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quote:Originally posted by MBM:
Why would a soul choose to leave Heaven and come to Earth? Not only is Earth, no doubt, a rather sordid place compared to Paradise, they can also screw up and get sent to hell for eternity.![]()
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quote:Originally posted by MBM:
Why would a soul choose to leave Heaven and come to Earth?
quote:Originally posted by Melesi:
Which souls?
quote:Originally posted by MBM:quote:Originally posted by MBM:
Why would a soul choose to leave Heaven and come to Earth?quote:Originally posted by Melesi:
Which souls?
Those that leave Heaven and come to Earth.![]()
quote:In Eastern religions, which do not stress individual salvation, the emphasis is placed on transcendent principles embodied in a multiplicity of gods (see world soul). The Hindu and Buddhist doctrines of reincarnation do not posit the existence of an individual soul, but rather stress the closeness of the human person, in successive transformations, to an overriding principle of virtue, piety, and peace.
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Aristotle, following Plato, defined the soul as the core essence of a being, but argued against it having a separate existence. For instance, if a knife had a soul, the act of cutting would be that soul, because 'cutting' is the essence of what it is to be a knife. Unlike Plato and the religious traditions, Aristotle did not consider the soul as some kind of separate, ghostly occupant of the body (just as we cannot separate the activity of cutting from the knife). As the soul, in Aristotle's view, is an activity of the body it cannot be immortal (when a knife is destroyed, the cutting stops). More precisely, the soul is the "first activity" of a living body. This is a state, or a potential for actual, or 'second', activity. "The axe has an edge for cutting" was, for Aristotle, analogous to "humans have bodies for rational activity," and the potential for rational activity thus constituted the essence of a human soul.Aristotle used his concept of the soul in many of his works; the Nicomachean Ethics provides a good place to start to gain more understanding of his views.
quote:The idea of heaven (as viewed from a traditional Christian point of view) stands far removed from what Christ taught. He viewed heaven, not as a place where all righteous mankind (within a spiritual context) would reside, but as the capital city of God's kingdom. An Old Testament quotation (which adds nothing directly to the discussion of souls) states: "The heavens are my throne, and the earth is my footstool." (Isaiah 66:1)
quote:Originally posted by Empty Purnata:
I like this Tantric Buddhist explanation of "souls", "spirits" and afterlives:
quote:Originally posted by kresge:
MBM,
Do you have a referent for this teaching within the Christian tradition about souls coming from heaven. I must confess that I have never heard of it.
quote:Originally posted by MBM:quote:Originally posted by Empty Purnata:
I like this Tantric Buddhist explanation of "souls", "spirits" and afterlives:
Yes - it makes perfect sense in Buddhism - the souls come back to continue on their path to enlightenment. I've just never heard an explanation on it from the Christian tradition where the disincentive seem so overwhelming to NOT come back to Earth.
quote:Originally posted by umbrarchist:
Because it is the only way to have any chance of escaping the second death.![]()
quote:Originally posted by MBM:quote:Originally posted by umbrarchist:
Because it is the only way to have any chance of escaping the second death.![]()
Oh boy! What is this and where does it come from?![]()
quote:They believe that souls need to be "proven loyal to God", so they come to earth in physical bodies "tainted with Original Sin", and if they fail to "believe" (follow Christianity), they go to the Second Death after death (Eternal Hell).