Is a soul something given at birth or something earned?

Answer 1

God told Jeremiah that he know him before he was conceived:

Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Answer 2

>Is a soul something given at birth or something earned?

OR, probably something which comes into existence at the time of Conception.

Answer 3

First of all, you do not have and immortal soul, if you did, then why had no one gone to Heaven before Jesus came to the Earth, 4000 years had came & gone since Adam & Eve, millions of people had died, what did Jesus say to a man of the Pharisees, Nic·o·de'mus was his name, a ruler of the Jews.

John 3:13
Moreover, no man has ascended into heaven but he that descended from heaven, the Son of man.

What is a Soul?
Right in the very first book of the Bible, Genesis, we are told that the soul is not something you have, it is something you are. We read of the creation of Adam, the first human being: “The man came to be a living soul.” (Genesis 2:7) The Hebrew word used here for soul, ne'phesh, occurs well over 700 times in the Hebrew Scriptures, never once conveying the idea of a separate, ethereal, spiritual part of man. On the contrary, the soul is tangible, concrete, physical.

Look up the following cited texts in your own copy of the Bible, for the Hebrew word ne'phesh is found in each of them. They clearly show that the soul can face risk, danger, and even be kidnapped (Deuteronomy 24:7; Judges 9:17; 1 Samuel 19:11); touch things (Job 6:7); be locked up in irons (Psalm 105:18); crave to eat, be afflicted by fasting, and faint from hunger and thirst; and suffer from a wasting disease or even insomnia as a result of grief. (Deuteronomy 12:20; Psalm 35:13; 69:10;) In other words, because your soul is you, your very self, your soul can experience anything you can experience.

Does that mean, then, that the soul can actually die? Yes. Far from being immortal, human souls are spoken of in the Hebrew Scriptures as being “cut off,” or executed, for wrongdoing, being struck fatally, murdered, destroyed, and torn to pieces. (Exodus 31:14; Deuteronomy 19:6; 22:26; Psalm 7:2) “The soul that is sinning—it itself will die,” says Ezekiel 18:4. Clearly, death is the common end of human souls, since all of us sin. (Psalm 51:5) The first man, Adam, was told that the penalty for sin was death—not transfer to the spirit realm and immortality. (Genesis 2:17) And when he sinned, the sentence was pronounced: “For dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:19) When Adam and Eve died, they simply became what the Bible often refers to as ‘dead souls’ or ‘deceased souls.’

Answer 4

simply answer with my personal views... alot easier that way.

a soul is neither a gift, nor "earned".

the soul, is the essence that is really "you" the physical body is merely a vessel... a host.

in fact a human body does not *NEED* a soul to function, it merely functions far superior with one, the idea that a soul is created in conception is... well, IMO, hilarious. but everyone has rights to belive what they do.

think of it this way... for most people anyway, the soul, is who you are. your mind, your self, your memorys, the fundamental essence of YOU, belongs to your soul, its not merely an energy that powers you, or something that you own, it IS what YOU truly are, that simply happens to be currently occupying this form, to make interaction with this world easier. (massively easier...)

the soul's immortality is more of a relative concept... its not that it cannot die or be killed, per se,.... its more that it does not die from age like our bodies do. through normal circumstances it continues to exist for as far as we are concerned, forever.

Ruchjat, you probably know this but that distinction sounds very much like the Ba/Ka thing in Egyptian mythology, not to say its worng, in fact I think after a fashion it has some validity to it.

but the simple answer, IMO, is that neither earned nor is it a commodity given, but the essence of a person who already exists, anchoring itself into a physical form for a time.

Answer 5

I think you might have a soul when u are in your mommy's tummy. Because if you didnt have a soul how would you connect with your mom. That however has nothing to do with the right to abortion or adoption. Never did it myself but it always depends on the situation and ur feelings about it.

Answer 6

I like Isolde's answer, because it implies that there is more to this life on earth than meets the eye. In order for Jeremiah to be ordained to be a prophet before he was born, he would have had to have been of sufficient stature spiritually to have been part of such an ordination. If you see how prophets in the Old Testament were chosen, you get an idea that Jeremiah's spirit, or soul, was old enough to have been worthy of such an ordination at some point in time before he was born. When prophets in the Old Testament were chosen at a very young age, say for example, Samuel, you can infer that the Lord knew what their spirits were like before they were even born, and hence He was able to extend the prophetic calling to them at a young age, having already found out what their character and spiritual abilities were like before they came to this physical earth. In my opinion, as a Mormon, all of us had reached the stature of adulthood or young adulthood before we were permitted to be born on this earth. Our spirits have existed much longer than we can imagine in earthly terms.
When you are referring to "something earned" I wonder if you are talking about immortality - which I believe all of us will receive thanks to Jesus Christ's Atonement. Everyone will receive immortality in the Resurrection, but not all of us will live with God again. That is dependent on our faith and obedience in this life. We will be judged by what we knew.
Have a happy day, and thanks for asking this question.

Answer 7

Our 'soul' is not something separate. It is the complete whole beathing 'us'.
(Genesis 2:7) 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.
CAME TO BE A LIVING SOUL.
GENESIS 1; 20,21,24,25...A swarm of living souls...
Revelation 16;3...every living soul died...
The word 'soul' is translated from the Hebrew word NEPHESH..which means...that which breathes.
(Ezekiel 18:4) Look! All the souls—to me they belong. As the soul of the father so likewise the soul of the son—to me they belong. The soul that is sinning—it itself will die.

A separate spiritual 'soul' could not experience death as we know it.
It is not a separate thing.

Answer 8

Depends on your beliefs. A soul or spirit is usually your life force or driving energy. Without a life force you can't have a life. This question may not be able to be answered concretely. It sounds like you need to do some searching about your own beliefs. When you find your own path you will find your answer.

Answer 9

It is given at the moment of conception. The soul is an integral part of a human being. A human being is composed of a mortal body and an immortal soul. A biological nature and a spiritual nature.

Answer 10

The definition of a "soul" is given in the bible:

Genesis 2:7  And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

No need to guess here!

Ezekiel 18:20  The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

Nothing immortal about a soul!

Answer 11

The Soul which is YOU, was created by God a long time ago!

Man was condemned to be Flesh, after the fall of Satan! That man would face death once!

When you die in the flesh, YOU return to God, as you were created!