The Hebrew word "Nephesh" is used for animals and man so animals have "Souls"?

Question

dickn2000
Sorry Folks but it appears dickn2000 has Biblical Tourette Syndrome and can't help himself......... let us all pray for his speedy recovery 8-)

Sassy, sure nuf is LOL

Answer 1

I think this will answer your question.

One of the most controversial subjects of this century for Bible-believing Christians has been creation. Proponents of the historical Christian belief of the young earth have fought to defend their position against atheistic evolutionists, theistic evolutionists, and even progressive creationists. While the debate with atheists centers on thermodynamic principles, the controversy within the Christian realm focuses on what really happened before the Fall of man. The question is whether there were millions of years of death and suffering before Adam and Eve sinned or whether there was no death before their sin. The evidence in the Bible and from science shows that humans and animals did not die before the Fall brought sin into the world.

Why is the question of death before sin important? Why should we spend time thinking about an obscure doctrinal point? The reason is that we need to understand life before the Fall to understand our present position before God. The answers to the questions of why we need a Savior and why Jesus had to die to save us are dependent on our view of what actually happened at the Fall (Davis 48). Another reason the whole creation issue is important is that Christians should work together to defend the Bible from its very first chapter. If Christians are divided between themselves on the first few chapters of Genesis, secular evolutionists will go unopposed in their beliefs and the truth of the rest of the Bible will be compromised. Thus a recognition of whether humans and animals died before sin appeared is extremely important to the rest of the Bible and the Gospel.

To understand why humans and animals did not die before sin it is necessary to be aware of the meaning of the key terms. For example, what is life? Physically, life is when a highly organized collection of molecules performs functions such as motion, growth, reproduction, and response to stimuli ("Life" Webster). This definition applies both to plants and animals. However, the Biblical definition goes further in that it makes a distinction between plants and animals. The Bible does not speak of plants as "living", but it uses three words to describe the life of humans and animals: chayyah, ruach, and nepesh (Van Bebber 45). Nepesh is the most common word used, and it literally means "breath." By implication it means the soul or totality of being of the animal ("Nepesh" 587-90). Nepesh thus refers to consciousness in some form; animals with nepesh are at least somewhat sentient. It is also linked with the blood as the life principle, as in Leviticus 17:11. The final distinction the Bible provides is between animals, who are merely conscious, and humans, who were made "in the image of God." (Genesis 1:26)

When discussing whether plants or animals died before the Fall, where do we draw the line between plants and animals? If we propose that deer did not die before the Fall while flowers did, the question would arise: "What about bacteria or plankton?" Did tiny specimens of what we today would call "life" have the nepesh "life principle," or not? The answer is that God’s classification system is different than ours, and we cannot know exactly where the line was. We can be sure the line was there, however, because of the Biblical prominence of the nepesh distinction.

After understanding "life," we look at death. Death is simply the cessation of life, whatever type the life is. For animals, consciousness is annihilated, whereas for humans, the soul goes either to live with God or to live without God for eternity. As Ecclesiastes 3:21 says, "The breath of man ascends upward and the breath of the beast descends downward to the earth…"

Having defined life and death, we can look into the main question: "How do we know that there was no death before sin?" The first reason we can know this is because death is not "very good." After God finished creating the earth and all its contents, the Bible records: "God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good." (Genesis 1:31) The Hebrew word for "good" is tob, and means absolute good as compared to God’s holiness. God would not have been able to say this if there was death either of humans or animals in the newly created world (Shackleford 11). The first issue is whether humans died before sin. We see from the Bible that human death is firmly linked to sin. 1 Corinthians 15:22 says, "For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive." Thus the death all descendants of Adam today experience was initiated and caused by Adam in the same way that all Christians experience the new life procured for them by Christ (Lubenow 224). Another verse that points this out clearly is Romans 5:12: "Therefore… through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned…." These verses show that human death entered as a result of Adam’s sin.

