Learner Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 In Christian circles, there are generally two theological views of the origin of the soul (since souls haven't existed in eternity-past, but will exist into eternity-future). Souls are either: (1) each specially created directly by God at the moment of conception, (2) created via the fertilization of the egg, naturally when the moment of conception happens. In the Bible, there seems to be examples of each, but they're definitely distinct views and tied specifically to the moment of conception. The problem is, as is the situation of a pastor friend of mine, is that he has identical twin sons. Identical twins start out life as ONE fertilized egg, which very soon after splits into TWO separate fertilized eggs. So the theological problem with this is...BOTH the views listed above are contradicted. Contra #1, God didn't create two souls at the moment of conception because it was ONE fertilized egg. Contra #2, same as contra #1...ONE soul was naturally created at the moment of conception. So did the identical twins split souls? Do they have identical souls, such that if one has faith in Jesus, they'll both go to heaven? OR, whose soul is older than the other's? (I mean, I can see Christians not having a problem with this issue...but at the same time, I think it's a real problem when viewing the texts in the Bible that tie this to the moment of conception.) On a different train of thought, this question also makes me think of the question about Jesus' DNA. Now, I'm no geneticist or have taken any classes in genetics...but if God was his father and Mary his mother, did God magically create some fake male DNA so Jesus didn't just turn into Mary since that was the only DNA he'd get? I wonder if Jesus, when he was just the Son of God in heaven before he became incarnate, was talking with the Father when He was creating this male DNA, "Hey, no, make me a little taller...yeah...and how about you make me with brown hair and blue eyes...good, good." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravenstar Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 The problem I have with it that 'eternal life' is a gift from god, not something one possesses from birth. The term 'soul' in ancient hebrew is not a separate thing from the body, but a condition of a body infused with the spirit of god (breathed).. so a soul is an animated body not some nebulous thing. The early Hebrews didn't believe in eternal life as far asI understand. This is a confusion of Hebrew mythology and Egyptian.. where there were several parts of a human.. the body, the Ba and the Ka. (spirit). The "tree of life" is another anomaly here… why is there a tree of life if people are naturally immortal? I'm sick today or I'd reference the Hebrew language and such.. I believe the term I am using is ru'ach... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheSerpent Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 It gets even more complex. Embryos (zygotes? Biologists help me out here!) splitting into identical twins during the very early phase of gestation is, I'm told, more common than one might think. So as the OP wonders, whither the soul? Most of these embyros recombine into a single embyo -- known as a 'chimera' -- what happens to the second soul? Is it extinguished? If so which one? How does the Almighty decide? o___O Islam seems to have this sorted. Depending on which Islamic theological tradition one follows, Allah is thought to "breathe" the soul into the embryo/foetus/whatever at either 40 days from conception or 120 days from conception. This also makes abortion permissible by some interpretations but that matter probably wanders beyond the scope of this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
25YearsLater Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 Trying to reconcile a myth with reality is a pointless exercise. They didn't understand genetics when they wrote the myth. The myth is simply a myth. There is no underlying scientific sense you can make of it. To imagine otherwise suggests that you still believe the myth, deep down, and are searching for a way of making sense of it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted November 27, 2014 Super Moderator Share Posted November 27, 2014 It's magic. Duh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mymistake Posted November 27, 2014 Share Posted November 27, 2014 It's magic. Duh. Jesus saves. Everybody else takes 4d6 of fire damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Furball Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 Trying to reconcile a myth with reality is a pointless exercise. They didn't understand genetics when they wrote the myth. The myth is simply a myth. There is no underlying scientific sense you can make of it. To imagine otherwise suggests that you still believe the myth, deep down, and are searching for a way of making sense of it. I was gonna reply, then saw 25's reply. Solid answer friend. -end Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwc Posted December 16, 2014 Share Posted December 16, 2014 So then what's demonic possession? Isn't that some evil soul thing taking up residence where some other soul already lives? So it's not just one to a body. You can just cram lots of souls in there if you like. Then they can just duke it out for control of the body. Why some souls get to float around at will while others are trapped in bodies (even while being bullied by all these others) is beyond me. Souls get to do whatever people need them to do in order to explain the behavior of souls. mwc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator Margee Posted December 16, 2014 Moderator Share Posted December 16, 2014 I read that you don't get a soul until the minute you are born. That's why they spank you...to bring the soul forth.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Furball Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 If god breathed life into me, then wouldn't i already have eternal life? If god took away eternal life after i sinned then wouldn't i be dead? -whatevs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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