The Soul.. does it exist?

[lupusFati]

I do like how you only selected the part of my post that supported your argument, rather than the part of where my personal beliefs lie with my own soul.

 

[spiritman]

That's a meaning it had in English when I were a lad - people would say things like, "He's a gentle soul", meaning person. Not much used that way now.


Is that 'substance' in the philosophical sense? in which case, what kind of substance is spirit, mental?

If we could see the spirit of man outside of his body we would see the real person. The body is a covering for the physical world which enables us to interact in it. The spirit of man has form and is similar in appearnace to the natural or physical man. The substance or composition of the spirit of man is eternal and ghostlike in appearance. He can pass through walls and float through the air when out of his body.

When the Bible refers to the spirit man or inner man it would include his whole being from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. Yes, the spirit man has a spirit body including head, arms, legs, etc. The spirit man has a heart just like the physical body but it's not physical matter, it's substance is spirit matter. The heart (not physical) is the location for the mind, will, and emotions. The life for the physical body is in the blood. The life for the spirit man is called in the Hebrew "nephesh" and in the Greek, "psuche". In the English it's translated as soul and life. The translators in most case used the word soul when referring to the inner life and the word life when referring to the physical life.

 

[FrumiousBandersnatch]

...The substance or composition of the spirit of man is eternal and ghostlike in appearance. He can pass through walls and float through the air when out of his body.

So, is there any explanation for how this non-physical spiritual substance, that doesn't interact with physical matter such as walls, or physical forces such as gravity, can interact with the physical body?

The implications are that if it interacts, it can be detected by those interactions (and having physical effects would seem to make it physical); and if it doesn't interact, how can there be a connection between spirit & body?

[I believe this is known as the 'Interaction Problem' in philosophical circles.]

 

[lupusFati]

I suppose that's why it's called 'super'natural. If it were just normal old natural we'd have figured this out ages ago.

 

[paulm50]

Something we can't prove we have or haven't. Something we can convince people they have and if they don't do as they're told, it can be punished.

Did the Catholic Nuns, beating children, single Mums, selling babies or killing fellow Nuns for having sex. And the Priests abusing children. Ever worry about their souls?

Did any of these worry about their souls?

Or these?

Or many other clergy, faith healers TV evangelists only in it for the money. Really consider what they were doing was wrong and would jeopardise their soul? And that for me has always been the problem with organised religion. Even from the early days with Moses telling the Israelites god told them to kill people and take their land.

Moses wanting a better future for his tribe, or god telling then to kill innocent people and steal their land? The 10 Commandments never said it didn't apply if the people suffering were Gentiles. Which is the excuse Muslims are using today in Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, etc. Only doing what Jews and Christians have done.

Did Americans worry about their souls, while killing Native Americans or enslaving a race to work on the farms, or judging a man by the colour of their skin?

 

[GrowingSmaller]

Soul is something that transcends boundaries, and quicky gets repressed.

 

[Wryetui]

Yes, the soul does exist.

 

[Near]

I'm surprised no one has brought up the doctrine of the Trinity.

Harris then posed the question, "What if one hemisphere seemingly accepted the divinity of Jesus while the other seemingly did not?" How could that affect one "soul"? I am presupposing the soul is traditionally equated with consciousness. Otherwise, if it were independent of consciousness, how could we even know we had it? How does the scenario of two apparent personhoods in one body reconcile with the idea of one soul? I say two personhoods because could we really take one as "more true" than the other?

We could say that the soul is a source of consciousness, but it is not limited to a single consciousness. For example, God who is one being, has more than one center of consciousness. God is The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. The Christian has no problem admitting the existence of multiple consciousnesses within one being.

 

[Neochristian]

The word used in the Bible is psyche, or mind.

 

[SkyWriting]

Something we can't prove we have or haven't. Something we can convince people they have and if they don't do as they're told, it can be punished.Did the Catholic Nuns, beating children, single Mums, selling babies or killing fellow Nuns for having sex. And the Priests abusing children. Ever worry about their souls?
Did any of these worry about their souls?Or these?Or many other clergy, faith healers TV evangelists only in it for the money. Really consider what they were doing was wrong and would jeopardise their soul? And that for me has always been the problem with organised religion. Even from the early days with Moses telling the Israelites god told them to kill people and take their land.
Moses wanting a better future for his tribe, or god telling then to kill innocent people and steal their land? The 10 Commandments never said it didn't apply if the people suffering were Gentiles. Which is the excuse Muslims are using today in Syria, Iraq, Nigeria, etc. Only doing what Jews and Christians have done.Did Americans worry about their souls, while killing Native Americans or enslaving a race to work on the farms, or judging a man by the colour of their skin?

Of course they did, at times. Being Sinners, it's not easy to judge our own actions.
Often we judge others actions rather than our own.