Does the Soul exist before birth

[Roger12345]

In the Gospel of John chapter 9 verse 1 it reads:
“As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
This seems to indicate that the disciples presumed some kind of a pre-existence as the man could not have been born blind and sinned unless he sinned prior to being born.

 

[vlf7973]

The soul does exist before birth, but that’s not what this passage was getting at.

The meaning of the passage is that in those days, people believed that illness (such as blindness) was a punishment that God inflicted on people who had sinned. It was also common belief that people were sometimes punished for their parents’s sins.

The disciples noticed that the man was blind for his entire life, so they were basically asking, “What sort of sin could this guy have possibly commited before he was even born? Or is he being punished for his parents’s sins?”

Jesus then answered by telling them that the man’s blindness had nothing to do with the man sinning or with his parents sinning. Basically, Jesus was correcting the incorrect belief that illness was “God’s punishment” and the other incorrect belief that somebody could be punished for someone else’s sins.

 

[ahs]

This from the Catechism:

365 The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the “form” of the body:234 i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature.

366 The Church teaches that every spiritual soul is created immediately by God - it is not “produced” by the parents - and also that it is immortal: it does not perish when it separates from the body at death, and it will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection.235

Plus this:

1652 "By its very nature the institution of marriage and married love is ordered to the procreation and education of the offspring and it is in them that it finds its crowning glory."160

Children are the supreme gift of marriage and contribute greatly to the good of the parents themselves. God himself said: “It is not good that man should be alone,” and “from the beginning (he) made them male and female”; wishing to associate them in a special way in his own creative work, God blessed man and woman with the words: “Be fruitful and multiply.” Hence, true married love and the whole structure of family life which results from it, without diminishment of the other ends of marriage, are directed to disposing the spouses to cooperate valiantly with the love of the Creator and Savior, who through them will increase and enrich his family from day to day.161

1653 The fruitfulness of conjugal love extends to the fruits of the moral, spiritual, and supernatural life that parents hand on to their children by education. Parents are the principal and first educators of their children.162 In this sense the fundamental task of marriage and family is to be at the service of life.163

…makes me think that the soul exists at the immediate moment of conception which is obviously before birth, but not before conception. Does anyone know if the Church has gone into more detail or been more explicit about it?

 

[grannymh]

Our human nature is an unique unification of *both *the material world and the spiritual world. We are not two natures somehow stuck together. It is the immediate union of spirit and matter that forms the single nature of a human being, such as you and me. As material beings, we are created in the image of God because of our spiritual soul.
Thus, we are called by God to share in His life through knowledge and love.

Therefore, at conception, God immediately creates the spiritual soul. It is precisely because of this spiritual soul that the matter produced by the parents becomes a true developing human person within the womb.

Therefore, each human person is worthy of profound respect from the moment of her or his conception.

Please note that this comes from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition, paragraphs 355-368. scborromeo.org/ccc/para/355.htm
Please see the essential paragraphs 365-366 in post 3 above.

 

[mdcpensive1]

My understanding of Jewish traditions is that it was held that a family sin could be held against the family for four generations. That would make this passage in the post plausible.

As for existing before birth, it is not true unless one believes in reincarnation. The soul is the principle of life and each one of us has a unique soul made in God’s image. Making it exist before our birth means that it existed in another form of life.

 

[bzkoss236]

As for existing before birth, it is not true unless one believes in reincarnation.

This is not true, the soul does exist before birth. The soul is created at conception, which, obviously, happens before birth (by about 9 months).

 

[mdcpensive1]

This is not true, the soul does exist before birth. The soul is created at conception, which, obviously, happens before birth (by about 9 months).

You are correct, my bad. I should have said conception like you pointed out. I don’t follow the supreme court on this matter.

 

[bzkoss236]

You are correct, my bad. I should have said conception like you pointed out. I don’t follow the supreme court on this matter.

That’s alright, I figured that you just misspoke (miswrote?).

 

[ahs]

You are correct, my bad. I should have said conception like you pointed out. I don’t follow the supreme court on this matter.

Don’t feel bad. I actually had the same thing flashing through my head when I was about to respond…then realized the thread said “birth” and not “conception”, so I changed my reply just before posting it.

 

[AmbroseSJ]

Our human nature is an unique unification of *both *the material world and the spiritual world. We are not two natures somehow stuck together. It is the immediate union of spirit and matter that forms the single nature of a human being, such as you and me. As material beings, we are created in the image of God because of our spiritual soul.
Thus, we are called by God to share in His life through knowledge and love.

Therefore, at conception, God immediately creates the spiritual soul. It is precisely because of this spiritual soul that the matter produced by the parents becomes a true developing human person within the womb.

Therefore, each human person is worthy of profound respect from the moment of her or his conception.

Please note that this comes from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition, paragraphs 355-368. scborromeo.org/ccc/para/355.htm
Please see the essential paragraphs 365-366 in post 3 above.

Exactly! It was this understanding by the Church, whereby the soul and body are created together at once that made the Immaculate Conception possible. Before that, there was the opinion that the soul came somewhat after the body’s conception. This difficulty caused St. Thomas to doubt the possibility of the Immaculate Conception.