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Existance of The Soul

How can we know if we have a soul? How do we know souls exist?  First it takes accepting that logic can be used to deduce truth.  If you don't believe truth exists or don't believe it is possible to come to know truth; that is for a different argument.  This article will present 4 arguments for the existence of a soul that which is separate from the physical body.


The first question is; is our mind and consciousness the SAME as our material brain?

The Mind - If we cut open our brains will we visibly see our mind and consciousness?  No.   If we hear music or look at a painting that strikes us to be masterfully beautiful, yet, keep this feeling inside our mind; can we find this feeling in a physical examination of your brain? No.  Therefore our immaterial mind is not the same as our material brain.  Inner thoughts and feelings are private until made known through material means.  But they do not have to be made material (sound waves, body movements).  Forgotten inner secrets that were never made public, can not be physically examined.  Does that mean they did not actually exist?  Think of  something that only YOU know, that you have not yet told anyone, and what if you died a few seconds later.  Did those thoughts never exist?  Thus we can conclude that our mind and consciousness is DIFFERENT and separate from our physical brain.  A honest and rational person must admit there is something within us different from our brain.

What about brain scans?  Science can see brain activity in varying degrees. Colors are used to highlight more intensive activity than others. But again, does the registering intensive electrical brain activity make the explicit statement of a feeling of passionate love or compelling compassion and pure beauty? No.

Ownership - Now lets look at our brains. Who's brain is your brain?  Obviously yours.  Who's body is your body? Yours.  If you lose a limb, are you no longer you?  If you lose a piece of your brain, are you no longer you?  Even when we think of our selves, we all place the essence of our being as the owner of our physical material body.  Our mind and consciousness owns our body.  You admit that your body and brain is something other than YOU because you take ownership of your body.  We admit there exist something within us, that is us, that take ownership and of our bodies. 

Identity - This brings us to another interesting truth about our 'something' a part from our body.  If you get a liver transplant, heart transplant, prosthetic limb, get an arm amputated, and get tattoos and piercings to cover your whole body; are you no longer you?  Is the essence of your identity as YOU defined by your physical state?  No.  Your body is in an absolute different state from age 5 to age 55; yet, you are still you at age 55 just as much as at age 5. Therefore we can conclude that who YOU are is not purely a physical being and your identity transcends your material state.
  • Was Hellen Keller, not a HER, because she could not see or hear? How was she aware of her own existence if she could not see the world she existed in?  At 19 months old she became deaf and blind.  Can you remember what you were doing and thinking at 19 months old?  Despite your forgotten thoughts, were you still you?  Hellen Keller stated: "If I write what my soul thinks, it will be visible, and the words will be its body".
  • Is Nick Vujicic, a man born with no arms or legs, less of a person?  If our identity is at its premise sourced from our physical bodies than that would require us to say that his identity is is less of a being or even a different kind of being due to his bodily abnormalities from birth defects.  But clearly this is untrue.  He's identity is not dependent on his body but something transcending his body.
  • Did Joni Eareckson Tada transform into a different being when she became paralyzed from her neck down?  Did she become something else or is she still who she is?  Clearly her lifestyle and some aspects of daily life would change, but is she no longer HER?  Again, we see that her identity in her inner most being is not dependent on her physical body but transcendent to it. 
 
Immeasurably - Because our mind, consciousness, and identity is not bound to our physical state, it is also immeasurable.  Your body maybe 5 feet 11 inches tall and weight 155 pounds.  Your brain may take up X number of space in your skull.  But how long, wide, tall, deep, dense, volume, and heavy is your consciousness?  The immaterial can not be measured by material means.  Therefore we can see a immeasurable immaterial dimension within us.
  “You don’t have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.” - George MacDonald
We can deduce that our mind and the absolute essence of our being (soul) exists a part from our body, and transcends our body.  Our absolute essence and identity is not defined by our body and not measured by material means.  The absolute essence of our being, our soul, is separate, immaterial, and immeasurable.

What does the bible say about our soul?
Matthew 10:28 "do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."
Jesus is referring to God as to the one who can destroy both body and soul, but notice Jesus separates the body and soul as two different things.
Ecclesiastes 12:7 "And the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it."
Genesis 35:18 "And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni"
Again, there is a separation between body and soul.  Both together but eventually return to where they came; and not the same place.  Here we see the soul is supernatural and the body is natural.
Revelation 6:9 "When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne."
Here we see the soul existing with out the body and after the body.  Also in Luke 16:19-31. 

Where did our souls come from?
Jeremiah 38:16 "As the Lord lives, who made our souls,"
The soul was created by God.  God created our essence of being.  God created our bodies from the natural material world (dust from the earth) created our soul (breath of life) and infused the two for his Will and Glory to be done in creation.

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