what is soul?

Answer 1

017.085 وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الرُّوحِ قُلِ الرُّوحُ مِنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّي وَمَا أُوتِيتُمْ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ إِلا قَلِيلا
017.085 They ask thee concerning the Spirit (of inspiration). Say: "The Spirit (cometh) by command of my Lord: of knowledge it is only a little that is communicated to you, (O men!)"

Al-Qur'an, 017.085 (Al-Isra [Isra, The Night Journey, Children of Israel])

Text Copied from DivineIslam's Qur'an Viewer software v2.910

Answer 2

In Genesis 2:7, it shows that the soul is made up of two components, the body + breath = soul. In the Bible, the word spirit is often used for 'breath', and that is what it means in this context. Simply breath.

Without the body AND breath from God, there is no soul. Some people think the soul cannot die, but the Bible says that souls do die (Ezekiel 18:4,20), and that the lake of fire will destroy both the body AND the soul (Matthew 10:28).

Therefore the soul is the whole person, able to reason, communicate, and able to die, and cease to exist. But thanks be to God, that He will change that for all those who accept His great love and salvation as a free gift. 1 Corinthians 15:51-55

Answer 3

Consider the ancient practice of sacrificing the lamb at the Temple in Jerusalem. The High Priest was to fist slit its throat and allow its soul to pour out on the ground, before the flesh was destroyed by fire. Christ, as the Lamb of God took the place of the sacrifice of the lamb in the temple.

Today, when there is a terrorist bombing in Israel, fundamentalist Jews have the task of of collecting all the pieces of the souls of those killed, the blood, for burial. They don't wash it away, they remove it, along with whatever it had come into contact with, such as roads, furniture, clothing, etc. Get blood on your coat and you might keep it, but there will be holes where any blood came into contact with it.

The Bible teaches the soul is the blood. We know today that it is the second thing to be developed in a fetus, right after the heart.

For this reason, the Bible says the soul dies with the body, as the blood eventually loses it ability to remain fluid. When you receive a transfusion, you are getting a portion of the soul of the person who gave or sold it to a blood bank.

Answer 4

The soul, according to many religious and philosophical traditions, is a self-aware ethereal substance particular to a unique living being. In these traditions the soul is thought to incorporate the inner essence of each living being, and to be the true basis for sentience. In distinction to spirit which may or may not be eternal, souls are usually (but not always as explained below) considered to be immortal and to exist before their incarnation in flesh.

The concept of the soul has strong links with notions of an afterlife, but opinions may vary wildly, even within a given religion, as to what may happen to the soul after the death of the body. Many within these religions and philosophies see the soul as immaterial, while others consider it to possibly have a material component, and some have even tried to establish the mass (weight) of the soul.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul

Answer 5

Hello,
Soul is something which drives our physical body. It is also called as 'Atman' or the 'spirit' or 'The Divine Spark' within us. It is our Inner Consciousness that is beyond this Physical world. One can experience the Inner self in a better way when one meditates i.e. disconnecting our-self from this material world.
Soul has much greater power when compared to the physical body in which it is temporarily imbibed.
One can assume it as a 'Guide' which assists the physical body in this material 'Earth'. Soul cannot be physically felt but it can be experienced at Higher consciousness levels. The life journey on Earth is a very limited one ( may be 70 years) but the journey of the Soul is a much longer one and this present life is a temporary phenomena.

Answer 6

Regarding "Atma"(soul) let us learn from what information Lord Krishna gives in Bhagavad-gita, chapter two, verses 22 to 25.
As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.
The soul can never be cut to pieces by any weapon, nor burned by fire, nor moistened by water, nor withered by the wind.
This individual soul is unbreakable and insoluble, and can be neither burned nor dried. He is everlasting, present everywhere, unchangeable, immovable and eternally the same.
It is said that the soul is invisible, inconceivable and immutable. Knowing this, you should not grieve for the body.
Bhagavad-gita-2.12 & 13
Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor in the future shall any of us cease to be.
As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. A sober person is not bewildered by such a change.