Furthermore, as Dr. Lubenow writes, "Physical death is a curse (Genesis 3) and an enemy (1 Corinthians 15:26)…" (224). God’s proclamation that the Creation was "very good" precludes the existence of such a "curse" and "enemy." Again, in Ezekiel 33:11 God clearly states: "I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked." Some who say that humans (presumably other than Adam) died before sin claim that death was a blessing from God that protected them from suffering from cancer or other illnesses later in life. This is nonsense, however, as Dr. Sarfati points out: "It’s bizarre to talk about ‘protecting’ people from cancer should they reach 500, 600, even 900, by making sure they become decrepit and die before 120!" (Sarfati 29) The fact that humans did not die before sin entered the world rules out the existence of "Pre-Adamites", or the partially evolved humans proposed by some theologians. Furthermore, God regards human sorrow as undesirable but real. In John 11:33, "When Jesus therefore saw [Mary] weeping, and the Jews who came with her, also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit, and was troubled, and said, ‘Where have you laid [Lazarus]?’ They said to Him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus wept." This passage shows how much God cares about human emotional anguish and how impossible it would be for God to call death good. Thus the Biblical evidence shows that there was no human death before Adam and Eve fell into sin, because human death was not "very good."

The next question is whether animals died before sin. What does the Scripture say about this? Romans 8:18-25 says that

The anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.

The discussion of this passage hinges on what the phrases "slavery to corruption" and "futility" mean. Some scholars think that these phrases refer to the initial state of the Creation. In other words, the Creation from the beginning was groaning, suffering, and "subjected to futility" while God was pronouncing that it was all "very good." (Munday

) This is inconsistent with the meaning of "very good." (Shackleford 11) A better interpretation is that this passage is linking Man and his actions to the state of Creation. The reference to "the freedom of the glory of the children of God" means that when the children of God are eventually glorified, the Creation will finally be "set free." The allusion to being "set free" thus shows that the "slavery to corruption" was begun at the Fall and not before. The wording of the curse itself in Genesis 3 powerfully supports this (Davis 49). Along with the curses on the animal and plant kingdoms, God said to Adam, "Cursed is the ground because of you." If death and "corruption" had already been at work before Adam’s sin, this statement would make no sense. Because of this we can be certain of the meaning of Romans 8. Thus not only human death, but also animal suffering and death started after the Fall.

Some people say that animal pain and suffering consists merely of a system of chemical reactions, and the idea of animals hurting each other is not at all upsetting to God. However, Scripture argues otherwise (Morris, Trilogy 90). Proverbs 12:10 says that "A righteous man has regard for the life of his beast." This injunction is nonsense if animals’ pain is merely chemical reactions, but is pertinent if God cares for animals’ needs. Matthew 10:29 speaks of God watching over each sparrow. Job 38:41 relates how God satisfies the ravens with food when they are hungry. Scriptures such as these show that God has compassion on all His creatures, including the animals. Thus we can be sure that such a compassionate God would not create the animals for the purpose of hurting and killing one another.

Another reason we can be sure neither humans nor animals died before sin is the sacrificial system. The system is the basic theme of the whole Bible, and consists of a "covering" of blood for forgiveness of sin. The first recorded death in the Bible is in Genesis 3:21, where God killed animals to make skin clothing for Adam and Eve. He did not do this to protect them from the cold or the rain, but to symbolically cover them with blood. The covering was a legal necessity; God could not simply ignore their sin (Morris, Genesis 130). As God viewed them covered in the bloody skins, He constantly recognized that innocent animals had died for their sin. The punishment had symbolically been paid. Furthermore, He looked ahead to when His Son would come and literally take upon Himself the punishment for their sins.

To Adam and Eve, the first sacrifice must have been shocking (Morris, Genesis 130). They were suddenly made aware of the fact that there were more consequences to their sin than mere physical death, as they saw animals being killed to vicariously bear their eternal punishment. They saw the terrible seriousness of their sin; it was punishable only by death. As Hebrews 9:22 says, "All things are cleansed by blood, and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." Thus from the very beginning, the sacrifice of animals was tied to man’s sin. As Dr. Morris wrote, "The efficacy of such atoning sacrifices depended implicitly on the recognition that death was God’s judgment upon sin." (Trilogy 90) The blood of the sacrifices was to point to Christ, who would "put away sins by the sacrifice of Himself." (Hebrews 9:26) Romans 3:25 explains that "In the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed," or that Christ’s death atoned for Old Testament believers as well as New Testament believers. This was the direct fulfillment of the Genesis 3 prophecy of the Seed of the woman (Jesus Christ). Thus the sacrifice of animals was directly related to sin.

