Ask Me Help Desk - Nature Of The Human Soul:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonegy

Please, please PLEASE - do read the original question. (deja vu or what ??)

1 - Pumpkin - Hank asked for all opinions, so would you please direct your thoughts on the ORIGINAL question to him.

2 - Starman - Roughly the same as above but with the addition that I think by now Hank knows your opinions from postings numbered 7,9,14,16 and 18.

1 & 2 - Your opinions on my posting, while offering you another opportunity to do your ranting, may or may not be of interest to him and as you well know, certainly doesn't interest me as I (and I suspect) quite a few of the other readers are aware of your beliefs ad nauseam.

You did I hope, observe that I used the term "personally" in my posting which means I was speaking (ok writing :) ) a personal message to him. Is this disrespect for other peoples privacy part of your beliefs as I do find it extremely rude and I am very easily hurt - you do realise that we Brits are very sensitive people :p

It's commendable that you give us advice for the sake of keeping the thread on its topic. As you already know by my previous post on other forums concerning thread topics I wholeheartedly agree. You also should be aware that my response to this thread was originally brief and on topic. But some here feel they must express their opinions regarding other people's views. This in turn tends to throw the thread off topic by initiating a sequence of interchanges. A

As for rudeness, if I was rude, I apologize. Being human I slip now and then. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. However I do notice that you then are rude. Also, you take offense at my response to an insult because it is off-topic but don't take umbrage with the off-topic ad hominem insults themselves. Neither do you bring this forum violation to the person's attention and yet you target Pumpkin and me with your advice.

As for privacy, if I did violate your privacy somehow you have my apologies. I'll be more careful next time. In any case, if privacy is what you seek then a private message is better. About my posts, since you consider my posts rantings, and say they don't interest you and provoke an "ad nauseum" insult as well, then perhaps you should not read them.

BTW
Also please keep in mind that not everyone here shares your evaluation of my contributions.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HANK

What lies ahead as the ultimate destiny of the soul?

HANK :)

It is awsome that god made us and including souls... The destiny of the human soul is what you make of it... Either you serve JESUS CHRIST... or you could serve SATAN... God gave us the choice... Heaven or hell... I know when someone DIES... Their soul is in gods hands and from there is up to the person and JESUS CHRIST...

Quote:

Originally Posted by HANK

What lies ahead as the ultimate destiny of the soul?

HANK :)

Hey there Hankoid... nice to "see" you here.

LOL!

;-)

Quote:

Originally Posted by TTFNUAS

Hey there Hankoid ...nice to "see" ya here.

LOL!!

;-)

Hank last post to this site was Nov 12, 2005.

Hank or current resident,

You ask 2 separate questions. What is the nature of the human soul and what is the ultimate destiny of the human soul?
The nature of the human soul is wicked. This is where question 2 comes along: The destiny of the human soul can either be heaven or hell. And thanks be to Christ who transforms us from our wicked ways!

Hello Hank,
How are you doing?