Those who are seers of the truth have concluded that of the nonexistent [the material body] there is no endurance and of the eternal [the soul] there is no change. This they have concluded by studying the nature of both. Bhagavad-gita-2.16
An excerpt from the purport by Srila Prabhupada.
There is no endurance of the changing body. That the body is changing every moment by the actions and reactions of the different cells is admitted by modern medical science; and thus growth and old age are taking place in the body. But the spirit soul exists permanently, remaining the same despite all changes of the body and the mind. That is the difference between matter and spirit. By nature, the body is ever changing, and the soul is eternal. This conclusion is established by all classes of seers of the truth, both impersonalist and personalist. In the Vishnu Purana (2.12.38) it is stated that Vishnu and His abodes all have self-illuminated spiritual existence (jyotimsii vishnur bhuvanani vishnuh). The words existent and nonexistent refer only to spirit and matter. That is the version of all seers of truth.

That which pervades the entire body you should know to be indestructible. No one is able to destroy that imperishable soul. Bhagavad-gita-2.17

Answer 7

Soul is Atma perceived in each and every body of living beings be it a human or animal or creature. In fact soul seems to be separated by bodies. But it is not the case. Soul is One. When reflected in the mind it is perceived as separate and identical with each bodies. Sky is limitless. The same sky is in the pots also. When the pot breaks, the sky within the pot seems to merge with the outside sky. The truth is that the pots seems to divide the sky. Sun is One for the entire world. When there are several pots filled with water, the one sun is reflected in all these pots. Can you say that there are number of suns? These are only reflections. When embodied, the one soul seems to get divided. With the death and destruction of the body the soul seem to merge with the Soul that pervades the cosmos. Atma, Soul,and Love are synonyms. nagarajan.

Answer 8

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The soul, according to many religious and philosophical traditions, is a self-aware ethereal substance particular to a unique living being. In these traditions the soul is thought to incorporate the inner essence of each living being, and to be the true basis for sentience. In distinction to spirit which may or may not be eternal, souls are usually (but not always as explained below) considered to be immortal and to exist before their incarnation in flesh.

The concept of the soul has strong links with notions of an afterlife, but opinions may vary wildly, even within a given religion, as to what may happen to the soul after the death of the body. Many within these religions and philosophies see the soul as immaterial, while others consider it to possibly have a material component, and some have even tried to establish the mass (weight) of the soul.

Answer 9

I am glad that you asked. I hope that this will help you.

Our soul is part of who we are. We are a triune being. Body, spirit, and soul.Many people have a hard time understanding where the soul begins and the spirit ends. But Jesus said, we must be born again. This means that God must take away our spirit and replace it with a new one, the Holy Spirit, God Himself. The soul is who we are, but the spirit brings us life, knowledge, and influences our behavior. Many people think that their behavior is who they truly are, but they are wrong. Once God replaces or renews our spirit, our desires change, therefore our behavior changes. We are the same person, but what we desire and what we do, changes. That is why the Bible calls us a new creature. When we receive the Holy Ghost, we can't help but change. He gives us the power to become free of our addictions and become who we truly are and what we were created to be. A Child of God with a destiny to spend eternity in Heaven with our loving Father who created us.

Sincerely Yours, Pastor Jeff Ludin, An Ambassador For Christ

Answer 10

The soul is what gives the body life. Once the body is finished the soul continues on. You don't have a choice on when your body will retire, but you do have a choice on where your soul will live out eternity. For more information read the Bible

Answer 11

Soul is your life, it is what God breathed into Adam. No other earthly creature has this life.
You should know that you do not have a soul.....rather your soul has a body! Understand that please.
It is your soul that has a body.
One day your soul will relinquish it's body, and go to a sleep to be awakened by the force that actually gave you this life of yours. There you will meet our maker.
God bless and take care of your soul. It is your life.