All living things have souls

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This first sentence appears in the Quick Question Q & A email. I believe the question is in regards to the embryo, but trees having souls sounds like animism? God created man in his image, not trees( as lovely as they are).

peace
 
This first sentence appears in the Quick Question Q & A email. I believe the question is in regards to the embryo, but trees having souls sounds like animism? God created man in his image, not trees( as lovely as they are).

peace
My understanding (which maybe wrong) is that all living creatures have souls but only man has an eternal soul. Animals and possibly even trees have temporal souls; meaning that they cease to exist after physical death. As I said, I may be wrong on the issue though.
 
My understanding (which maybe wrong) is that all living creatures have souls but only man has an eternal soul. Animals and possibly even trees have temporal souls; meaning that they cease to exist after physical death. As I said, I may be wrong on the issue though.
Yes, humans have rational souls and are immortal. All living things have souls, the animating principle.
 
My understanding (which maybe wrong) is that all living creatures have souls but only man has an eternal soul. Animals and possibly even trees have temporal souls; meaning that they cease to exist after physical death. As I said, I may be wrong on the issue though.
I think the operative word here is “creature”. I wouldn’t think of a tree as a creature. But, I believe it was Aquinas who wrote about the animating soul of animals, not an everlasting one like the souls of men.
 
My understanding (which maybe wrong) is that all living creatures have souls but only man has an eternal soul. Animals and possibly even trees have temporal souls; meaning that they cease to exist after physical death. As I said, I may be wrong on the issue though.
A like the way Frank Sheed says it in Theology and Sanity; the soul is the animating principle of a body, all animals have a soul, but only man has a soul which is a Spirit. Angels have a Spirit but no body and thus no soul. So just as man in the only soul which is a Spirit, he is the only Spirit that is a soul.
 
This first sentence appears in the Quick Question Q & A email. I believe the question is in regards to the embryo, but trees having souls sounds like animism? God created man in his image, not trees( as lovely as they are).

peace
In the OP it says “all living things”. Does a tree have a soul?

peace
 
I remember reading this a long time ago. I paraphrase…

A carrot has a soul… meaning “life giving principle” A carrot does not have an immortal soul.

A human being has a soul that had a beginning and will have no end. The soul of a human is made of spirit.

I am not saying that what I have remembered and written is said correctly. If anyone can articulate it correctly I would appreciate it.
 
In the OP it says “all living things”. Does a tree have a soul?

peace
Yes.

Plants have their own type of soul because they too are living; animals theirs; human souls share both as they all share ‘Life’; but human souls, additionally, are also rational and immortal.
 
This first sentence appears in the Quick Question Q & A email. I believe the question is in regards to the embryo, but trees having souls sounds like animism? God created man in his image, not trees( as lovely as they are).

peace
angels have angel souls, humans have human souls, animals have animals souls, plants have plant souls. What is alive has a soul because that is the life principle. Plant and animal souls die when the organism dies. Human and angelic souls live in eternity. Angels have no bodies, but the earthly body of every human who dies will be resurrected at the end of the world and reunited with its soul, for all eternity. No God did not create trees and foxes in his image, he created humans in his image, entirely good, body and soul, which is why they will live that way forever.
 
Bear with me. If I see my soul will I recognize it as me? If I knew you in time will I recognize your soul as you in no time? What faculties does the human soul possess?

peace
 
Bear with me. If I see my soul will I recognize it as me? If I knew you in time will I recognize your soul as you in no time? What faculties does the human soul possess?

peace
Your soul is you, in a way, its faculties are here.
 
Where are you all getting that plants and animals have souls?
Aristotle.
Souls can be grouped generally into three categories, plant, animal, and human.
With soul being defined as the animating principle of life.
 
Aristotle. Souls can be grouped generally into three categories, plant, animal, and human. With soul being defined as the animating principle of life.
And why are you all believing what Aristotle said?
 
And why are you all believing what Aristotle said?
maybe they are gnosticsf

From the catholic encyclopedia…

"As regards monistic systems generally, it belongs rather to cosmology to discuss them. We take our stand on the consciousness of individual personality, which consciousness is a distinct deliverance of our very highest faculties, growing more and more explicit with the strengthening of our moral and intellectual being. This consciousness is emphatic, as against the figments of a fallaciously abstract reason, in asserting the self-subsistence (and at the same time the finitude) of our being, i.e. it declares that we are independent inasmuch as we are truly persons or selves, not mere attributes or adjectives, while at the same time, by exhibiting our manifold limitations, it directs us to a higher Cause on which our being depends.

Such is the Catholic doctrine on the nature, unity, substantiality, spirituality, and origin of the soul. It is the only system consistent with Christian faith, and, we may add, morals, for both Materialism and Monism logically cut away the foundations of these. The foregoing historical sketch will have served also to show another advantage it possesses — namely, that it is by far the most comprehensive, and at the same time discriminating, synthesis of whatever is best in rival systems. It recognizes the physical conditions of the soul’s activity with the Materialist, and its spiritual aspect with the Idealist, while with the Monist it insists on the vital unity of human life. It enshrines the principles of ancient speculation, and is ready to receive and assimilate the fruits of modern research."

peace
 
maybe they are gnosticsf
So, did you pose the question to classify who was Gnostic? My question to you is… if you do not believe that all living creatures have souls, where and how did you draw this conclusion?

Let’s be plain here. I’m not questioning whether or not animals and plants go to heaven. I am simply questioning your apparent belief that living animals and/or plants do not possess a finite soul. That is, a soul which ceases to exist after physical death.

As a side note… I do not believe that the Church has specifically given an answer to this question; nor have I seen evidence in scripture that is contrary to living creatures (outside of humanity) having souls. If you have or if you know where I might find Church doctrine that says that a living animal or plant does not have a soul, please share it.
 
Where are you all getting that plants and animals have souls?
Thomas Aquinas
no repeat, no they do not have rational eternal human souls, they have vegetative of animal souls which die when the organism dies. If it is alive it has a soul, that is what life means. No those plant and animal souls do not survive after death. It has been stated and restated here, what is the problem?
 
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