At which point does the soul enter the body?

Soul is different than spirit

THe soul IS the person. Note Gen 2:7 -- (Genesis 2:7) And Jehovah 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.

Then as regards the Soul --

(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.

(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.

But then as you quote - the Spirit - which is our life force when we die goes back to God.Similarly, at death no actual movement from the earth to the heavenly realm occurs when the spirit “returns” to God. Once the life-force is gone from a person, only God has the ability to restore it to him. So the spirit “returns to the true God” in the sense that any hope of future life for that person now rests entirely with God.

Consider, for example, what the Scriptures say about Jesus Christ’s death. The Gospel writer Luke relates: “Jesus called with a loud voice and said: ‘Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.’ When he had said this, he expired.” (Luke 23:46) As Jesus’ spirit went out of him, he was not literally on his way to heaven. Jesus was not resurrected from the dead until the third day, and it was 40 days later that he ascended to heaven. (Acts 1:3, 9) At the time of his death, however, Jesus confidently left his spirit in his Father’s hands, fully trusting in Jehovah’s ability to bring him back to life.

When do we get the spirit -- At conception. When the egg starts on its way by dividing and growing.

Kris,

Your question is a good one. I appreciate the fact that you reasoned on the scripture.

What is the soul, though?

Each human is a soul. Genesis 2:7 tells us that when God blew the breath of life into Adam, he "came to be a living soul." It does not say that he was "given" a living soul. At no point, then, does the soul enter the body. Therefore, we do not have an immortal soul within us that leaves our body upon death. In contrast, at death, the body, or soul, dies. Ezekiel 18:4 makes this clear by saying: "The soul that is sinning - it itself will die." So, at death, or the end of life, all bodily functions cease. (Read Ecclesiastes 9:5,6) What makes the embryo move inside the mother's womb is the fact that it is alive. And living things move.

So, then, what is meant by "the spirit" in Ecclesiastes 12:7? -

"Speaking about man’s death, Ecclesiastes 12:7 states: “The dust [of his body] returns to the earth just as it happened to be and the spirit itself returns to the true God who gave it.” When the spirit, or life-force, leaves the body, the body dies and returns to where it came from—the earth. Comparably, the life-force returns to where it came from—God. (Job 34:14, 15; Psalm 36:9) This does not mean that the life-force actually travels to heaven. Rather, it means that for someone who dies, any hope of future life rests with Jehovah God. His life is in God’s hands, so to speak. Only by God’s power can the spirit, or life-force, be given back so that a person may live again."*

If you would like to get a clearer understanding of the "soul" and "spirit", feel free to speak with Jehovah's Witnesses the next time you encounter them. We have a book entitled, "What Does the Bible Really Teach?" that gives a simple explanation of each one and relates the difference in the two. I hope this was helpful.

D

The soul is the guy no longer some thing a human has yet what a human is. (Genesis 2:7) 7 And Jehovah God proceeded to variety the guy out of dirt from the floor and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life, and the guy got here to be a residing soul. word guy grew to alter right into a residing soul no longer given a residing soul. (Ezekiel 18:4) 4 seem! all the souls—to me they belong. through fact the soul of the daddy so likewise the soul of the son—to me they belong. The soul it truly is sinning—it itself will die. The scriptures additionally say the the soul dies which in opposite to many stuff faith teaches on the instant. Please study your bible to get the reality of the priority.

Swami Muktananda Paramahamsa said that the soul

enters the body in 5th month of pregnancy.

It could have been 3rd mo. my memory isn't clear.

It appears the embryo is a growth on the mothers body

until the soul enters it's body.

Movement is but the brain and nervous system forming.

We do not posses a Soul per se, what we have is Conscience and this is wholly material, this can be proven several different ways; one, if I removed part of your brain [frontal lobotomy] you would cease to be you. The other way to prove this is within nature. Most do not class animals as having Souls, but they exist in the same manner as we do, but he most interesting is plant life. Plants are extraordinary lifeforms and that is what they are fundamentally; life, but you would not say they had a soul. If they are wholly material how do they learn? how do they reproduce without knowledge? knowledge is not thought of in material sense, but is indeed associated with intellect, so if plants are intelligent, then why would we need a soul.

Intelligence is a term fraught with difficulties in definition. In part, the problems arise because of the human slant placed on the use and meaning of the word. However, although as a species we are clearly more intelligent than other animals, it is unlikely that intelligence as a biological property originated only with Homo sapiens. There should therefore be aspects of intelligent behaviour in lower organisms from which our superlative capabilities are but the latest evolutionary expression.

