Do you have a soul?

[Frodo]

From Merriam-Webster:

1: the immaterial essence, animating principle, or actuating cause of an individual life

2: the spiritual principle embodied in human beings, all rational and spiritual beings, or the universe

[Senator Ben]

Absolutely.

[Grad Students are the Worst]

A lot of definitions of "soul" are so abstract and bizarre that I can't even figure out what they mean.  I don't believe in a metaphysical soul, although "don't know" would also be an appropriate answer.  I just don't see much reason to believe in a soul, but I think virtually every honest atheist is effectively agnostic on the topic.

Also, Ben, not to get on your case, but of all the topics that justify explaining why you believe something, doesn't this seem like a self-evident one?

[© Tweed the Younger]

increasingly I'm taking to the view that the difference between a 'yes' and a 'no' here - along with a host of other 'religious' differences - can trace back to a difference in semantics.

[afleitch]

No. My body is composed of atoms and my brain of electrical currents in matter. The part of me that is ‘separate’ from my body; my thoughts and feelings and my words are not so separate at all. Without the matter, there would be no mind. When I die, thinking stops, being stops and the matter is broken down and recycled. Nothing of me lives on or continues to exist. How egotistical of me to think that amongst all living things, a human’s ‘soul’ gets to exist beyond death. It’s the construct of a sentient being that feels cheated by death.

If however such a thing were to exist then it is mine. Why should it belong to, or go to another entity? I’d rather it be destroyed than become the play thing of a benevolent (or not so benevolent) entity. Let it escape.

[IDS Judicial Overlord John Dibble]

The consciousness that is me is an emergent property of my brain as far as I can tell, so no.

[So the Heroes Fall]

No prude, such things do not exist.

(Well of course that's not what I believe, I most certainly believe I do. This thread just needed someone to quote that classic line.)

[BushKenya]

I absolutely have a soul.  Everyone has a soul.  The soul is who I am.  I am not a brain or a beating heart or functioning organs.  I am a living, caring, breathing soul with a heart that cares for other soul's destinations.  When I die, my physical body will stay 6 feet under in the ground and rot away and turn back to dust, but my soul will be taken to heaven to be with its Creator and live forever and be given a new body, a body without pain, without tears, without any kind of sickness or sorrow, a body that will never break down.  Those who have not believed in Christ in the life they were given, will still live forever, but it will be judged and sent to an eternity in a lake of sulphur fire and eternal separation from God.  No one will ever get used to hell and no one will die once in hell, it will be constant excruciating torment and torture that has no end whatsoever.  Once a soul is sent to hell there is no hope for it anymore, it can never get to heaven after that.  The reverse is true, as well.  Once a soul enters heaven, hope is turned to reality, and does not have to worry anymore about being sent to hell.

[IDS Judicial Overlord John Dibble]

Those who have not believed in Christ in the life they were given, will still live forever, but it will be judged and sent to an eternity in a lake of sulphur fire and eternal separation from God.  No one will ever get used to hell and no one will die once in hell, it will be constant excruciating torment and torture that has no end whatsoever.  Once a soul is sent to hell there is no hope for it anymore, it can never get to heaven after that.

Remember folks, God loves you so much that if you don't love him back in the right fashion he'll ship you off to his fiery torture basement where you'll endlessly writhe in indescribable agony with no hope of escape. Truly the act of a loving parental figure and not of a sadistic narcissistic sociopath.

[BushKenya]

Those who have not believed in Christ in the life they were given, will still live forever, but it will be judged and sent to an eternity in a lake of sulphur fire and eternal separation from God.  No one will ever get used to hell and no one will die once in hell, it will be constant excruciating torment and torture that has no end whatsoever.  Once a soul is sent to hell there is no hope for it anymore, it can never get to heaven after that.

Remember folks, God loves you so much that if you don't love him back in the right fashion he'll ship you off to his fiery torture basement where you'll endlessly writhe in indescribable agony with no hope of escape. Truly the act of a loving parental figure and not of a sadistic narcissistic sociopath.

You have to understand that while God is a loving God, He is also a just God.  Romans 3:23 says "For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God."  Every single person on this earth has sinned and since God is a perfect God, one little white lie is enough to send a person to hell.  That's why He sent His only Son, Jesus, who was tempted in every way we are and yet never sinned to die for us and take our place.  The scandal of Christianity is not why do some people go to hell.  The scandal of Christianity is why would God allow anyone into heaven.  The Rev. Billy Graham and Adolf Hitler both deserve to go to the same place, hell.  The difference is not that Rev. Graham is a beloved minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but that He accepted the free gift of salvation.

[oakvale]

No. My body is composed of atoms and my brain of electrical currents in matter. The part of me that is ‘separate’ from my body; my thoughts and feelings and my words are not so separate at all. Without the matter, there would be no mind. When I die, thinking stops, being stops and the matter is broken down and recycled. Nothing of me lives on or continues to exist. How egotistical of me to think that amongst all living things, a human’s ‘soul’ gets to exist beyond death. It’s the construct of a sentient being that feels cheated by death.

If however such a thing were to exist then it is mine. Why should it belong to, or go to another entity? I’d rather it be destroyed than become the play thing of a benevolent (or not so benevolent) entity. Let it escape.

^^^ This is a very good post.

[Insula Dei]

The denial of mental properties has always seemed weird and unlogic to me. (The question of mental substances is something else, of course. As is the "vitalitist" conception of the soul as a moving principle.)

[IDS Judicial Overlord John Dibble]

Those who have not believed in Christ in the life they were given, will still live forever, but it will be judged and sent to an eternity in a lake of sulphur fire and eternal separation from God.  No one will ever get used to hell and no one will die once in hell, it will be constant excruciating torment and torture that has no end whatsoever.  Once a soul is sent to hell there is no hope for it anymore, it can never get to heaven after that.

