The Preexistence of the Soul
August 31, 2015
G.D.O'Bradovich III
1
If Christ's soul was created at conception, then the heresy is called "modalism" and if Christ's soul came into existence after conception, then this heresy is called "adoptionism".
Therefore, by the process of elimination, Christ's souls must have existed before conception. This is the Orthodox position as Christ is eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
What, if anything, can we learn about the human soul in light of Christ's soul?
1. The soul is created at conception and dies with the body or
2. the soul is created at conception and is immortal and does not die with the body or
3. the immortal soul existed before the body and leaves the body at death, never to inhabit another body or
4. the immortal soul existed before the body and after death the soul will reincarnate into another body.
Since the presumed purpose of Christ's incarnation was to redeem his followers, if not to make them divine, it follows that reincarnation has no place in Orthodox theology, that is, Christ's incarnation is meaningless if souls reincarnate. Therefore, Christianity must deny the concept of reincarnation.
Outside of Orthodox Christianity, it is not unreasonable that the preexistence soul could exist. Of course, just because the preexistent soul can exist, it does not necessarily follow that soul will inhabit another body.
Orthodoxy states that after death something of the person goes to a certain place, whereas Roman Catholicism teaches the soul goes to certain place. Therefore, both branches of Christianity agree that a part or aspect of the person exists after death and, since there is no reincarnation, this "aspect waits until Judgment Day.
While Orthodox Christianity remains ignorant of an immortal soul, it is Roman Catholic Dogma that the majority of Protestantism has accepted.
If immortal souls are created, then they are almost with limit. if souls can reincarnate, then they must prevent the creation of a new souls at conception. Unless the number of souls is fixed, then reincarnation happens more often than not.
Our issue with reincarnation is that if one is to learn from one's "mistakes" in the next life, then one must remember the mistakes, lest one keeps repeating the same mistakes ad infinitum. It seems as though one must have an "aha" moment and not make further "mistakes" while alive. This seems unlikely to succeed on a vast scale- billions of people will require millions of years...
If the concept of karma is removed, then reincarnation is not a necessity, but a choice-the immortal souls chooses to return.
To get to the point of the soul's choice, we must add the immortal soul to Christianity, while removing karma from Hinduism. This "picking and choosing" creates a philosophy that is neither Christianity nor Hinduism. Their respective reason d'etre is removed and we are left with the uneasy idea that souls get "bored" in the spirit realm (there is literally nothing to do) and reincarnate to partake of worldly pleasure. This resultant philosophy is the crudest one can envision and is the embodiment of nihilism.
Interestingly, the result of our philosophy is identical to "saved" Christians-both groups can behave with impudence with the assurance that no harm will ever come to their immortal souls.
Gentle Reader, it seems that our new philosophy is worthless, that is, there is no value as all the souls are equally immortal, but some souls have more experience, but these "experiences" are not remembered while in the material world. Therefore, the souls are equally ignorant and equally incorruptible.
Our step by step reasoning lead us to this situation and we are confronted with no value, and although some people may be content with a world without values and without rhyme or reason, I am not.
Therefore, we must clearly state that the immortal soul that reincarnates at will without the remembrance of things past is against reason.
Therefore, by the process of elimination, Christ's souls must have existed before conception. This is the Orthodox position as Christ is eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit.
What, if anything, can we learn about the human soul in light of Christ's soul?
1. The soul is created at conception and dies with the body or
2. the soul is created at conception and is immortal and does not die with the body or
3. the immortal soul existed before the body and leaves the body at death, never to inhabit another body or
4. the immortal soul existed before the body and after death the soul will reincarnate into another body.
Since the presumed purpose of Christ's incarnation was to redeem his followers, if not to make them divine, it follows that reincarnation has no place in Orthodox theology, that is, Christ's incarnation is meaningless if souls reincarnate. Therefore, Christianity must deny the concept of reincarnation.
Outside of Orthodox Christianity, it is not unreasonable that the preexistence soul could exist. Of course, just because the preexistent soul can exist, it does not necessarily follow that soul will inhabit another body.
Orthodoxy states that after death something of the person goes to a certain place, whereas Roman Catholicism teaches the soul goes to certain place. Therefore, both branches of Christianity agree that a part or aspect of the person exists after death and, since there is no reincarnation, this "aspect waits until Judgment Day.
While Orthodox Christianity remains ignorant of an immortal soul, it is Roman Catholic Dogma that the majority of Protestantism has accepted.
If immortal souls are created, then they are almost with limit. if souls can reincarnate, then they must prevent the creation of a new souls at conception. Unless the number of souls is fixed, then reincarnation happens more often than not.
Our issue with reincarnation is that if one is to learn from one's "mistakes" in the next life, then one must remember the mistakes, lest one keeps repeating the same mistakes ad infinitum. It seems as though one must have an "aha" moment and not make further "mistakes" while alive. This seems unlikely to succeed on a vast scale- billions of people will require millions of years...
If the concept of karma is removed, then reincarnation is not a necessity, but a choice-the immortal souls chooses to return.
To get to the point of the soul's choice, we must add the immortal soul to Christianity, while removing karma from Hinduism. This "picking and choosing" creates a philosophy that is neither Christianity nor Hinduism. Their respective reason d'etre is removed and we are left with the uneasy idea that souls get "bored" in the spirit realm (there is literally nothing to do) and reincarnate to partake of worldly pleasure. This resultant philosophy is the crudest one can envision and is the embodiment of nihilism.
Interestingly, the result of our philosophy is identical to "saved" Christians-both groups can behave with impudence with the assurance that no harm will ever come to their immortal souls.
Gentle Reader, it seems that our new philosophy is worthless, that is, there is no value as all the souls are equally immortal, but some souls have more experience, but these "experiences" are not remembered while in the material world. Therefore, the souls are equally ignorant and equally incorruptible.
Our step by step reasoning lead us to this situation and we are confronted with no value, and although some people may be content with a world without values and without rhyme or reason, I am not.
Therefore, we must clearly state that the immortal soul that reincarnates at will without the remembrance of things past is against reason.