[Ohio]

Originally Posted by Mephibosheth

But who said that the soul is mind, emotion, and will? Is this strictly Biblical? God, indeed, is spirit; but where does it say that God has a soul? Are there words to that effect? I am afraid that this definition of the soul -offered as a dogmatic statement, at best, and received without question because it seems to make sense- though it may be true, has quite purposefully left out the role the flesh plays in the structure of the soul. Does not even science attest that our minds are a nebulous mesh of criss-crossing and interconnecting neural pathways and a heady mix of neuro-chemicals? Is not that of the flesh? Or are you going to correct me and say that that refers to the brain and not to the mind...Really? Do you not think, for example, that a doctor can change your whole personality by simply altering the hormonal balance in your brain, or by introducing outside chemical compounds, or even by disabling key areas of it? This has been done. Where then is the soul's independence from the flesh?

We know that God formed 'man of the dust of the ground' and then 'breathed into his nostrils the breath of life'... My challenge is for anyone to show me where in the Scripture it is written that God actually made a soul for the man? Or did He form it, too, from the ground? Or did He breathe it into him as well? If so, where does it say this?

There are verses which indicate we "have" a soul and verses which show that we "are" a soul, implying the soul is who we are, corresponding with creation, "and man became a living soul."