I am fully aware of it (CCC 366). Creation may also be perceived as emergence of the soul from God’s being. Yes, it is immediate at the time of our coming into being and I perceive that the soul was an integral part of God’s being prior to that instant.The Catechism of the Catholic Church says God created the human soul. Check this link:
scborromeo.org/ccc/p1s2c1p6.htm#382
Specifically this one:
God bless,
Ut
They interbred with homo sapiens, and built ships, fires, and buried their dead.So concluding, if you subscribe to evolution, our neighboring species (Neanderthal, Homo Erectus, etc.) are not going to have an immortal soul; but rather treated as an animal species. Correct me if I’m wrong here.
Thanks
The Neanderthal had ships?They interbred with homo sapiens, and built ships, fires, and buried their dead.
IMHO they are theologically human and descended from Adam.
Homo Erectus had ships. The first relevent link in the search I just made:The Neanderthal had ships?
The soul’s pre-existence is as an integral part of the infinite God and NOT as another finite being. After emerging from God it exists as another finite beingIf you say the soul is finite, which it is , and it pre-existed in God then the soul had no beginning because it shared God nature which is Existence, nothing finite could possibly exist eternally, it is a contradiction God does sustain what He creates, but it remain finite, not infinite, any infinity applied to a creature is one of accident, not one of essence. In other words God sustains the soul in existence, the soul can not exist on its own. The soul necessarily has a beginning, if it didn’t that would mean that the soul has existence for its nature, and it doesn’t Apower of the soul is its ability to know itself, I know that I know. If the soul existed always even in God, it would know it. Human experience shows no evidence of this phenominon. God is not subject to time, but created it (Potency and Act) Pre-existence is a human concept applied to God, in God there is no Potency, but pure Act.
But my understanding is somewhat different, thanks to the powerful oral tradition of my land and the uniqueness of my language (Tamil) in which a bit of philosophy / theology is part of grammar and this is what we learn in Tamil grammar: Everything in the three realms, Heaven (விண்ணுலகம்), Created Universe (மண்ணுலகம்) and the Netherworld (பாதாளம்), is classified as higher and lower based on the ability to reason (Nannool:261). The higher class (உயர்திணை) is comprised of beings with reasoning power ―God, angels, demons, humans and the lower class (அஃறிணை) includes all other living and non-living with no reasoning power.My understanding is that everything that is non-God is created.
That would include our souls/minds.
It includes as well our natural bodies, of course, the difference being that while our human bodies were grown via the biological cycle, our souls were made for the bodies at the moment of conception.
ICXC NIKA
The Catholic church does not hold this teaching. See Vatican I:I am fully aware of it (CCC 366). Creation may also be perceived as emergence of the soul from God’s being. Yes, it is immediate at the time of our coming into being and I perceive that the soul was an integral part of God’s being prior to that instant.
- If anyone says that finite things, both corporal and spiritual, or at any rate, spiritual, emanated from the divine substance; or that the divine essence, by the manifestation and evolution of itself becomes all things or, finally, that God is a universal or indefinite being which by self determination establishes the totality of things distinct in genera, species and individuals: let him be anathema.
God bless,
- If anyone does not confess that the world and all things which are contained in it, both spiritual and material, were produced, according to their whole substance, out of nothing by God; or holds that God did not create by his will free from all necessity, but as necessarily as he necessarily loves himself; or denies that the world was created for the glory of God: let him be anathema.
utunumsint’s recent post shows that it is a teaching of the Church that the soul was created by God, and did not emerge from God or pre-exist in God.The soul’s pre-existence is as an integral part of the infinite God and NOT as another finite being. After emerging from God it exists as another finite being
Actually, the CO2 and water vapor in our breathing contains carbon and hydrogen that were once in biological molecules in our bodies.I would further comment: There seems to be no reason to take the Genesis account of God’s “breathing” our souls into us as implying that our souls were previously existent or previously parts of God. What we exhale was not part of us!
Thank you Ut for pointing that out. I stand corrected.The Catholic church does not hold this teaching. See Vatican I:
ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/V1.htm#5
God bless,
Ut
Thank Ynotzap; I stand corrected.God is Pure Being, God is the I am who Am , In God we have our being, yet we are not part of God, that would be Pantheism. God is simple, He gives existence to all things. God is His attributes. He is love, He is beauty, He is truth, He is Goodness, He is subsistent. He is intelligence. When we speak of God, we must speak of Him existentially, in other words, not what His is, but that He is. We are totally dependent, totally finite, totally created, had a beginning, Act and Potency, essence and existence, matter and form make up what we are, created God is Existence,Pure Act Existence is GIVEN to us, we are not part of God
God lets us share His divine life by divine grace, the work of the Holy Spirit, continually supplying our greatest need, the need for Himself. It’s all a gift of love.
Why rationality should entail eternality?Can someone, (briefly), explain the connection between a rational mind and having an immortal soul.
For example: Animals do not have a rational mind, therefore are not immortal. Humans have a rational mind, and are immortal.
I’m speaking simple as possible here without any technical language. Anybody know the connection here? I couldn’t find anything on google.
Thanks,
James
Well, yeah, our mind needs the human head to reside in; and while we live life within our minds, it is the body that in fact lives the life!To me intellect is responsible for rational thinking and many other functioning that we share with animals. I however think that we share the same intellect. The difference in us however arises from the fact that we have different body since that is body which feeds intellect. For example communication is very central part in developing our rational thinking done by intellect which animal lack. People with specific disability behaves exactly like animal which again shows that what is bring intellect from potentiality, what it can do, to action is the body.
Christians have no obligation to construct our view of human nature around the scientific concept of “species” as applied by paleontologists to ancient humans.These are great responses and exactly the short, quick answer(s) I was looking for. You guys are sharp!
So concluding, if you subscribe to evolution, our neighboring species (Neanderthal, Homo Erectus, etc.) are not going to have an immortal soul; but rather treated as an animal species. Correct me if I’m wrong here.
Thanks