[Stenhouse (1974)] examined the evolution of intelligence in animals and described intelligence as ‘Adaptively variable behaviour within the lifetime of the individual’. The more intelligent the organism, the greater the degree of individual adaptively variable behaviour. Because this definition was used to describe intelligence in organisms other than humans, it is a definition useful for investigating the question in plants. Do plants exhibit intelligent behaviour? The use of the term ‘vegetable’ to describe unthinking or brain‐dead human beings perhaps indicates the general attitude.

However, in animal terms, behaviour is equated with movement, and since plants exhibit little if any form of movement, plant intelligence on that basis does not exist. Although some higher plants exhibit rapid movements (e.g. Mimosa pudica), these are exceptions rather than common‐place. Mimosa captures our attention because it operates on a time scale similar to our own, and it is the difference in time scales that frequently makes plants seem unmoving. The use of time‐lapse facilities has indeed indicated that plants operate on very much slower time scales than our own, but once observed in this way, movement is quite clear.

In addition, the majority of multicellular plants, including macro algae, are sessile, the result of a decision several billion years ago to gather energy and reducing potential via photosynthesis. Since light is freely available, movement has never been particularly critical to plant survival. Such movement as has been observed is usually limited to less complex plants such as blue‐green algae. Rejection of that (photosynthetic) decision by the primordial animal eukaryotic cell ensured that movement became critical to find food and mates. Once animals started to prey upon each other, the development of highly differentiated sensory systems and specialised nerve cells to convey information rapidly between sensory tissues and organs of movement was an inevitable consequence. The predator–prey relationship has acted as a positive feedback loop to accelerate complex development and equally complex organ differentiation in animal evolution [ANTHONY TREWAVAS, 1986]

We are all one, never changing, never ending, connected, just being; one

It depends on the religion, but most religions link it to the breath, especially through the nostrils.

Which kind of rules out the idea that an unborn child can have a soul.

When the soul enters, then only life begins in the ovum.

Correction - it says the SPIRIT returns to God. Here is what the Bible has to say about the human body, spirit and soul to show that humans ARE souls:

The human body is more than just flesh, bones and blood. Genesis 2:7 says: “And 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” or “living being”. Humans and animals alike have the breath of life. Genesis 1:30 informs us that the beasts of the earth, the birds of the air, have life or the breath of life. The expression, ‘living being’ in both the Authorised Version and the New International Version is translated as ‘living creature’ in Genesis 1:20, 24. However, humans are unique because only humans can claim to have been made by the Spirit of God. Job 33:4 says “The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty has given me life”. The NIV is virtually identical. Job also said this: “But there is a spirit in man; and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding”. The NIV renders it as “it is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding”. God’s spirit and God’s breath are the same.

The spirit is the element within humans that enables us to have an intimate relationship with our creator, in whose image we are made. Spirit is what connects us with God, who is spirit: “God is a Spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). King Solomon asked “Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?” (Ecclesiastes 3:21) He concluded: “Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). Before Jesus died he cried out and said, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit; and having said thus, he gave up the ghost” (or, breathed his last – NIV) Luke 23:46. Stephen, as he was being stoned to death, prayed: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59). The spirit returns to God.

Soul refers to both the immaterial and the material aspects of humanity. Whereas human beings have a spirit, human beings are souls. Soul means life. When Rachel died after giving birth to Benjamin, it was said (in Genesis 35:18) “as her soul was departing (for she died)” or, “as she breathed her last (for she was dying)” (NIV). Soul can refer to the whole person, whether alive or in the afterlife. Revelation 6:9-11 says that the souls of those who were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held were under the altar, and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” They speak, and they receive an answer! They were given white robes and instructed to rest yet for a little season. The Christian belief is that the souls of deceased saints are waiting to be clothed with their heavenly body. This will happen on the day Christ returns to earth, with those saints, and dead bodies will rise from the grave, being clothed with bodies made fit for heaven as they rise to meet Jesus in the air. It is noteworthy that although some Christians think it is more correct to say the spirit, rather than the soul, when speaking of the period between physical death and the Day of Judgement, both the AV and the NIV clearly say it is souls under the altar, not spirits.

The soul and the spirit are connected, but separable: “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit…” (Hebrews 4:12) The soul is the essence of humanity – it is who we are. The spirit is that aspect of humanity that connects with God. Jewish people consider that the start of a person's life is at the moment of conception. All human life is sacred to God, even the life of an unborn child.

At the moment of conception.

Souls aren't real. Consciousness is a proven result of brain activity.