Is the soul in any way related to genetics?

[Robert_Sock]

My understanding is that the soul is God-given, and therefore is independent of ancestry. I believe what this suggests is that we could “easily” have been born from different parents. OTOH, the Church teaches that the body and soul are one, and cannot be separated. But it still seems to me that it’s plausible for our soul to have been united to a different body.

It may be interesting to note that according to the *Tanya *(Chabad), the soul is indeed reincarnated into different bodies (up to 3-4 times I believe, or until it has achieved the performance of all of the 613 commandments) and at the time of the resurrection each soul will be reunited with the body which it had here on earth.

 

[Mintaka]

Not to be rude here, but asking whether the soul is related to genetics is like asking if a car is related to a banana. Except that at least cars and bananas are both made out of matter.

Catholic theology teaches that each soul is newly created by God at the moment of a human’s conception. So, no, a soul couldn’t easily belong to the same person with different parents. A person with different parents would be a totally different person, with a totally different unique soul. There’s only one soul like yours, and that’s the one you’ve got.

Most Jews don’t believe in reincarnation. However, for members of the many religions which don’t believe in having a Savior Who died and rose again for you, obviously reincarnation might have some appeal. Unfortunately, the essential effect is to remove individual responsibility.

If you want, I can post things that early Christians said about reincarnation. They were not positive.

 

[Robert_Sock]

Not to be rude here, but asking whether the soul is related to genetics is like asking if a car is related to a banana. Except that at least cars and bananas are both made out of matter.

Catholic theology teaches that each soul is newly created by God at the moment of a human’s conception. So, no, a soul couldn’t easily belong to the same person with different parents. A person with different parents would be a totally different person, with a totally different unique soul. There’s only one soul like yours, and that’s the one you’ve got.

Most Jews don’t believe in reincarnation. However, for members of the many religions which don’t believe in having a Savior Who died and rose again for you, obviously reincarnation might have some appeal. Unfortunately, the essential effect is to remove individual responsibility.

If you want, I can post things that early Christians said about reincarnation. They were not positive.

So God did not create our genetic makeup to correspond to our “unique” soul?

 

[Linusthe2nd]

My understanding is that the soul is God-given, and therefore is independent of ancestry. I believe what this suggests is that we could “easily” have been born from different parents. OTOH, the Church teaches that the body and soul are one, and cannot be separated. But it still seems to me that it’s plausible for our soul to have been united to a different body.

It may be interesting to note that according to the *Tanya *(Chabad), the soul is indeed reincarnated into different bodies (up to 3-4 times I believe, or until it has achieved the performance of all of the 613 commandments) and at the time of the resurrection each soul will be reunited with the body which it had here on earth.

No on all counts. The Church teaches that the soul is created immediately by God and joined to the body at conception or soon after. It has nothing to do with parents. All parents do is supply the material in which God places the soul. And since the soul is created by God, genetics have nothing to do with it. Genetics are related only to the body.

And the soul, because it is a spiritual form will live forever, it will be reunited to the body at the General Judgment. But it will not be " reincarnated. "

Pax
Linus2nd

 

[Tiffany10]

This is a conversation I like to listen to, thank you

 

[Latias]

So God did not create our genetic makeup to correspond to our “unique” soul?

The automatic trollish response to that statement is the question.

What do you mean by “genetic makeup”? Does that include individual genetic variation, including non-phenotypic variation such as silent SNPs and microsatellite variations?

So, the Mendelian genetic inheritance pattern for the inheritance of, say, Huntington’s disease corresponds to the state of the soul of that person who inherited Huntington’s disease? If so, what is the unique characteristic of souls of inherited Huntington’s disease? (Well, actually, Huntington’s disease refers to a specific phenotype caused by a trinucleotide repeat expansion that affected the eponymous Huntingtin protein in a coding region, resulting in too many poly glutamine (Q) residues. For whatever reason, too many Qs causes the deleterious dominant negative phenotype.) So does the pathological molecular biology affect the characteristics of the soul, or characteristics of the soul affect the inheritance of the deleterious allele?

