A few quick questions about the soul..?

Beautiful argument, but you waste your intelligence trying to convince such fools. Things they can't understand are magical. They don't understand the brain, hence the magical soul controls their actions.

All these questions I've thought once or twice except the autistic one. Every living thing has a soul. I don't believe in animism where all objects have a soul. I mean humans and animals. Beacuse in the bible their are the 4 horsemen of the appocalyspe and their horses. The soul is the most valuble thing for a person.

I have crummy memory, does that mean my soul's messed up? As well as an autistic brother, he'll go to Heaven because he doesn't know right from wrong.

I don't think a hard drive is a good conparison to the soul. I'm not sure if the soul and memory and connected. But if they are that would be convenient when with the big guy upstairs. So you don't go "why am i on a cloud?"

I have personally asked this question many times, on YA and elsewhere and I've yet to receive a coherent answer. Good luck to you.

I've actually talked with some theists about this, and what I regularly came across was "Well, those things aren't actually done by the Soul, but the mind". Of course, what is then left for the soul? Nothing. There's also my personal favourite "Those things are done by *both* the soul and the mind, so now the mind takes preference but when it's gone the soul will be totally able to do all that on its own", which is totally incoherent.

It's just inventing a thing for which there's no evidence to explain for an another thing for which there's no evidence. Where have we ever heard that before..?

Well one way to answer your question would be, yes it can affect the soul. How you may ask? The soul speaks to the body like the conscience; if the brain is injured it might perceive the soul wrong or mistranslate what it is saying. As for autism, the same answer the brain is damaged, therefore it cannot understand what the soul is saying. The brain may repeat what it has seen or heard, without the soul communicating with the brain due to trauma it will act without consequence. The soul itself is not injured only the way we hear it, much like our ears; if our ears are damaged the sound isn't injured only the way it is percieved. The way you phrase your question makes it seem almost, dumb to believe in a soul. The reason some believe it survives death is the numerous amounts of people with ADE's (after death experience) where the person is fully physically dead and has a vision or hears something outside the body, good or bad; whether it is seeing ones own body or any other religious sight, and NDE's (near death experience) when somebody almost dies and has a vision. This in itself doesn't mean it's true, but with the vast number of people having them; it makes one think if it is real.

Just to further complicate things . . .

If humans have souls, when do we get them? Does a soul enter the egg at the moment of conception? If so, what happens in the event that the resulting zygote splits into two zygotes, or three, or more, as in identical twins, triplets, etc.?

Do all of the zygotes share one soul, or does the original soul stay with one zygote and the other zygote(s) get its/their own? If the zygotes each get their own soul at the time of splitting, and they later fuse and become one zygote again, does that zygote have more than one soul?

If a god removes the excess soul(s), why did it implant the souls so early to begin with, especially considering that an all-knowing god would have known which zygotes would split, and which zygotes would fuse after splitting?

Where, in a human, does the soul reside? Does a fetus with two heads, but only one body, have two souls, or only one? How about a fetus with one head, but two bodies?

If a god creates humans so that we may have a relationship with it, and souls are implanted in eggs at conception, why do so many pregnancies end in spontaneous abortion (miscarriage)? If it's simply that a god wants those souls to be with it, couldn't it make them without putting women through the ordeal of miscarriages, or giving birth to deformed infants that cannot survive? Is a god incapable of creating a soul unless there's a zygote in which to implant it?

Aside from the fact that there is absolutely no evidence for the existence of souls, if there were souls, wouldn't it make more sense that they would enter bodies at birth, if not later? In fact, doesn't the christian bible say that "god" breathes life into an infant at birth?

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http://www.cronaca.com/archives/001331.html

http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=412

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I’ll take a stab at your question, although I get the feeling you won’t be satisfied with any answer.

Obviously, our reasoning/cognitive abilities as relates to our physical bodies are connected to the functioning of our brains, which of course cease to function upon death.

According to the Bible, man is a three-part being: “Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thess. 5:23

The soul departs the body upon death, although the Bible contains several instances where souls returned to bodies and life was restored: “And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the LORD and said, "O LORD my God, I pray, let this child's soul come back to him. Then the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived.” 1 Kings 17:21-22 (see also Gen. 35:18) Physical injury has no effect upon the soul (nor do any of the other conditions you described).

From my understanding of the following passage, our souls do retain some memory and reasoning ability while apart from our physical bodies:

“When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"

This passage of Scripture describes an event that takes place prior to the resurrection (or reuniting of physical bodies with departed souls), yet these “souls” are cognitive of the fact that their blood was spilled and they were slain because of the testimony they maintained for their Lord, Jesus Christ.

The soul is your mind, your will, and your emotions. So yes, physical injury can effect it. But effecting it doesn't destroy it, so if we die the soul survives. If I become brain dead or have amnesia, the current state of the past soul is not there. But if you know anything about heaven, there is no sickness or disease in heaven and so the correct soul of a person will be there. You have no patience for any logic, or else you wouldn't have to ask this worthless question. Turn to Jesus and get your mind on being more spiritual. Try learning the Bible, too.

The bible does not support a belief that a soul is something that can live on after death.

The first mention of a soul in the bible: 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.”

The Hebrew word for soul (nephesh) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephesh] refers to a "breathing creature". A disembodied spirit is not a "breathing creature."

Also, Genesis 2:7- "and the man came to be a living soul"

The scripture doesn't say Adam came to "have" a living soul; it says he came to "be" a living soul.

Also, Ezekiel 18: 4- "The soul that is sinning—it itself will die."

A soul does not live on after death; it dies.

Ecclesiastes 9:5-"but as for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all"

At death, consciousness ceases.

A belief in a soul living on after death is not scriptural. We do not have souls; we are souls.

"""What I'm wondering is:

Can physical injury affect the soul?"""

yes: pain does inflict feelings / mood/ happiness

"""If so, what makes you believe it survives death?"""

logic: life itself has no meaning without the extension that balance all deeds

just in case you have similar questions= ya_shami@yahoo.ca

I am a Christian and I have wondered those things too.

I can't say I have a good answer for you but I can tell you I have also wondered about brain injuries and if they affect us in the afterlife. I would like to think not.

I don't believe autistics are soul-less any more than I believe babies are born as atheists (as some have said).