At what point does a fetus gain a soul?

Question

Whew! So many bitter people here!! How did I offend you??? Take some Prozac, please!!

Ghost Wolf--the Bible does NOT call people animals, and notes that while animals lack souls, humans have them (this is the very thing faith hinges on). Your analogy is sadly inept, and errant.

Answer 1

If you're looking for a medical answer, there is no way to know.

If you're looking for a Biblical answer:

"Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived ..." Isaiah 46:3

The word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations" (Jeremiah 1:4-5).

This is what the LORD says---he who made you, who formed you in the womb, and who will help you...(Isaiah 44:2).

That means at conception. There's a lot more, but three should be enough.

Answer 2

There are two theological views on the origin of the soul: The Traducian Theory, which claims that the soul is somehow bound up in the act of conception. And the Creation Theory, which claims that God manufactures the soul independent of the act of conception. The second view (by Christian standards) is the only one that would suggest that the soul could arrive at some later point in the development of the baby.

While there is very good scriptural reasons to believe that the child is a valuable person at its earliest stage, I don't think there is warrant for a dogmatic position on exactly how this works out. As Christians we believe that persons are made in the image of God and not something to risk being murdered. Therefore, it would follow that the safest thing to do is to assume that conception is the point of ensoulment; we should error on the side of caution, and not impose on God's grace and patience by thinking things like, "Well, abortion's okay because God wouldn't put a soul in my baby if He knows I'm just going to abort it anyway."

BTW, classical Christian bioethicists and prolife leadership hold to the position that life begins at conception.

Answer 3

Well, if soul is the energy within living cells, it has a soul as soon as it is conceived. However, if soul is in the mind, then it could be when organized brain activity begins (around 25 to 35 weeks gestation). The truth is, either way, there is no test to prove when a 'soul' is gained by a fetus. There is only a person's perception of what a soul is and then their own perception of when it is aquired.

Answer 4

The concept of a soul is parallel to life across a variety of faiths. Most would agree that a soul leaves a body when it dies, so it would make most sense that the soul enters the body at the very first occurance of life.

So when is a fetus alive? I would say the first time a sperm cell hits an egg. Once this happens the child is its own organism, dividing cells and growing rapidly, and preparing to enter the world.

Answer 5

The soul is the seat of wisdom and the font of life. Therefore, one can not have intellect or being without the soul, and it is infused at the moment of conception. The soul is the mansion that we dwell in, the interior dimension where our giftedness resides and our eternal home. Jesus came to save our souls! St. Teresa of Avila wrote a great work of contemplation called The Interior Castle. Jesus said, "In my Father's House there are many mansions. I go to prepare one for you." And in this we recall his grace and his mercy, the benefits which He won for our souls from the cross.

Answer 6

Well here are some Quranic verses.

It is We Who have created you. Why, then, do you not accept the truth? Have you ever considered that [seed] which you emit? Is it you who create it? Or are We the Creator? (Qur'an, 56:57-59)

Man created from a drop of semen-

Does man reckon he will be left uncontrolled [without purpose]? Was he not once a drop of ejected semen? (Qur'an, 75:36-37)

Sexes of a child-

Was he not a drop of ejaculated sperm, then a blood-clot which He created and shaped, making from it both sexes, male and female? (Qur'an, 75:37-39)

Bringing in life to the embryo-

[We] then formed the drop into a clot and formed the clot into a lump and formed the lump into bones and clothed the bones in flesh; and then brought him into being as another creature. Blessed be Allah, the Best of Creators! (Qur'an, 23:14)

Three stages of an embryo developing-

He creates you stage by stage in your mothers' wombs in threefold darkness. That is Allah, your Lord. Sovereignty is His. There is no god but Him. So what has made you deviate? (Qur'an, 39:6)

Answer 7

Never.

What exactly do you think a soul is? What properties does it have? What part of 'you' resides in the soul?

If it's postulated that consciousness, or awareness, or sense of self resides in the soul, it's difficult to see how this can be reconciled with the complete oblivion which accompanies general anaesthesia. How could a straightforward chemical, injected into the bloodstream, anaesthetise a soul so that it effectively ceases to exist during this time? If consciousness, in the form of a soul, were some kind of supernatural faculty, it would seem implausible that it could be completely disabled by a chemical.

How about some of the other things which we regard as essential parts of what makes a person what they are? How about love, compassion, reason, empathy, memory, conscious thought, character, 'spirituality' and so on? Well, there is really no plausible doubt that all these things are properties of the physical brain - We can alter all of these properties very simply with alcohol or other drugs, and observe how they change in people who have suffered significant brain damage. Previously placid people become uncontrollably violent, intelligent people become imbeciles, and so on. Stimulate the brain artificially, and the subject reports corresponding mental activity, e.g. 'religious experiences'. We can see from brain research that all these things - thought, emotion, sensation, character traits and so on - are correlated with activity in the brain, and some things can be identified with specific areas of the brain.

So, if all these faculties and characteristics of what we regard as the 'person' reside in the physical brain, as seems to be undeniably the case, and they all cease when the person dies, then what is left to be attributed to a 'soul'? As far as I can ascertain: Nothing. If there is no part of us that can continue after death, then there is no 'afterlife'... and if there is no afterlife, then most of religion is null and void.

Answer 8

A soul came from your strong willing. You suborn to do something by suborn to have a body to fulfill your wishes. Your wishes can be anything which is being made by your acuminated actions, thinking, imagination. Those are your seeds to creat a view which you wish to have. For example; you love to sleep and avoid from others, will go into a shell, clam body. You love to freedom fly might go into a bird body. You are easily to anger, might go into snake or dragon body. It is very vare chance to go into a human body unless your good karma acuminated to have a human body. This world is our suborn willing images reflexed from our heart. All we can see, hear, feel, taste, touch and think are the images of mirror. Until your practice to know this images are not stable, when you are dyeing, you know all these images are falses and leave it. You are nirvana.

Answer 9

At conception:
More importantly, God reveals to us in His Word that not only does life begin at conception, but He knows who we are even before then (Jeremiah 1:5). King David said this about God's role in our conception: "For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb....Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them" (Psalm 139:13, 16).

Answer 10

When it develops consciousness, which takes a brain, which a fetus does not have until after 4 months of gestation.