An objection that arises here is that the sacrificial system does not relate to the question of mere death before sin. Just the fact that animals were not sacrificed before sin does not prove that they did not die before sin, critics say. However, is there any link between animals dying in general and animals dying as a punishment for sin? There certainly is; if animal death is meaningless, then animal sacrifice is also meaningless. In other words, if animals were dying before the Fall, then the animal sacrifices that God instituted were not justly a "punishment" or "consequence" of anything; they were simply a natural event. They were worthless. It would not be just for God to call for a worthless recompense for sin. Logically, then, since the Bible shows us that sacrifice is extremely meaningful, any animal death is also meaningful. Thus natural animal death and sacrificial animal death are linked and both occurred as a result of the Fall. A few examples will be helpful.

In the story of Cain and Abel, each presumably were instructed by God to offer a sacrifice for their sin. In this way God would see their faith in His grace and pardon their sins. Genesis 3:3-5 recounts the story:

Cain brought an offering to the Lord of the fruit of the ground. And Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard.

On first reading this account, nothing seems wrong with Cain’s offering. Both Cain and Abel were showing faith in bringing their offerings, and both brought to the Lord offerings that they worked hard to procure. The important factor, however, brought out by the broad context, is that Abel brought an animal sacrifice while Cain only brought a plant sacrifice. Since God distinguishes between plant death and animal death, only the animal sacrifice was acceptable. Cain’s sacrifice did not fit with God’s plan. In Leviticus 17:11, while specifying to Israel His plan of sacrifice, God says that "The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement." The plants that Cain brought did not contain the "life" (nephesh, signified by blood) that made the atonement, and thus they were not suitable for sacrifice. This cogently shows that animal death, as opposed to plant death, was a consequence of sin and not a "very good" occurrence.

Another example of the necessity of animal death in the sacrifices for sin is the Passover. Exodus 12:6 explains how the Israelites were to kill a lamb and put its blood on their door to show their faith in God’s salvation. Again, corresponding to the pattern of sacrifice established throughout scripture, the animal death was a result of the Israelites’ sin. And again, the fact that animals were suitable to be the symbolic payment for sin shows that they could not have died before sin entered the world.

A final example of animal suitability in the sacrificial system is Jesus Christ Himself and His title: the Lamb of God. Isaiah 53:7 first links Jesus explicitly with the sacrificial lamb. The author of Hebrews compares Jesus to the sacrificial lamb in Hebrews 9:11-14. The Apostle John uses this title many times, from his first presentation of Jesus in John 1:35 to his last description of Jesus in Revelation 5:6. What does this comparison mean? The Bible teaches that the sacrificed animals of the Old Testament could not take away sin; only Jesus’ death could do that. However, Jesus’ title further strengthens the link between sin and animal sacrifice, and between animal sacrifice and natural animal death. For example, it would be senseless to call the Son of God a "lamb" if sheep were dying before sin, because God is immortal. The title makes perfect sense, however, when we understand that God made himself mortal to die (as the sacrificial lamb) in our place, because of our sin. Thus the sacrificial system, the main thrust of the whole Bible, is an important proof that animals did not die before sin; death, whether natural or sacrificial, is a result of sin and is therefore not "very good."

The next reason we can be sure that humans and animals did not die before sin is the great change presented in the Bible at the Fall. There are three incorrect interpretations of the events surrounding the Fall. Two of them are obviously illogical but the third is subtler.

