When we talk about the soul and what it is, we have to go back in time before science. We may try to find a scientific definition of a soul, but I don't believe that that is what we were talking about here. Since I believe that most everyone on this net are Christian, then we would look to the Bible for what God has inspired his prophets to define what a soul is. That is where the 4 points of definition which I gave before came from.
A soul = living person (by interpretative comparison between KJV and NIV of Gen. 2:7)
A soul [living person] = body + breath of life. This equation is derived from Gen 2:7
A soul [living person] /= (not equal) body - breath of life /= body [not living person] (this is a dead body) This is a logical deduction from Gen 2:7
A soul [living person] /= breath of life - body /= breath of life [life force] (a soul is not spirit [the life force] A soul may have spirit but not be spirit.) This is a logical deduction from Gen 2:7
When we start using science we, as Christians, will use science within the above definition of the soul. You have to first define what you mean by a soul before you can attempt to use science to study the soul. The same thing applies to "body," "breath of life" and "living person." Science is not the end all in determining truth. We have to first make philosophical assumptions and definitions and then we can do science.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Oct 19 2000 - 08:57:27 EDT