What are some of your opinions on Soul?

Question

What does it consist of? Information, An "encoded" fate, Your hormonal structure? I understand that atheists may retort that the soul is a myth, but note, I am not limiting my question to opinions of an "eternal soul" alone.

I'd really appreciate personalized answers over bible scriptures. Thanks!

Note: I am an atheist. I am asking about "essential-self" and what attributes believers and non-believers would attach to it.

Am I getting blasted by atheists? I worded my statement well in pointing out that atheists MAY...

Some did! It's not a generalization, it's called - addressing possible misconceptions about my question.

I believe in a "driver" for the "machine" (or soul for the body), and I am most certainly an atheist.

Answer 1

The soul atman of a human being is pure cosmic energy. It is indestructible... it can neither be created nor destroyed. It simply manifests a body depending upon the residual balance of karma. In itself soul does not carry anything. It is the doctrine of karma that is governing. From one manifestation to another... the residual balance of karma moves on.

The balance sheet of life moves in a manner similar to the balance sheet prepared by a chartered accountant. Whatever is the closing balance... becomes the opening balance of the next year. Whatever be the residual balance of karma of the present manifestation... our soul atman gets the next manifestation accordingly. If the balance of karma demands that one be born in the house of a laborer... it just cannot be that one takes birth in the house of a king.

Everything in encoded form gets transferred to the next manifestation through the complex structure of chromosomes and DNA.

The complex theory of karma has some pitfalls. Even though the residual balance of karma transfers to the next manifestation... some types of sins and virtues do not fructify immediately. This result in one winning a lottery in one of next manifestations provided one has a balance of virtues in-store. A negative balance may result in certain doom in one of the next manifestations. It is this doom or being lucky that disturbs many. More on Soul - http://www.godrealized.com/hinduism_atman_soul.html

Answer 2

In the Bible, "soul" is translated from the Hebrew ne'phesh and the Greek psy-khe'. Bible usage shows the soul to be a person or an animal or the life that a person or an animal enjoys. Genesis 2:7 states, " 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 that this does not say that man WAS GIVEN a soul but that he BECAME a soul, a living person.) Many believe that the soul is an inmaterial or spirit part of a human being that survives the death of the physical body. These are not the views the bible teaches. Ezekial 18:4 says "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." Psalms 146: 4 says "His spirit goes out, he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts do perish." The bible is simple in its explanation of the soul. The soul is you, the person, your life. It is not some shadowy form that floats away from a person when he dies, because as these scriptures show the soul dies, and not only that , our thoughts perish. This goes along with another topic of what happens to us when we die. The bible tells us at Ecclesiastes 9:5 " The living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all." So when someone dies they are in like a deep sleep...remember too when Jesus went to resurrect his friend Lazarus...John 11:11-14 "Lazarus our friend has gone to rest, but I am journeying there to awaken him from sleep." I hope this has helped answer your question on the soul!

Answer 3

The souls of individuals were created for companionship with God (the Whole). The pattern that God used to create souls was the pattern of God's own Spirit. The spirit is life. From the spirit, the mind builds patterns. From the mind, the physical creation is the result. This is how the spirit, the mind, and individuality, became the pattern for souls. This is how cause, action, and effect became the pattern for everything. First there was the spirit (the first cause); then there was the action which withdrew spirit into itself; then there was the resulting individuality of God.

The spirit of the individual existed before their soul was created. The spirit keeps the knowledge of its identity with God. The soul has the ability to experience the activities of the mind in a manner separate from God.

Answer 4

Please don't generalize about all Atheist. As a foundation of observation Atheist just do not see the proof of the existence of a God. Atheism doesn't mean we all think we are devoid of a spirit or a soul. Christian should be able to recognize this fact and stop being so narrow mined about what it means to be an Atheist.

Some of us may actually know the truth about man's existence is why we are Atheist. What the hell does a closed minded Christian know? The religious only have an attachment to one belief in a God and a willingness to follow the ideology of a primitive culture. Christian have in fact stop growing spiritually and intellectually is why they continue to believe in absurdities.

Answer 5

Best answer here I think :)

Wow! This is a great question that only God can determine, Hebrews 4:12, this scripture kinda/sorta says that only God can discern between the soul and spirit...

I believe that the soul is the collection of the abstract portions of the chemical reactions of our body...

Ancient Greeks typically referred to the soul as psyche (as in modern English psychology). Aristotle's works in Latin translation, used the word anima (as in animated). In the New Testament, the original Greek word used is "Psyche" which in Ancient and Modern Greek means soul :

"For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" (Matthew 16:26)

The Latin root of the related word spirit, like anima, also expresses the idea of "breath". Likewise, the Biblical Hebrew word for 'soul' is nephesh, meaning life, or vital breath.

Gen.2:7 Adam received his breath and he became a living soul...

While we are in this body of flesh the portion of our spirit that is emitted: is in the form of a lesser altered state which is termed to be our soul

Answer 6

The Word of God classifies how marvelous we have been designed. We are spirit beings, we posess a mind, and our body is our earthly house. When one dies being morally corupt cannot enter the holy place where God dwells so he is sent to the place prepared of God for Satan. Knowing that it is not the Will of God for mankind should go to this place of torments, God through His unconditional love gave us his Son, Jesus Christ to die in our place so that we could be redeemed and instead of going to hell we can choose heaven and live forever with God. There is no other truth than this. Religion can not redeem a soul nor can anyone stand before God unclean without Christ and his shed blood..

Answer 7

Soul= Mind, Will, Emotions. Just like the Trinity 3 in 1. Just like Body, Soul, Spirit......Get it? Trinity=Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. In Genesis you see where it says..."Let us make man in our own image"......This has been the basis of many false doctrines and lies stating that it was a bunch of Gods talking to each other. Not true...It was the Trinity.

Answer 8

The soul is what was formed in Man when God breathed His Spirit (breath) into Man, and he became a living soul.
The soul is the intermediate part of the inner man which is interactive with both the physical, or material world and the spiritual world.
The problem with men is that because they are sinners, they are spiritually dead, cut off from union with the uncreated Life of the Creator God. As such they are fully given to natural influences and become in effect merely intelligent animals. As such they are controlled by their lower nature and are incapable of pleasing God.
God's solution to this problem is found in the Lord Jesus Christ, who when He died on the cross bore the full consequences for sin in His own body, so the Life He alone possessed could be conferred to men through faith in what He did for them on the cross.
This life is not automatic, but it is received by faith.
This is why Jesus said "You must be born again" (please read John's Gospel chapter 3).
Once one is born again, their spirit becomes alive to God, and we start to receive within us the power and instruction needed to live a life acceptable to God. As we yield to this life and begin to become renewed in our minds through the teaching of the Bible - especially the New Testament; the soul becomes renewed and we become transformed into the kind of people God intended us to be.
Call on Jesus today. Ask Him to cause you to be born again, then just beleive He has heard your prayer.
Peace to you.

Answer 9

Your soul is your self concept. A healthy soul or a good one will persevere no matter how hard their life is because they would never give up. A healthy soul would base their self worth on their humility their faith and their love for other people. A healthy soul would be deeply concerned about the issues that effect their lives and the lives of those around them and utilize their energies positively.

Answer 10

Seems to me that all the characteristics of a 'soul' are perfectly well covered by 'mind' - EXCEPT the characteristics for which no hard evidence exists, such as immortality, independent existence, acquisition in utero, lack of substance, etc.

The simplest explanation for which is, of course, that it's yet another damfool wish-fulfillment religious fantasy.

CD