Pre-Fall
Post-Fall

Incorrect View 1
Animals
death
death

Humans
physical death
physical and spiritual death

Incorrect View 2
Animals
death
death

Humans
no death
death

Incorrect View 3
Animals
death
death

Humans
created immediately before the fall
death

Correct View
Animals
no death
death

Humans
no death
death


The first view maintains that humans and animals were both dying physically before the Fall.. In other words, when God told Adam "In the day you eat from [the Tree] you shall surely die," (Genesis 2:18) He was speaking only of spiritual death. This view is biblically unreliable. As Dr. Hayward writes:

This is a very questionable exposition. The New Testament concept of spiritual death is never found in the early books of the Old Testament. The only kind of death the ancient Hebrews spoke about was physical death. Even in the New Testament the death that Adam brought into the world is treated primarily as physical death; in 1 Corinthians 15, for example, it is contrasted with Christ’s resurrection, which all conservatives would agree was a physical fact (Hayward 199).

The second interpretation of the Fall is that although humans did not die before sin entered the world, animals did. This view ignores the fact that humans have an animal body and presumes a miraculous preservation of mankind not found in Scripture. In other words, while tending the animals, Adam and Eve would have been supernaturally shielded from being subjected to the same forces of disease, decay, and death as the other animals. They also would have been protected against the other large animals. This special protection before the Fall is not even hinted at in Scripture; in fact, the protection specifically came later, in Genesis 9:2, when God reestablished Man (Noah) as ruler over the fallen Creation.

The third invalid explanation of the Fall is that Man was created immediately before the Fall and thus didn’t have a chance to die before he fell into sin. Death is made irrelevant. This view essentially minimizes what actually happened at the Fall, and the Curse is considered of no effect. According to this view, animals were dying for many years before the Fall, and the only physical change the Curse caused in the animal kingdom was that the snake began to crawl on its belly. Furthermore, this interpretation holds that Adam and Eve experienced no real change at the Curse. They had been seeing animals agonize and die all around them until that day, and when they sinned they merely made their own eventual death certain rather than probable. According to this account, Adam and Eve were experiencing a sempervirid homogeneity that started at their creation before the Fall and extended until they died after the Fall; nothing changed at the Fall.

However, the Bible shows that an extremely profound change occurred at the Fall. In Genesis 1:31, "God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good." Then after the Fall, in God’s curse on the snake, He said, "Cursed are you more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field...." To assume that the state God described as "very good" is synonymous with the state God called "cursed" is completely illogical (Morris, Genesis 199). One could just as well argue that anything God says in the Bible means the opposite of what it would normally mean. The reasonable interpretation of these two passages is that there was a tremendous change that occurred between "very good" and "cursed". Another contrasting set of verses is even clearer. In Genesis 6:11-12, the author records, "Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth." This syntax is almost exactly the same as Genesis 1:31! The difference is that in Genesis 1:31, everything was "very good." There are several other interesting comparisons that can be made. The repeated term "corrupt" implies a state worse than some other state, so when God said that all flesh had "corrupted" their way, He was saying that both humans and animals had started out good but had changed and become bad. The emphasis is on the enormous change that occurred between the beginning and the Flood. Further, the word violence means death, so when He links violence with the immense change for the worse implied by "corrupted," God is clearly saying death is bad. The contrast with Genesis 1:31 then shows without a doubt that there was no death of people or animals before the Fall. Thus none of the three interpretations of the Fall that allow animal death before sin are reasonable.

The only transitional interpretation that makes sense is the simplest one; there was no death of either humans or animals before the Fall, and there was death of both humans and animals after the Fall.

The next reason we know that animals and humans did not die before sin is the problem of evil, suffering and death. The classic argument posed by atheists for the nonexistence of God is that since God is all-powerful and all-good, He would eliminate all suffering and evil if He exists. Since evil exists in the world, they claim that God does not exist. How do we as Christians answer this argument? Did God create pain, suffering and death? Does He continually promulgate these things? Is He responsible? Or are pain, suffering and death results of sin?

