Discovering The Soul

[Manonfire63]

When someone is talking about The Soul, which Soul are they referencing? Plato and The Soul? Abstract Philosophy God and the Soul? The Bible, and how The Bible references The Soul? Working to explain The Soul and The Bible, I have worked to do so in a way that your average person may be able to understand, and find or feel their soul. He are starting with a perception, we postulate that the Soul is a person, and has to do with decision making and identity, and given scripture, and various media or cultural references of The Soul, we may be able to see if we are right, and a bigger picture.
The Basis of Christianity

• 5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.. (Deuteronomy 6:5)
• He answered, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Luke 10:27)

Song to Preface this: Heuy Lewis "Heart and Soul."

What is a Soul? A soul is a person. Given a The King of Salem had 50 Souls, he had fifty person or servants. How did they identify themselves? Possibly as a servant of The King of Salem in some way. Loving The Lord with all your SOUL, may have to do with identity. Who was someone serving? Was someone a Servant of "Something Else" or a Servant of God? A child of God? A son of God? These may be good things to be as a Christian looking to love God with your Soul or identity.
A couple years ago I lived in walking distance from Duke University. Given someone was a Duke fan, or Duke Alumni, or had a lot of Duke Paraphernalia, they may have loved Duke University. How did they love Duke University? They loved Duke with their Soul or Identity. Someone with a Duke T-Shirt may be saying something about who he is, or was, or would like to be. When Duke wins or has done well in basketball, someone who loved Duke with their Soul or identity, they may have rejoiced? They felt good? In their soul, they rejoice, and feel a sense of happiness. That is where the soul is. Given anyone has been a sports fan at some point, and has identified as a fan of ___________ their soul rejoices when their team does well. Given I was to look up Soul in a Bible concordance, there are many of these feeling or sensing type verses where the soul is a place inside someone where there is passion. Someone loving God with Their Soul in a world of materialism and commercialism may have given up their Nike and Adidas, to be more as "Plain as John the Baptist?"

Given a musician signed a record contract, and said record contract was very strict, did said musician "Sell their Soul?" Given a musician has to sing all the songs said record company tells them to, and be at A or B place at a certain time, as said record company tells them to, and said musician has very little free will, would that be "Selling The Soul?" Given the record company was a servant of "The Purple Gang," or Kabbalists, or some other group not serving God, that may have been someone selling their soul to the devil? When we get the basics of what the Bible describes the Soul to be, there are a lot of interesting topics that come up. The Truth hurts. Knowledge brings sorrow. Ignorance is bliss? Their is freedom in The Lord.

The Soul and Identity.
True Statements:

• The Song of Songs is in the Bible as a representation of God's Love for Israel or The Church.
• In the New Testament, The Church is a Bride for Christ.
• Christ is to man as a man is to woman or Christ is the head of man as man is the head of woman. (1 Corinthians 11:3)

Marriage has been an important part of The Bible and Faith and growing in understanding.

Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behavior of their wives, (1 Peter 3:1)

Woman is meek before her husband. Man is meek before God. A woman loving her husband with her heart and soul may have taken his name. She is forging a new identity as Mrs. _____________. A married woman with a hyphenated last name is one foot in, one foot out? Who or what does she love more? Her husband or Feminism? Maybe she didn't quite want to leave her family and her old identity behind as a single female or "Daughter of?" Feminists tend towards socialism. Is a woman really married to her husband or more married to The State? Woman is meek before her husband. A man is meek before God.
Looking at the Soul like this, someone may be able to see God. (And Satan.) The Truth hurts. Knowledge brings sorrow. Ignorance is bliss?

Spirits

Given we are coming into an understanding of The Soul, what are Spirits? Spirits effect motivations. Here is a short list of some spirits mentioned.

• Deaf and dumb spirit (Mark 9:17-29)
• Lying spirit (II Chronicles 18:20-22)
• Perverse spirit (Isaiah 19:14; Romans 1:17-32)
• Seducing spirit (I Timothy 4:1)
• More at: https://www.christcenteredmall.com/teachings/evil-spirits.htm

What are these Spirits doing? They are influencing. They are effecting motivations. Someone with a seducing spirit or spirit of prostitution may have been on tinder in the wrong way? Someone with a lying tongue may have been a habitual liar? Someone with one of these spirits, their character may have been molded a certain way. Their soul, who they are, may have been molded to something. Part of their identity, even if it was subconscious, may have been molded to something. Some Spirits are generational. They may have been passed down from Generation to Generation. There may have been generational curses on some families. (Deuteronomy 5:9) Some spirits someone may have picked up by being in sin, and being unrepentant. Someone's Soul or character may have been molded around something.
Given someone has God's Holy Spirit, they say "Jesus is Lord." They may tend to think about God, and talk about God a lot, and be prone to God-centric activities. Their Soul, and God's Holy Spirit, overtime, may have entwined. They are "One with God" leading towards an understanding of Theosis.

 

[for_his_glory]

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Here dust + breath/spirit from God = a living soul. When the flesh dies physically it returns back to the dust of the ground and our spirit is preserved with God for final judgment.

Genesis 3:19 in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Ecc 12:7 then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

We return to the dust of the ground when this physical body dies and our breath/spirit returns to God as we wait for Gods final judgment when Christ returns.

Matthew 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Our spirit can never die and is preserved until Gods final judgment on the last day when Christ returns, John 5:28-29; John 6:40.

1Thessalonians 4:
13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

No one has ever entered the third Heaven where God sits on His throne. Third Heaven is where God and the holy angels and spirits of just men dwell. It is called “The heaven of heavens,” Deuteronomy 10:14; 1 Kings 8:27; Psalms 115:16; 148:4; 1Kings 8:27; Psalms 2:4, John 3:13.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

Ruach, the Hebrew word for spirit here, means "breath" or "wind" as well as "spirit".

Revelation 22:
11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

Jesus only comes once and at that time will bring His reward to those of the first resurrected who are made righteous by that of Gods grace. The second resurrection are those who have rejected Gods grace and their reward is that of an eternity in the lake of fire. 1Corinthians Chapter 15; Revelation 20:6, 15.

Ecc 9:5 for the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

Psa 104:29 Thou hidest thy face, they are troubled: thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust.

Dan 12:2 and many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

James 2:26 for as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

This body/flesh dies and deteriorates as it turns back to dust while in the ground. The breath/spirit goes back to God who gave it, Ecc 12:7. The soul which makes up the conscious part of ones being is that of thought, action and emotion. The spiritual nature of man regarded as immortal and separable from the body/flesh at death and susceptible to happiness or misery in a future state.

Without the spirit/breath from God our soul would not be alive as spirit and soul are connected, Genesis 2:7. When we physically die our soul, as the breath, goes back to God who gave it. 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 speaks of the resurrection of the dead as those who have died that are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus as this is the first resurrection. We will not be raised from the grave in our old physical bodies, but will be raised with new Glorified bodies which we not know what we will look like, but will be like Christ, 1John 3:1-3.