Mainly for Christians who accept evolution,at what point in the gradual transition to human did weacquiresouls

Question

Does it make any sense to say our common ancestors do not have souls whilst claiming them for ourselves?

I dont believe we have souls either!

And i'm not a christian!

Answer 1

I think they are just trying to keep a grasp on reality while at the same time trying to find a way to work their superstitions in so that they can have the best of both worlds. It is like shoving a jigsaw piece into a spot that doesn't fit but then pretending like everything is fine.

Answer 2

A soul is not a biological thing, but evolution is. A soul is understood more in terms of our relationship to others. So I would say at whatever point we began to understand relationships, we had a good sense of our soul existing.

Whether other animals have a soul is impossible to say, but I see no reason to say they do not. So don't know if we ever "aquired" it or if we just always had it.

Matt

Answer 3

We did not ' acquire' souls...
We ARE souls.
The word 'soul' is translated from the Hebrew word NEPHESH, which means ' that which breathes'.
Also, animals are souls.
(Genesis 1:20) 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.”

Answer 4

As Christians we don't have all those answers. God didn't share them with us.

My assertion as a Christian, is that evolution is not at odds with God's plan. I do not pretend to know the mind of God and have all those answers.

Yes, it makes sense that we could have souls and if we have common ancestors they wouldn't....again....God's plan is much bigger then us and we can't possibly grasp it.

"Concerning human evolution, the Church's teaching allows for the possibility that man’s body developed from previous biological forms, under God’s guidance, but it insists on the special creation of his soul. Pope Pius XII declared that "the teaching authority of the Church does not forbid that, in conformity with the present state of human sciences and sacred theology, research and discussions . . . take place with regard to the doctrine of evolution, in as far as it inquires into the origin of the human body as coming from pre-existent and living matter—[but] the Catholic faith obliges us to hold that souls are immediately created by God" (Pius XII, Humani Generis 36). So whether the human body was specially created or developed, we are required to hold as a matter of Catholic faith that the human soul is specially created; it did not evolve, and it is not inherited from our parents, as our bodies are."

http://www.catholic.com/library/Adam_Eve_and_Evolution.asp

Answer 5

What are you talking about? Does it dishonor God to say as Peter said that a day to the Lord is as a thousand years and that God made systems and cycles by which other things evolved from? Or are we just too arrogant as Christians to believe that He really caused us to evolve from a primate?

Answer 6

Friday the 3rd of January 248,132 BC at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Then it rained.

Answer 7

The problem with evolutionary thought is that it breeds elietism... We are not much different than those that came before us... It is dangerous to assume otherwise, as it gives us a higher position by fact of being born later...

Answer 8

!st billion years God created the universe.
2nd billion years God created dinosaurs, then destroyed them because He knew we would need fossil fuel.
3rd billion years God created man. God breathed the breath of life into man giving man something no other animal or creature has. A living soul.

The bible is not a science book.

Answer 9

It actually makes no sense to assert we have souls now.

Answer 10

all living organisms have a spirit, all of life is joined by that spirit, and this their soul.