If there was death before sin, then the misery we see in today’s world is a result of the way God made the world to operate (Davis 49). The only explanation that can thus be given for death, heartache, and pain in today’s world is that God somehow intended His creation to be suffering in this way, throwing a shadow on God’s moral character. As an example, when someone dies, a Christian who believes in death before sin can give no real consolation for the heartache of the family; he or she believes that God planned for humans to be experiencing anguish from the beginning. This smudges God’s character, painting Him as a cruel and sadistic Creator. This further leads to fatalism or stoicism, suggesting that humans must simply "endure" life. Dr. David Hull, professor of philosophy at Northwestern University, sums up this position, "Whatever the God implied by... the data of natural history may be like... He is certainly not the sort of God to whom anyone would be inclined to pray." (qtd. in Morris, Trilogy 107)

Biblically, however, this view is completely erroneous. God so desired to restore the world that "He gave His only begotten Son" "as the Savior of the world." (John 3:16, 1 John 4:14) The biblical pattern is that God does not wish the world to stay in the state of misery it is in, but instead to be "set free from its slavery to corruption" and be restored to be the Paradise it was meant to be. In the view that death did not exist before sin, pain and distress in the world is a result of Man’s sin, and is thus fully compatible with God’s existence. In fact, it is evidence for God’s existence because a just God would have to bring retribution upon sinners. Thus when any moral standards are used, the most logical model of today’s suffering world is of a righteous God bringing punishment on the world because of its disobedience. Belief in the fact that there was no death before sin thus offers the best way to answer the problem of evil.

The next reason we know that humans and animals did not die before sin is the clear Biblical references to God’s ideal created environment: the future Paradise. God does not change, so what He considered "very good" for the future is the same as what He considered "very good" in the past (Morris, Trilogy 105). Isaiah 11:6-9 presents a very clear picture of the animal relationships in the future. Speaking of the millennial reign of Christ, Isaiah prophesies:

And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little boy will lead them.

Also the cow and the bear will graze; their young will lie down together; and the lion will eat straw like the ox....

They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

Clearly there is no animal death involved in this passage. If this is what God is planning for the future, it must be His desired environment in all ages. Thus it is a picture of the same "very good" desired environment that God first established in Genesis. Another text showing this comparison is Revelation 21:3-4. Speaking of Paradise, God says, "There shall no longer be any death; there shall no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain." Since God equates Paradise with a deathless environment, it makes sense that He also created a deathless environment in the beginning.

A final reason we can be sure that humans and animals did not die before sin is God’s specific directive for their diets. This is one of the most compelling arguments, and it is found in Genesis 1:29-30. Speaking to Adam, God said:

"Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food"; and it was so.

In this passage God explicitly gave humans and animals plants to eat, and made no mention of animals eating each other or humans eating animals. God had been extremely specific in His commands up until that point, even to the point of telling them exactly what they could not eat: the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There is no reason why He would suddenly omit such an significant distinction. The most logical position therefore is that there was no death of humans or animals before sin. In Genesis 9:3 God changes this dietary command for humans, probably because the Flood’s climate change made animal proteins more necessary. Speaking to Noah He says, "Every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you; I give all to you, as I gave the green plant." Since the command to be "vegetarian" was binding on humans until God modified it, hermanudical rules require that the command for animals to be vegetarian was also binding until God changed it through the Curse (Sarfati 29). Thus there was no death before sin because God did not allow it.

If then there was no death before sin, what was pre-Fall life like? Isaiah 11 gives probably the most detailed picture of this environment, including lions eating grass with the sheep, "carnivorous" and "herbivorous" young playing together, and human children enjoying the animals and playing with them. Many speculative objections usually arise at this point. The first question is: how does one explain ‘designs of death?’ For example, our world contains poisonous snakes, spiders, and frogs. There are sharks, lions and bears with enormous strength, sharp claws, and large teeth. There are bees with stingers so powerful that they can kill humans in seconds. These animals appear to be designed to kill and eat one another. Turtles have durable shells apparently designed to protect them from predators. Skunks have their smell. Zebras have their camouflage. Porcupines have their quills. Every animal species has mechanisms apparently designed for coping with predation and death. Do these features prove the existence of death before sin?

