Do humans have souls?

Question

I'm in an ongoing theological debate with a friend and I'd like to hear your thoughts. The soul I am refering to is also called the 'spirit' (mostly to Christians) and it's the eternal part of us that lives on (and goes to heaven or hell) after we've died. So, what logical evidence suggests that we have souls?

I did not say that the soul and spirit are the same thing, only that what Christians call the spirit is what the world calls the soul. They are not one in the same, but the world thinks they are.

Don't tell me to look in the Bible. Do you think using this as a reference will work on an agnostic?

Answer 1

There's really no logical evidence, but we are each unique somehow.

People will say that it is evident as it might say in the Bible we do, but this only applies if you regard the Bible as the absolute truth.

Answer 2

Humans are 'souls' NOT have them.

King James Version (KJV)
Genesis 2: 7And 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.

Amplified Bible (AMP)
Genesis 2:7 Then the Lord God formed man from the [a]dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath or spirit of life, and man became a living being.

1Co 15:45 It is even so written: “The first man Adam became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 Nevertheless, the first is, not that which is spiritual, but that which is physical, afterward that which is spiritual. 47 The first man is out of the earth and made of dust; the second man is out of heaven. 48 As the one made of dust [is], so those made of dust [are] also

The SOUL dies ! ! !

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.

King James Version (KJV)
4Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.

There is NO afterlife other then the resurrection ! !

Ecclesiastes 3:19 For there is an eventuality as respects the sons of mankind and an eventuality as respects the beast, and they have the same eventuality. As the one dies, so the other dies; and they all have but one spirit, so that there is no superiority of the man over the beast, for everything is vanity. 20 All are going to one place. They have all come to be from the dust, and they are all returning to the dust

Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living are conscious that they will die; but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all, neither do they anymore have wages, because the remembrance of them has been forgotten. 6 Also, their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished, and they have no portion anymore to time indefinite in anything that has to be done under the sun.


The Bible is so clear and plainly written on these points ---
Why do people who 'claim' to be Christian and 'claim' to believe in the Bible keep coming out with things that are completely different then the way the Bible so plainly says it is???

Answer 3

Humans have a soul and spirit.

Soul implies that the person has appetites and emotions while spirit implies that the person can reflect and be self-observing.

What is Soul ?
soul : that which makes a person the distinct person they are. This would include our sense of identity, but also what makes up our identity, most especially what arouses our emotions, or awakens our spiritual or moral force and sense of destiny or purpose. Soul is where our freedom is rooted. (This is a Greco-Roman way of putting it. The Hebrew terms usually used in the Bible for soul and spirit have broader meanings) In many religions, the soul is seen as immortal -- that is, it's a side of you which does not come to an end. Christians believe the soul is brought back together again with its body when God's Reign comes in full.

What is Spirit ?
spirit : the aspect of our being which animates us -- makes us live, move, change, do, be active, feel, think, interact. God put a spirit into us. To be 'disspirited' is to hide ourselves away and let it just ebb out of us, like an untended wound leaks blood. To be 'inspired' is for the Holy Spirit to quicken that aspect of us, to power it up and get it going at peak effectiveness. (Think of God doing the original CPR, in Genesis, and again in a vision in Ezekiel.) In Christian belief, God is a spirit, and is the source and creator of all other spirits. This is what makes spirituality possible.

PLEASE NOTE, as a Christian, I do not think that the spirit and the soul are the same thing, nor do I think that most Christians think this. I was surprised at your assumption that this is what most Christians believe.

Answer 4

Mainly because the Bible tells us so. When we die the soul leaves the body with the last breath. It's the only part of us that never dies. No animal has a soul (dogs, cats,birds, etc.) If God knew us before we were formed in the womb, then we have to have a soul. There's no bones or flesh in Heaven so it has to be the soul. To live on earth we had to have a protective casing to cover our soul so we got bones and l=dlesh. When we die the body decays, but the soul lives on. The Bible says we are with the Lord the minute of death. There was a super camera made that actually caught the grey mass leaving the body at the instant of death.A man on a Christian TV, said he was lying across his dad's chest at the instant of death and he felt this strange sensation go thru him. Yes, we do have a soul and that's what Jesus wants back in Heaven ,at the point of death.

Answer 5

Debating about this is like debating about life on other planets. It has no value. But if you could actually experience a soul, then that would be something worthwhile.

See site below with information by psychologists and cosmology to show that experiencing your soul can make you extremely happy. But it has nothing to' do with religion like a Christian soul.

Answer 6

The Bible

Answer 7

The human person's capability of intelligent thought and speech. All the cells in your body working together make a functioning organism, but the fact that your body is a functioning organism doesn't explain the fact that you can reason out what to do with it, think, and ponder questions like this.

Answer 8

life begins when the soul enters and life ends when the soul leaves; two things that man can't control; what makes your being function ; what makes it stop ; there is evidence in the people who died and came back ; especially in the pictures of children; faith is believing without hands on proof or it isn't proof; it is ego that searches for these answers ; ego is always hungry and never satisfied; if you have faith and God, you would know what I am speaking about ; it is hard to convey to someone who needs answers, demands them and won't believe if they don't get it their way and in their terms; EGO; no room for God too filled with self.

Answer 9

There is no logical evidence. Clearly the only 'evidence' if you like comes from a magical book of fictional horror that people like to refer to as the Bible.

Answer 10

we have a soul if your saved by Jesus you have a living soul but if your living in sin your soul is dead. Jesus tell this to a man in The Bible, Jesus said to the man follow me,and the man said I need to go first and bury the dead and Jesus told the man let the dead bury the dead, meaning if you don't accept Jesus as your Savior your soul is already dead.