Hello, Darwinian,
You certainly have some interesting thoughts on what the soul is. The soul is not yours in the sense that according to the Bible which the Xians who you spoke of as trying to 'convert' you are supposed to be inspired by says that the soul is in a literal sense the blood and sacred. God given and returning to the ground when you die. That is why Ezekiel 18:4 says the soul dies and belongs to God.
In a more figurative sense the soul is yours in that the Bible also uses the application as being the life of an animal or person. But either way the soul isn't something that is a mystical part of you that is immortal and lives on after you die. That concept isn't according to Bible teachings but comes from pagan teachings and were introduced into Jewish thinking probably about the time of Alexander the Great and then later through the teachings of Plato and Socrates; Greek philosophy influenced the Xian thinking.
The Hebrew nephesh and the Greek psykhe both mean a person or animal or the life which the person or animal enjoys. In a basic literal sense the soul is the blood of any living creature and in a more figurative sense it is the life of or the person or animal itself.
The soul dies, it is mortal. It is not the same as the spirit, they (the spirit and the soul) are sometimes used in the same verse of the Bible with obvious use of the words indicating they are different.
Recently, when The Jewish Publication Society of America issued a new translation of the Torah, or first five books of the Bible, the editor-in-chief, H. M. Orlinsky of Hebrew Union College, stated that the word "soul" had been virtually eliminated from this translation because, "the Hebrew word in question here is 'Nefesh.'" He added: "Other translators have interpreted it to mean 'soul,' which is completely inaccurate. The Bible does not say we have a soul. 'Nefesh' is the person himself, his need for food, the very blood in his veins, his being." - The New York Times, October 12, 1962.
"There is no dichotomy of body and soul in the O T. The Israelite saw things concretely, in their totality, and thus he considered men as persons and not as composites. The term nepes [nephesh], though translated by our word soul, never means soul as distinct from the body or the individual person . . . . The term psykhe is the N T word corresponding with nepes. It can mean the principle of life, life itself, or the living being." - New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967), Vol. XIII, pp. 449, 450.
"The Hebrew term for 'soul' (nefesh) was used by Moses . . . . signifying an 'animated being' and applicable equally to nonhuman beings. . . . New Testament usage of psyche ('soul') was comparable to nefesh." - The New Encyclopædia Britannica (1976), Macropædia, Vol. 15, p. 152.
"The belief that the soul continues its existence after the dissolution of the body is a matter of philosophical or theological speculation rather than of simple faith, and is accordingly nowhere expressly taught in Holy Scripture." - The Jewish Encyclopedia (1910), Vol. VI, p. 564.
You certainly have some interesting thoughts on what the soul is. The soul is not yours in the sense that according to the Bible which the Xians who you spoke of as trying to 'convert' you are supposed to be inspired by says that the soul is in a literal sense the blood and sacred. God given and returning to the ground when you die. That is why Ezekiel 18:4 says the soul dies and belongs to God.
In a more figurative sense the soul is yours in that the Bible also uses the application as being the life of an animal or person. But either way the soul isn't something that is a mystical part of you that is immortal and lives on after you die. That concept isn't according to Bible teachings but comes from pagan teachings and were introduced into Jewish thinking probably about the time of Alexander the Great and then later through the teachings of Plato and Socrates; Greek philosophy influenced the Xian thinking.
The Hebrew nephesh and the Greek psykhe both mean a person or animal or the life which the person or animal enjoys. In a basic literal sense the soul is the blood of any living creature and in a more figurative sense it is the life of or the person or animal itself.
The soul dies, it is mortal. It is not the same as the spirit, they (the spirit and the soul) are sometimes used in the same verse of the Bible with obvious use of the words indicating they are different.
Recently, when The Jewish Publication Society of America issued a new translation of the Torah, or first five books of the Bible, the editor-in-chief, H. M. Orlinsky of Hebrew Union College, stated that the word "soul" had been virtually eliminated from this translation because, "the Hebrew word in question here is 'Nefesh.'" He added: "Other translators have interpreted it to mean 'soul,' which is completely inaccurate. The Bible does not say we have a soul. 'Nefesh' is the person himself, his need for food, the very blood in his veins, his being." - The New York Times, October 12, 1962.
"There is no dichotomy of body and soul in the O T. The Israelite saw things concretely, in their totality, and thus he considered men as persons and not as composites. The term nepes [nephesh], though translated by our word soul, never means soul as distinct from the body or the individual person . . . . The term psykhe is the N T word corresponding with nepes. It can mean the principle of life, life itself, or the living being." - New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967), Vol. XIII, pp. 449, 450.
"The Hebrew term for 'soul' (nefesh) was used by Moses . . . . signifying an 'animated being' and applicable equally to nonhuman beings. . . . New Testament usage of psyche ('soul') was comparable to nefesh." - The New Encyclopædia Britannica (1976), Macropædia, Vol. 15, p. 152.
"The belief that the soul continues its existence after the dissolution of the body is a matter of philosophical or theological speculation rather than of simple faith, and is accordingly nowhere expressly taught in Holy Scripture." - The Jewish Encyclopedia (1910), Vol. VI, p. 564.