The answer to this objection is best expressed in God’s words to Job in Job 38:4: "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?" In other words, since we were not present at the creation to observe the earth’s environment, we do not know whether or not the animals looked and acted the same as they do now. The features that animals now use to survive in today’s murderous ecosystem could have been used then for harmless purposes. For example, the panda bear is similar in many ways to other carnivorous bear species, but is almost exclusively herbivorous. The March 1986 National Geographic Magazine describes a panda as "not a herbivore but a carnivore with a simple stomach and short intestines adapted for digesting meat." (Schaller 287) Yet, the article goes on to say that pandas live almost exclusively on bamboo. Although National Geographic’s evolutionary bias is misguided, the article clearly shows that animals whose anatomy appears carnivorous today may have been herbivorous in the past.

Another reason some people speculate that there must have been death before the Fall is because some bacteria and insect species are parasitic today. Critics assume that if bacteria and small insects existed before the Fall, they had to have been spreading disease among carrier animals, hurting their hosts, and causing death. Either this, they claim, or the microorganisms themselves would have died. This conjecture is unfounded. Microbes that are now parasitic could have been symbiotic before the Fall. Even today there are many instances of miniature life forms that have symbiotic, or mutually helpful, relationships with their larger hosts. For example, herbivores usually contain cellulose-digesting gut microorganisms that help the larger host animal to be a more efficient feeder ("Symbiosis" Columbia). Thus the present existence of parasitic microbes has no relevance to the Pre-Fall environment.

Exactly what physical changes, then, occurred at the Fall of man and the subsequent Curse to start humans and animals killing and eating each other? The most plausible explanation is that when Adam and Eve sinned, God genetically modified every kind of life form on earth to start experiencing death (Morris, Genesis 119). The Curse of Genesis 3:14-19 included the serpent, Adam and Eve, and the ground. Clear genetic modifications are recorded for the snake, the "thistles," and Eve. Thus, in context, God cursed Adam and all the humans descended from him, all the animals, and all the plants in the ground. Death, decay, and "slavery to corruption" began to prevail on earth. Some people object that this was much too massive a change to infer from the evidence, as it would imply that God was "creating" after the seventh day, when the Scripture says "God completed His work which He had done." This is not the case, however. Although creation was indeed completed, the Bible is full of references to other supernatural works God did after the seven days of creation. Also, only a few slight genetic modifications were needed (Wade A23). God may have used viruses, which are efficient chemical gene-propagators, to alter life on earth or He may have instantaneously changed the world as He spoke the Curse, just as He spoke to create the world in the beginning (Bergman 7).

A final objection presented by people who believe that humans or animals died before the Fall is the question of population. The argument is that a certain death rate is necessary to maintain a healthy population of animals or humans. If there was no death, critics say, the earth would eventually become completely overrun with living creatures and God would almost be forcing man to fall into sin to save the planet. However, these people overlook the fact that God could easily have changed the reproductive rate of the Pre-Fall creatures so that there would never be such a problem. God told Adam and Eve and the animals to "be fruitful and multiply," so we can assume that God was continually watching over the process to provide an optimum population for the earth. Thus there was no need for death.

In conclusion, the scientific, philosophical, and theological data pertaining to the origin of the earth points to the fact that there was no death of humans or animals before sin. This fact is extremely important because it shows that the death and suffering we see around us today is caused by sin. We can then see our need for a Savior, and understand why Jesus Christ had to die to save us. We can also look forward to a glorious future when sin will finally be abolished. In short, the whole of the Gospel is based on a clear understanding of what happened at the Fall. The evidence thus leads to the conclusion that before sin entered the world there was no death; everything was "very good."

Answer 2

My heavens, I never have been flashed, but I did unintentionally flash a few folks once. I was in the hospital some time back and decided to take a stoll to the vending area. Well, I wasn't thinking about what I was wearing and, let's just say that those hospital gowns don't leave a lot to the imagination on the backside. The nurse came up from behind me and put a blanket over my shoulders . . . I was wondering why it was a little drafty back there!

Answer 3

I say animals are souls.
1 Timothy 6:16
Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.