This is a very controversial topic. While the idea of the immortality of the soul in Judaism and in some Christian denominations is due to Platonic influence, the concept was built into Islam from its beginning. The Koran, the holy book of Islam, teaches that man has a soul that goes on living after death. It speaks of the final destiny for the soul as being either life in a heavenly garden of paradise or punishment in a burning hell. This is not to say that Arab scholars have not tried to synthesize Islamic teachings and Greek philosophy. The Arab world, in fact, was influenced to some extent by Aristotle’s work. I believe that the immortality of the soul remains the belief of Muslims.
As a Christian though I personally look to see What the bible says in order to help me understand what the soul is and its destiny.
Gen. 2:7: “ 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. The part of the Hebrew word here rendered “soul” is ne´phesh. KJ, AS, and Dy agree with that rendering. RS, JB, NAB read “being.” NE says “creature.” Kx reads “person.”
1 Cor. 15:45: “It is even so written: ‘The first man Adam became a living soul.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.”
The Christian Greek Scriptures agree with the Hebrew Scriptures as to what the soul is. The Greek word here translated “soul” is the accusative case of psy•khe´. KJ, AS, Dy, JB, NAB, and Kx also read “soul.” RS, NE, and TEV say “being.”)
1 Pet. 3:20: “In Noah’s days . . . a few people, that is, eight souls, were carried safely through the water.” The Greek word here translated “souls” is psy•khai´, the plural form of psy•khe´. KJ, AS, Dy, and Kx also read “souls.” JB and TEV say “people”; RS, NE, and NAB use “persons.”
Gen. 9:5: “Besides that, your blood of your souls [or, “lives”; Hebrew, from ne´phesh] shall I ask back.” Here the soul is said to have blood.
Josh. 11:11: “They went striking every soul [Hebrew, ne´phesh] that was in it with the edge of the sword.” The soul is here shown to be something that can be touched by the sword, so these souls could not have been spirits.
What do some scholars say, do they acknowledge that this is what the Bible says the soul is?
“There is no dichotomy [division] of body and soul in the O[ld] T[estament]. The Israelite saw things concretely, in their totality, and thus he considered men as persons and not as composites. The term nepeš [ne´phesh], though translated by our word soul, never means soul as distinct from the body or the individual person.. . The term [psy•khe´] is the N[ew] T[estament] word corresponding with nepeš. It can mean the principle of life, life itself, or the living being.”New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967), Vol. XIII, pp. 449, 450.
“The Hebrew term for ‘soul’ (nefesh, that which breathes) was used by Moses . . . , signifying an ‘animated being’ and applicable equally to nonhuman beings. . . . New Testament usage of psychē (‘soul’) was comparable to nefesh.”—The New Encyclopædia Britannica (1976), Macropædia, Vol. 15, p. 152.
“The belief that the soul continues its existence after the dissolution of the body is a matter of philosophical or theological speculation rather than of simple faith, and is accordingly nowhere expressly taught in Holy Scripture.”The Jewish Encyclopedia (1910), Vol. VI, p. 564.
Let’s see if the human soul can die according to the scriptures:
Ezek. 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.”
Matt. 10:28: “Do not become fearful of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul ; but rather be in fear of him that can destroy both soul* and body in Gehenna.”
Acts 3:23: “Indeed, any soul [Greek, psy•khe´] that does not listen to that Prophet will be completely destroyed from among the people.”
Does the bible teach that conscious life continue for a person after death of the body?
Ps. 146:4: “His spirit [Hebrew, from ru´ach] goes out, he goes back to his ground; in that day his thoughts do perish.”
Notice this:
“The concept of immortality is a product of Greek thinking, whereas the hope of a resurrection belongs to Jewish thought. . . . Following Alexander’s conquests Judaism gradually absorbed Greek concepts.”—Dictionnaire Encyclopédique de la Bible (Valence, France; 1935), edited by Alexandre Westphal, Vol. 2, p. 557.
“Immortality of the soul is a Greek notion formed in ancient mystery cults and elaborated by the philosopher Plato.”—Presbyterian Life, May 1, 1970, p. 35.
“Do we believe that there is such a thing as death? . . . Is it not the separation of soul and body? And to be dead is the completion of this; when the soul exists in herself, and is released from the body and the body is released from the soul, what is this but death? . . . And does the soul admit of death? No. Then the soul is immortal? Yes.”Plato’s “Phaedo,” Secs. 64, 105, as published in Great Books of the Western World (1952), edited by R. M. Hutchins, Vol. 7, pp. 223, 245, 246.

“The problem of immortality, we have seen, engaged the serious attention of the Babylonian theologians, Neither the people nor the leaders of religious thought ever faced the possibility of the total annihilation of what once was called into existence. Death was a passage to another kind of life.”The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (Boston, 1898), M. Jastrow, Jr. p. 556.

In conclusion Hank, I believe the destiny of our soul is that we die and then if God approves of us and finds us agreeable to him, he can resurrect us and give us life and because our soul is us we can live forever, after we are resurrected.

Acts 24:15: “I have hope toward God, which hope these men themselves also entertain, that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.”

This will include persons who faithfully served God in the past as well as the large number who never knew enough about the true God to accept or to reject his ways.

John 11:25, 26: “Jesus said to her [the sister of a man whom he thereafter restored to life]: ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He that exercises faith in me, even though he dies, will come to life; and everyone that is living and exercises faith in me will never die at all. Do you believe this?’”

My soul’s destiny I believe to be one that if God grants, a soul that will be blessed with eternal life on earth. Notice my hope is mentioned in the Bible.

What does the Bible show to be God’s purpose regarding the earth?
Matt. 6:10: “Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.”
Ps. 37:29: “The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.”

(Ecclesiastes 1:4) A generation is going, and a generation is coming; but the earth is standing even to time indefinite.

(Psalm 104:5) He has founded the earth upon its established places; It will not be made to totter to time indefinite, or forever.
Zeph. 2:3: “Seek Jehovah, all you meek ones of the earth, who have practiced His own judicial decision. Seek righteousness, seek meekness. Probably you may be concealed in the day of Jehovah’s anger.”

Ps. 37:9, 11: “Those hoping in Jehovah are the ones that will possess the earth. . . . The meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.”

It says the same thing in the NKJV and the KJV of the bible, they just do not use God’s name Jehovah.

Take care,
Hope12

Since when does a truth depend on a belief? When we talk about something like the nature of the human soul, you might be aware of the fact they we have not yet discovered a way of objectively analyzing the matter like scientists do when it comes to subjects like botany and biology, where you can discover objective truth, like the fact that plant leaves conduct photosynthesis.

Religious people will tell you that they believe something to be truth because of their faith. Many religions require this kind of commitment. But objective truth, as most people would define it, cannot be based on a belief. In science a belief might bereferred to as a hypothesis, but never as a basis for truth.

I think the ultimate thus evolutionary destination of our souls is to return with fully selfconsciousness to the source where we originated from.

Take whatever is coming to you... let the beauty of it move you!

"that is not dead which can eternally lie yet with strange eons even death may die."
-lovecraft