[yield2apple]

Hello. I know there are a lot of knowledgable people on this forum, and I like the discussions that occur even though they are adversarial. So to draw away from the fighting I thought of a unique question that I have not heard posed by any religion (to my knowledge which isn't a lot .).. Its actually several questions:

If we are to believe that a person has a soul, and that the soul will live on in the afterlife, then where did the soul come from? Was it born, when we were conceived, or was it already in existence, waiting for a living being to take form, so that it could become part of that living being?

If it was born, then why can a soul not die, but live on in an afterlife for eternity?

If it is not born, but was in existence before we are conceived, then what is the pre-life existence that it exists in? Could it be the same as the afterlife?

Any takers?

[Chuckmcd]

Originally posted by yield2apple:
Hello. I know there are a lot of knowledgable people on this forum, and I like the discussions that occur even though they are adversarial. So to draw away from the fighting I thought of a unique question that I have not heard posed by any religion (to my knowledge which isn't a lot .).. Its actually several questions:

If we are to believe that a person has a soul, and that the soul will live on in the afterlife, then where did the soul come from? Was it born, when we were conceived, or was it already in existence, waiting for a living being to take form, so that it could become part of that living being?

If it was born, then why can a soul not die, but live on in an afterlife for eternity?

If it is not born, but was in existence before we are conceived, then what is the pre-life existence that it exists in? Could it be the same as the afterlife?

Any takers?

I'll bite

There's an old Hebrew legend that said something to the effect of this. There's a acave (don't remember the name) where sould dwell. In this cave there is a finite number of souls, the soulds each go out to a new life when one is concieved... after the last sould leaves the next birth is the antichrist, or something. I'm sure I just butchered the legend, maybe someone here know better than I.

From a Christian perspective, I can't say for sure, but there are some passages from the Bible that I draw my own conclusions from. Our souls are each individually created by God, our soul has a beginning, but is created to last forever. Like a ray if your into geometry, has a starting point but goes on forever on one direction. In Jeremiah, and several places in Psalms the God says that he knew you in the secret places before your birth.... knit you together in the womb, before you we born I knew you and purposed youfor this.... since our soul is where the essence of our selves seems to be... I draw the conclusion that our soul is created when God decides to create us. Anyone who know much about conception can probably admit that, even though it's a natural process, it's a miracle.

In short I think the soul is created at conception, I can't say that my religion states that in chapter and verse, but it is the impression I get from the reading of the whole. As for not dying... we were created from the beginning to be eternal creatures, the soul is the only part of us that still holds that nature, IMHO.