely, just a little different than animals, and humans, we have more of a body to walk around in, move the soul around in, but everything lives around us, precisely because this energy lives a bit, that's why we don't just walk around dead too, without this energy that the sun, and so on, consists of, then we'd just be walking around, dead, and not really feeling alive, more like a robot then, but we feel real, and senses, so do plants, they are a slightly purer form of life, more like energy in its purity, humans are a lot weirder because we are more intelligent, but not necessarily better at behave, it's a bit because we're quite new too, plants, and animals, have lived much longer, they're wiser you could say, but they've always been kinder then, but I think maybe we humans will get there one day too, with that in mind, did god create this first energy, the first sun?
The Bible says in Genesis 1 that on earth - plants were created on day 3 and humans on day 6 where each day consisted of exactly one "evening and morning" as planet earth rotates in the presence of a light source on one side. So plants were only around for less than 72 hours more than humans.

Ex 20:11 says that the days in Gen 2:1-3 were the same length of time as the days at Sinai.

Matt 10:28 says "do not fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul, rather fear Him who is able to destroy BOTH in fiery hell".

Souls survive death in a dormant state in the case of humans. In that context the term soul has no meaning at all for plants.

But the breath of life is in all living things.
 
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ViaCrucis

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The definition of the word soul is "the principle that animates a living body". Everything that is alive has a soul. A living plant, by definition, is alive, and therefore, by definition, has a soul

This.

Just to add to the above:
The "soul" isn't some kind of ghost floating inside of us. It is the animating principle, what makes distinct a dead corpse from a living creature.

When we speak of the human soul, we are speaking of a unique "kind" of soul, the soul of a rational creature, a human being, a person with emotions, moral responsibility, and consciousness. So while plants have a soul, that doesn't mean the same thing as saying a human being has a soul. It's literally the difference between the vegetative life which plants have, they make chlorophyll, they convert sunlight into food through photosynthesis, they absorb nitrogen through the soil, they bear seeds, reproduce, etc. A human person is a vastly different kind thing--a rational creature, not only a thinking, moving creature; but a creature with will, consciousness, awareness, and so on.

I'm only adding this just so there isn't confusion due to how the word "soul" is often popularly, but improperly by Christian standards, thought to mean.

-CryptoLutheran
 
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DialecticSkeptic

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The "soul" isn't some kind of ghost floating inside of us. It is the animating principle, what makes distinct a dead corpse from a living creature.

Looking at the creation account in Genesis (and its consistent picture throughout the OT), if a human person is constituted by the breath of life from God and dust from the ground, would not the “animating principle” be the breath of life from God? “When you send your life-giving breath, they are created” (Ps 104:30; cf. Eccl 12:7). How would you distinguish between the animating principle in this sense and in your sense?
 
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ViaCrucis

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Looking at the creation account in Genesis (and its consistent picture throughout the OT), if a human person is constituted by the breath of life from God and dust from the ground, would not the “animating principle” be the breath of life from God? “When you send your life-giving breath, they are created” (Ps 104:30; cf. Eccl 12:7). How would you distinguish between the animating principle in this sense and in your sense?

That the creation story in Genesis 2 is uniquely focused on man, but the word nephesh is used not only for human beings, but also for the animals on the 4th and 5th days of creation (Genesis 1:21 and Genesis 1:24).

While plants aren't described with nephesh, they are alive.

Historically the Church philosophized by speaking of "kinds of being", as in the great chain of being of the middle ages in the west, which spoke of the essence of things from lower orders such as minerals, plants, etc and all the way up to man, angels, and God. The concept of the soul is a difficult one. But Christian thought has, historically, conceptualized degrees of existence, from the inanimate to the vegetative to the animate to the rational. Rocks are inanimate, plants are vegetative, animals are animate, and human beings, like angels, are rational creatures. Thus the human soul is called a rational soul. This is why in the Definition of Chalcedon Jesus is said to be fully human of a rational soul and body, "rational soul" means human soul, i.e. Jesus is fully human, not in appearance but in reality (this was necessary to combat the heresy of Apollinaris who denied Christ had a human soul, but only a human body).

To speak of vegetative life as having a "soul" is only to speak of plant-life. "Soul" here isn't "spiritual" or metaphysical, but biological--plants are alive. Human beings, uniquely (as far as what has been revealed to us) bear the capacity of spiritual life of communion with God. Making the human soul, insofar as as being human means being created to be in communion with God, bear His Divine Image and Likeness, and with moral responsibility.

-CryptoLutheran
 
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jayem

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I’m not a religious person. To me, the concept of a soul is a product of the human imagination. But whether they have souls or not, plants are vitally important. Aside from being a food source, and barrier to erosion, they produce oxygen. Without which virtually all multicellular animal life cannot exist.
 
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DialecticSkeptic

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[I would distinguish between the animating principle in that sense and in my sense by point out] that the creation story in Genesis 2 is uniquely focused on man, but the word nephesh is used not only for human beings but also for the animals on the fourth and fifth days of creation. ... [snip rest]

I think you missed the focus of my question? You called the soul “the animating principle.” I countered with biblical examples showing that the breath of life from God is the animating principle, and quite literally:

“When you send your life-giving breath, they are created” (Ps 104:30; cf. Eccl 12:7).
And so I asked you: How would you distinguish between the animating principle in this sense and in your sense?
 
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SavedByGrace3

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I could suggest that the word has to do with breath. Possible that for a thing to have a soul, it has to have some sort of breath. It could also be argued that the "respiration" occurs during photosynthesis might be a form of breath.
 
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