 

[John_Martin]

The soul is not a person, but the Form of a human being, with the End or Purpose of actualizing an individual human being in union with a body, thus the “beginning of a Person”. A Person does not begin with a soul, nor with a body, but with a composite of a body (genetically generated) and a soul (divinely created at the moment of the body’s conception) and, voila, a Person now “is”, an animated body (a body moving itself by its soul, a rational animal).

The soul is learning to know its “personhood” just as your physical thoughts are learning your “personhood”. In fact, your thoughts are the manifestation of what your soul is coming to know about itself and the world around.

An accidentally impaired body is not indicative of an impaired soul, but does pose resistance to the soul’s learning of your personhood and the world outside, while other individual human beings do not face that impairment in their soul moving their body or learning through their bodies. Your soul is the place of your understanding and your will as a person, and your body is the place of your interface to understand and to make yourself understood to others. Your will moves your body to understand and be understood, with other movements to maintain the body’s health for the continuation of this understanding and being understood.

 

[Hodegetria]

My understanding is that the soul is God-given, and therefore is independent of ancestry. I believe what this suggests is that we could “easily” have been born from different parents. OTOH, the Church teaches that the body and soul are one, and cannot be separated. But it still seems to me that it’s plausible for our soul to have been united to a different body.

It **may be interesting to note that according to the *Tanya ***(Chabad), the soul is indeed reincarnated into different bodies (up to 3-4 times I believe, or until it has achieved the performance of all of the 613 commandments) and at the time of the resurrection each soul will be reunited with the body which it had here on earth.

That is interesting, but how does the math work out? That’s 3 or 4 different souls into 3 or 4 different bodies, right? How then can it be reincarnation? It seems more like 3 or 4 different people achieving the 613 commandments as a group effort. I’m not trying to be smart or argumentative, but if you know more, please respond. Thank you.

 

[Robert_Sock]

No on all counts. The Church teaches that the soul is created immediately by God and joined to the body at conception or soon after. It has nothing to do with parents. All parents do is supply the material in which God places the soul. And since the soul is created by God, genetics have nothing to do with it. Genetics are related only to the body.

And the soul, because it is a spiritual form will live forever, it will be reunited to the body at the General Judgment. But it will not be " reincarnated. "

Pax
Linus2nd

Does the soul determine the genetics, is it the other way around or are genetics and the soul completely independent of one another?

 

[Robert_Sock]

Not to be rude here, but asking whether the soul is related to genetics is like asking if a car is related to a banana. Except that at least cars and bananas are both made out of matter.

Catholic theology teaches that each soul is newly created by God at the moment of a human’s conception. So, no, a soul couldn’t easily belong to the same person with different parents. A person with different parents would be a totally different person, with a totally different unique soul. There’s only one soul like yours, and that’s the one you’ve got.

Most Jews don’t believe in reincarnation. However, for members of the many religions which don’t believe in having a Savior Who died and rose again for you, obviously reincarnation might have some appeal. Unfortunately, the essential effect is to remove individual responsibility.

If you want, I can post things that early Christians said about reincarnation. They were not positive.

SOUL + BODY=A PERSON

BANANA + CAR=

 

[John_Martin]

Does the soul determine the genetics, is it the other way around or are genetics and the soul completely independent of one another?

They are completely unrelated in origin, the parents’ bodily genes and accidental factors determine the genetics of the Person’s body, which would be a dead laboratory specimen were it not that God is a “Co-Worker” (THE Co-Worker) in the conception of a Person. The parents conceive (cause) materially a thing that is like them materially, and God Conceives (Knows) spiritually a full rational Person that is like himself rationally and spiritually, and in that moment of Mother, Father, and God conceiving what is like them, there is an individual like them, body and soul, a person.

Being separate (body and soul) yet composing a single individual, is the beauty of the person, and allows the Church to know that accidental bodily perfection or defect do not define the success of human life, nor its intrinsic value. God combines a “good” soul to every conceived body, paving the way for that rational soul to now be a person with that body and to come to know God via that body being in contact with the world where the Sacramental Christ is present to be known by that body and thus by the Person in his soul.