Remember folks, God loves you so much that if you don't love him back in the right fashion he'll ship you off to his fiery torture basement where you'll endlessly writhe in indescribable agony with no hope of escape. Truly the act of a loving parental figure and not of a sadistic narcissistic sociopath.

You have to understand that while God is a loving God, He is also a just God.  Romans 3:23 says "For all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God."  Every single person on this earth has sinned and since God is a perfect God, one little white lie is enough to send a person to hell.

It is not just to punish someone for failing to meet a standard that by definition they can't possibly reach, nor is it just to levy an infinite punishment onto someone for deeds that are finite. Somewhere inside of you there's something that realizes this - after all, you wouldn't even send someone to jail for a white lie, but at the same time you say someone who makes a white lie deserves endless agony for which there is no earthly comparison. Why the disconnect? Why the double standard?

That's why He sent His only Son, Jesus, who was tempted in every way we are and yet never sinned to die for us and take our place.

He's supposed to be all powerful - why exactly does he need to send himself to be brutally sacrificed to himself to make a loophole in the rules he made? Why can't he just snap his fingers and declare the rules changed?

The scandal of Christianity is not why do some people go to hell.  The scandal of Christianity is why would God allow anyone into heaven.

The scandal of Christianity is that it posits the supposedly loving God created a fiery torture basement in which to cause people endless pain for all eternity.

[True Federalist]

If however such a thing were to exist then it is mine. Why should it belong to, or go to another entity? I’d rather it be destroyed than become the play thing of a benevolent (or not so benevolent) entity. Let it escape.

Perhaps you were just being preëmptive, but at the point you posted this, no one had brought up what happens with the soul after death, or even how long it exists afterward.  Plus, there are quite a few belief systems in which souls do not remain distinct and isolated.  After all, if one thinks of the soul as being analogous to water in a bucket, then one should expect that once you kick the bucket the water would mix together with other water.

[afleitch]

If however such a thing were to exist then it is mine. Why should it belong to, or go to another entity? I’d rather it be destroyed than become the play thing of a benevolent (or not so benevolent) entity. Let it escape.

Perhaps you were just being preëmptive, but at the point you posted this, no one had brought up what happens with the soul after death, or even how long it exists afterward.  Plus, there are quite a few belief systems in which souls do not remain distinct and isolated.  After all, if one thinks of the soul as being analogous to water in a bucket, then one should expect that once you kick the bucket the water would mix together with other water.

It seems to me that if any essense of one's being exists after death, then presumably it is under your command. My mind can already acheive things that my body cannot. My mind can 'play' every leap of Beethovens 9th, but my hands couldn't play it. It can deal with me doing what my body cannot especially in the dream state. Given how weak relatively, the physical body is it seems very strange in the Christian tradition that the soul can remain under your command as it will, in the confines of your body, but when it escapes that physical burden it suddenly becomes the plaything of another entity.

Surely the soul should be more free and less hindered and by extension more 'mobile' outside of the body? Surely it should be more vulnerable encased in flesh; yet it appears that it is out of reach of other god like entities while encased and is therefore more protected. Should that be the case however then would it not make more sense for the soul to be imparted onto another body to keep it both protected and independent? If that is what you seek of course.

[True Federalist]

The question posed by the OP did not confine itself to the Abrahamic traditions concerning the soul.

[afleitch]

The question posed by the OP did not confine itself to the Abrahamic traditions concerning the soul.

Neither did my responses (unlike BushOK). Yet you seem a tad perturbed that I brought it up; why?

[True Federalist]

The question posed by the OP did not confine itself to the Abrahamic traditions concerning the soul.

Neither did my responses (unlike BushOK). Yet you seem a tad perturbed that I brought it up; why?

You focused upon one tradition at a point where the conversation was still generalist in nature and the arguments you have made against the existence of the soul all pertain to one particular conception of the soul - that of an atomic soul which is indivisible and incombinable.

[Senator Ben]

Also, Ben, not to get on your case, but of all the topics that justify explaining why you believe something, doesn't this seem like a self-evident one?

Of course

That said, I cannot really explain it   It's rooted in the belief that God created me with a special purpose, like He did with all humans.

[greenforest32]

The consciousness that is me is an emergent property of my brain as far as I can tell, so no.

I agree with this. I think that when the physical body dies, our consciousness dies with it.

We need cyborg/android body upgrades

[BushKenya]

The question posed by the OP did not confine itself to the Abrahamic traditions concerning the soul.

Neither did my responses (unlike BushOK). Yet you seem a tad perturbed that I brought it up; why?

It's because when I think of the term "soul", I automatically think of the spiritual realm.  I cannot separate the two, for the spiritual realm encompasses my entire being and my entire thought process.  I am in the world, but I try so hard not to be of the world.

[Redalgo]

No, I do not think I have one. It would be nice if I did though.

[gunnut]

Atheist though I may be, I believe in ghosts. There certainly are many unexplained occurences and phenomena that are (sometimes falsely) concluded as paranormal activity. These occurences are caused by leftover energy from the person who once was there. Therefore, my conclusion is that people must have souls.

[IDS Judicial Overlord John Dibble]

Atheist though I may be, I believe in ghosts. There certainly are many unexplained occurences and phenomena that are (sometimes falsely) concluded as paranormal activity. These occurences are caused by leftover energy from the person who once was there. Therefore, my conclusion is that people must have souls.

So what exactly is your evidence for the the bolded portion?

[Torie]

No.