The "soul" stuff

[vorlon13]

I do insist the christian religiousites comport themselves in strict accord with scripture in regards to 'souls'.

Upon the first breath following birth, the soul is inspirated into the body and the fetus becomes a living person.

At the end, when the last breath is exhaled, the soul departs the body, regardless of possible continuing cellular activity.

Sneezing is dangerous, the soul can be dislodged, or rendered vulnerable to satanic influence or attack.


Obviously, this is all crapola of high order, but that's the religiousites problem, not mine. They are free to announce a revelation and modify their religionitic views and schism into a new, trendy, and more convenient religion if they want.

[Ben Davis]

Man that's so cool. Would expect more insights on the afterlife, though... haha..

Well, here's the inside scoop: I've experienced no afterlife, only oblivion.

Well, I've reached this far by now:
Soul cannot have memories (those are imprinted in our brains) or "personality" (for the same reason).

Sorry, I'm not following. How have you realised this?

Can't help having the feeling that there is a really radical difference on a person 1 second before he dies and one second after.

Yes... they're... dead... OH! You mean after they recover! No, there isn't necessarily any difference at all. If death has been for long enough or for particular reasons, there might be impaired functions that could constitute 'radical' differences.

The whole "permanent effect" of death is what forces my stupid mind to think that there is something "leaving" our body when it disfunctions that will not "return" if we "fix" it.

What 'permanent' affect of death? What are your observations? Are they behavioural? Neurological? Psychological? It seems to me that some people are affected by their death (once they recover), some are not.

Ben your example (though it is quite cool) does not qualify as "coming back from the dead".

Yes it does. Medically, I had no pulse, no respiration and my brain functions had flat-lined. Had there been no emergency medical intervention, I would have remained in that state. How is that not dead?

Let me put it this way:
If i cut your head... you will probably die... but if I had a way of "stiching" your head back, you wouldn't live again.

I would if you had the right method & tech.

If we compare my body 5 minutes after I am dead to 5 minutes before... cmon man there would not be a REALLY big difference in my physiology... exept the "dead" thing...
So is there something leaving our body when we die? That cannot return if we "undie" physically?

Possibly faeces

[RobbyPants]

Let's say that a man has some sort of heart problem, his heart fails and stops... and some minutes later he's gone.
Let's say now that the exact moment after he's gone, we "fix" his heart and everything else that was hurt during the "dying process"... I don't think he will live again... will he?

People totally come back from being medically dead for minutes. There's a bit of a spectrum of how much brain damage the person will suffer due to lack of oxygen before they can't be revived anymore.

Also, even if souls do exist, there's no compelling reason to think that they have anything to do with the body living. We have figured out numerous ways to keep a person from dying or to bring them back shortly thereafter, and every one of them involves acting on the person's body and not their soul. We don't have soul defibrillators.

So the basic question is... do you believe there is a "soul"? Something more than electrical impulses that fire up neurons in our brain?

No. Should I believe in souls?

[Strongbad]

What happens is the soul leaves and goes to the afterlife. If you revive the body a disembodied possibly evil spirit enters it. It's not the same person anymore.

That is factually correct. It is similar to the effect that a sneeze has on a body. If the person who sneezed is not immediately "blessed", the soul (which was expelled by the sneeze) is replaced by a demon. The person becomes possessed, and can only be cured by an exorcism.

[vorlon13]

Sneezing is bad.

Bad, bad sneeze !!!

[Wyrd of Gawd]

Didn't the Greeks come up with the idea of "souls"?

[Lek]

Didn't the Greeks come up with the idea of "souls"?

We do have a soul which departs from the body after death. The soul is what gives life to our bodies and is spiritual. Without the soul the body is just a bunch of matter which decomposes after the soul leaves it. If a person 'dies" and is brought back, he or she did not die in the first place.

[Rampant.A.I.]

Didn't the Greeks come up with the idea of "souls"?

We do have a soul which departs from the body after death. The soul is what gives life to our bodies and is spiritual. Without the soul the body is just a bunch of matter which decomposes after the soul leaves it. If a person 'dies" and is brought back, he or she did not die in the first place.

[zebo-the-fat]

Didn't the Greeks come up with the idea of "souls"?

We do have a soul which departs from the body after death. The soul is what gives life to our bodies and is spiritual. Without the soul the body is just a bunch of matter which decomposes after the soul leaves it. If a person 'dies" and is brought back, he or she did not die in the first place.

Does a chicken have a soul?

[Cato]

Does a chicken have a soul?

Only when fried.