 

[Bahman]

My understanding is that the soul is God-given, and therefore is independent of ancestry. I believe what this suggests is that we could “easily” have been born from different parents. OTOH, the Church teaches that the body and soul are one, and cannot be separated. But it still seems to me that it’s plausible for our soul to have been united to a different body.

It may be interesting to note that according to the *Tanya *(Chabad), the soul is indeed reincarnated into different bodies (up to 3-4 times I believe, or until it has achieved the performance of all of the 613 commandments) and at the time of the resurrection each soul will be reunited with the body which it had here on earth.

Embryo is the toy of consciousness. Why bother about soul when you know you are a conscious being?

 

[Linusthe2nd]

Does the soul determine the genetics, is it the other way around or are genetics and the soul completely independent of one another?

Completely independent. Genetics is part of the body, the soul is its own substance. However the soul is the form of the body. It makes the body a human being. Without the soul the body is just a blob of matter. Once joined to the body, the soul controls all of man’s functions, even the unfolding of his genetics.

Linus2nd

 

[PJM]

=Robert Sock;12647456]My understanding is that the soul is God-given, and therefore is independent of ancestry. I believe what this suggests is that we could “easily” have been born from different parents. OTOH, the Church teaches that the body and soul are one, and cannot be separated. But it still seems to me that it’s plausible for our soul to have been united to a different body.

It may be interesting to note that according to the *Tanya *(Chabad), the soul is indeed reincarnated into different bodies (up to 3-4 times I believe, or until it has achieved the performance of all of the 613 commandments) and at the time of the resurrection each soul will be reunited with the body which it had here on earth.

Man’s Soul is a Spiritual reality, and is the manner that we ARE made in “the image of God” 1st. Gen. 26-27.

Our Soul is united with our minds, intellects and freewill’ s; Also all spiritual realities, and what will remain after we die and return to dust. Gen. 3:19

There is NO possibility of any genetic conncection:thumbsup:

 

[Robert_Sock]

Completely independent. Genetics is part of the body, the soul is its own substance. However the soul is the form of the body. It makes the body a human being. Without the soul the body is just a blob of matter. Once joined to the body, the soul controls all of man’s functions, even the unfolding of his genetics.

Linus2nd

If independent, why is ancestral lineages so important in the Old Testament? Taken to the extreme, it sounds as though I could have been you, and you could have been me, spiritually.

 

[Bahman]

If independent, why is ancestral lineages so important in the Old Testament? Taken to the extreme, it sounds as though I could have been you, and you could have been me, spiritually.

 

[John_Martin]

If independent, why is ancestral lineages so important in the Old Testament? Taken to the extreme, it sounds as though I could have been you, and you could have been me, spiritually.

It is important to show the predestination of Mary and John and Jesus to their lives.
But, have you forgotten Paul’s teaching that the physical lineage and use of that are not the place of Life? (In Romans) It is by Faith we are saved, which is in the Soul, not in any way material, other than when the soul moves the body to acts of faith. Faith is within the soul, and acts of that faith are “forced upon” the body, so to speak.

 

[oldcelt]

DNA has so much potential. I believe that some people who recall “past lives” in great detail are not reincarnated; they may simply have the ability to tap into stored information in their DNA.

John

 

[Robert_Sock]

DNA has so much potential. I believe that some people who recall “past lives” in great detail are not reincarnated; they may simply have the ability to tap into stored information in their DNA.

John

This would amount to our being labeled “schizophrenic” in the minds of “scientists,” but welcome to the club. I’m not too sure about DNA, but I do believe in a spiritual ancestral lineage.

“A perennial link of charity exists between the faithful who have already reached their heavenly home, those who are expiating their sins in purgatory, and those who are still pilgrims on earth. Between them there is, too, an abundant exchange of all good things.”
-Catechism of the Catholic Church (paragraph 1475).

 

[PJM]

=Robert Sock;12649648]If independent, why is ancestral lineages so important in the Old Testament? Taken to the extreme, it sounds as though I could have been you, and you could have been me, spiritually.

So my friend,

According to what I understand you are saying:

The Soul and the body are One “person”; completely united?

Does this then mean that when the body dies; the Soul dies with it:shrug:

God Bless you,

Patrick