I believe that the soul is the mind and it's the body's software which only functions wile it's animate with the breath of life. Just like you need hardware and electricity for software to work. Then we die I believe our "software" remains dorman until God resurrects us and only he can because the breath orginiated from him and was passed down to us from Adam (the first man). Satan can maquerade as dead loved ones. When we resurrect, it will either be to eternal life or no life at all (your software is deleted from God's hard drive). Like when you're naughty on cyberspace, your account can be cancelled! Hell comes from heaven and restores the Earth. The evil doers become ashes below th saints' feet. all good atheists will get to trapple the hypocrites literally....sort of, they don't actually feel it, but they'll sure feel hell!

When you die, there is no sense of time. At resurrection you would think you just died a second ago.

Answer 4

Yes, of course they have souls. God created every living being with a soul...of course, yours seems to be cold and hard. By the way, Dickn2000 has made some pretty impressive points. You asked a question, so why would you bash someone who was giving a straightforward, detailed answer? Perhaps you're only looking to hear from someone who gives you the answer you want. So maybe then you should begin all your questions with: "Only answer if you're ready and willing to kiss my butt." Just a thought. Oh, and by the way, why would you pray for him? God's already with him. Plus, you apparently don't believe in God, so whom exactly are you praying to, Satan? I doubt he'll answer. Even if he wanted to, there's not much he can do. So I guess you and the other few people who actually agree with you should just stick to yourselves because although you like to ask the questions, you don't really want to hear the answers. I'll pray for you...to Someone who actually does listen and knows you better than I do, even better than you know yourself. Perhaps that's what sets you off. You think you're so smart, and it scares you to think that maybe, just maybe there is Someone out there who is smarter than you and knows you better than you know yourself.

Answer 5

Genesis 1:20 says, "And God went on to say: “Let the waters swarm forth a swarm of living souls and let flying creatures fly over the earth upon the face of the expanse of the heavens.” 21 And God proceeded to create the great sea monsters and every living soul that moves about, which the waters swarmed forth according to their kinds, and every winged flying creature according to its kind. And God got to see that [it was] good."
Genesis 2:7 says, "And Jehovah God proceeded to form the man out of dust from the ground and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man came to be a living soul."
Notice how is says "came to BE a living soul", not came to HAVE a living soul? This indicates that man IS a soul. Ezekiel 18:4 says, "The soul that is sinning, it itself will die." So the soul is not immortal, it can die. This means that it is physical, not a spirit. Therefore the soul must refer to the body or life of a man or animal.

Answer 6

NOpe, neither have souls, they ARE souls!! See Genesis 2 where God forms man of the dust of the ground and breated into his nostrils the breath of life and man BECAME a living soul. It does not say he was given one but that he was one. Same with animals, they have the breath of life and are living souls.

Answer 7

Nephesh Chaiyah is translated as LIVING. Literally it means BREATH OF LIFE or SOUL OF LIFE.

Answer 8

The meaning of Nephesh is highly dependent on the context of the sentence.

Nephesh is used of the lower animals only, in twenty-two passages, and is rendered in nine different ways

Nephesh is used of the Lower Animals and Man in seven passages, and rendered in three different ways

Nephesh is used of Man, as an individual person, in 53 passages, and is rendered in six different ways

Nephesh is used of Man, as exercising certain powers, or performing certain acts (may be often well rendered by emphatic pronouns), in ninety-six passages, and with eleven different renderings

Nephesh is used of Man, as possessing animal appetites and desires, in twenty-two passages, rendered in five different ways

Nephesh is used of Man, as exercising mental faculties, and manifesting certain feelings and affections and passions, in 231 passages, and rendered in twenty different ways

Nephesh is used of Man, (a) as being "cut off" by God; (b) and as being slain of killed by man, in fifty-four passages : and is rendered in eight different ways

Nephesh is used of Man as being mortal, subject to death of various kinds, from which it can be saved and delivered and life prolonged, in 243 passages, rendered in eleven different ways

Nephesh, in thirteen passages (all rendered "soul"), is spoken of as going to a place described by four different words

Answer 9

Yes!


loj

Answer 10

Yes.

Answer 11

according to the Bible yes