Are there agreed upon definitions for "soul", &quo

Definition of terms and explanation of concepts

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Logomachist
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Are there agreed upon definitions for "soul", &quo

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Post by Logomachist »

The Bible often uses the terms "sprit", "soul", "mind", "energy" and even "heart" in contexts in which their precise meanings and distinctions aren't clear to me. I've also read that sometimes different words in the original text are sometimes translated into the same word in English. Are there agreed upon definitions anywhere for these words, and any systematic theory as to why words and translated the way they are?

Personally, "soul" to me suggests the immortal element that survives after death of the physical body, and spirit suggests the animating life force that dies when the body dies, but these definitions don't always seem to fit the contexts in which they're used.

Logomachist
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Catholic Encyclopedia: good source, but no definative defs

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Post by Logomachist »

To answer my own questions, I found some very informative definitions from this Catholic Encyclopedia. Unfortunately the answer seems to be that different people used the words to mean different things at different times.

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Jacob Simonsky
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Re: Are there agreed upon definitions for "soul",

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Post by Jacob Simonsky »

Personally, "soul" to me suggests the immortal element that survives after death of the physical body, and spirit suggests the animating life force that dies when the body dies, but these definitions don't always seem to fit the contexts in which they're used.[/quote]

Everything in creation is essentially of spirit. Much which exists in spirit also is copied in physical matter but spirit comes first. It is with "spiritual mass" that God impresses His will thus creating a human being for instance.

The body is physical. We all know that. It is animated, via the central nervous system and controlled by the brain, by the "energy sheath" which is sometimes called the ethereal body. The soul is comprised of mental matter only and does not inhabit the body but is only attached to it during a lifetime. At death it is the energy body that leaves the physical with all the life memories intact. It rejoins the soul then for judgment.

People sometimes see a ghost. They are seeing the energy double left from a human when death occurs. There is intelligence in this. They are vital. They are seldom hurtful and never demonic.

Everything becomes easy to understand when we stop using "natural" to apply to only those things that we can quantify in a laboratory. Spirit exists in nature even more than physical structures do therefore spirit is "natural". Supernatural? No. Bad word. Conveys magic which is preposterous.

Has anyone ever seen air? No. It is physical and we know it. We can occasionally see spirit though but cannot bring ourselves to acknowledge that it is a very natural thing and nothing to do with any "satan".
Please do not ask me to provide evidence of what I claim. I have no interest in persuading anyone to believe as I do.

Jew, Christian and Muslim... all equal in G-d's eye.

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Choir Loft
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Re: Are there agreed upon definitions for "soul",

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Post by Choir Loft »

Logomachist wrote: The Bible often uses the terms "sprit", "soul", "mind", "energy" and even "heart" in contexts in which their precise meanings and distinctions aren't clear to me. I've also read that sometimes different words in the original text are sometimes translated into the same word in English. Are there agreed upon definitions anywhere for these words, and any systematic theory as to why words and translated the way they are?

Personally, "soul" to me suggests the immortal element that survives after death of the physical body, and spirit suggests the animating life force that dies when the body dies, but these definitions don't always seem to fit the contexts in which they're used.
Biblically, as well as with any other document, the context of a word defines its meaning. We derive humor as well as truth from the use of words in context.

Additionally, the cultural definition of terms impacts meaning as well. If you wish to do a word study on "soul" I suggest several source materials. This is a study plan that will work well with any term or word. You'll often find in pursuing knowledge this way that uneducated opinions often lead one astray from truth.

1. Begin with a Bible dictionary. This will give you a starting point.

2. Expand the study with a concordance. Use a good one, not just the limited selection you'll find in the back of most Bibles. A concordance will list the complete or partial sentences in which the target word is used.

3. Finally, consult at least two scholarly interpretative works. Specific phrases or scriptures have different interpretations depending upon conservative or liberal views. I like to refer to both.

THE SOUL ...

Before Christianity came on the scene, ancient western philosophers believed that human consciousness was made of three components; body, mind and spirit. The total package was called a soul.

The word soul can also be translated in place of 'spirit' - the non-corporeal portion of consciousness.

Scientifically, the body is a biological machine that supports the bio-electrical computer or brain that functions as 'mind'. Human consciousness is something else entirely.

Again referring to the ancients, the three parts impact one another. The body affects the mind, which in turn affects the spirit and vice versa. Millions have testified as to the workings of these components upon one another - and we haven't gotten anywhere near Christian theology.

Christianity goes a step further by stating that the living mind/body/spirit makes a permanent impact upon the human spirit when it encounters other spirits - specifically God. That which survives the death of body and mind is formed and affected by what happens to the three components in life.

The issues you grow up with and the kind of person you become affects what your spirit is in eternity. If Christ is part of that process during life, then eternal happiness is assured. If Christ is not part of that process, then the human spirit becomes disconnected after death. It is stripped of everything and has taken nothing with it. This is the meaning of the phrase 'to be damned'.

Hope all this helps your spirit.

but that's just me, hollering from the choir loft...
R.I.P. AMERICAN REPUBLIC
[June 21, 1788 - October 26, 2001]

- Here lies Liberty -
Born in the spring,
died in the fall.
Stabbed in the back,
forsaken by all.

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Benoni
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Post by Benoni »

I see our soul as not pure spirit. In Genesis there are two creation, One is when God made us in His image and likeness which is our spirit for God is a spirit not a soul.

Gen 1:26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
God is a spirit and when God created Adam on the sixth day, he was created in God’s image and likeness; which is spirit.

And then we have the other creation where God lowered us and made us a soul man and created us from the dust of the earth. To set us up to fall.

Genesis 2: 2And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
Gen. 2:7And 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.

Context…Context.


It was the seventh day, God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Notice 6th day created God’s image.

7th day formed from the dust of the ground and be became a living soul. Two days formed and created, spirit and soul.
God lowered Adam from a pure spiritual being on the seventh day to a being formed from the dust of the earth and a living soul.

It was God who put Adam in the garden, it was God who made Adam innocent, it was God who created the tree of good and evil, it was God who put the serpent in the garden, a liar, a manslayer, a deceiver.

Adam had no choice. It was God who had a savior before he had a sinner, for the lamb was slain from the foundation of the earth.

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