Human Person - Philosophical and theological views

[Gloria]

What are the parts (components) of the human person? .. Is death the end of Life? what do you think?

Life is a mystery, death is a mystery, life after death is more than just a mystery. The human person is a mystery because the one who created the human person is more than just a mystery. Pain is a sensation and it is the body’s duty to detect pain but the soul can feel pain without the body which implies that the soul can exist outside the body. The body without the soul is dead but a soul without the body isn't necessarily death. The eternity of the soul is the only meaning to life. The human person is a living being because there is a meaning to his existence and that meaning is the eternity of the soul.
I think that the Human person is composed of both the physical aspect (the body) and the spiritual. The human person is composed of the mind, the body and the soul. All three components coexist to form the human person. Both the mind and the soul exist outside the body. The mind is part of the soul and the soul can form part of an eternal soul and hence the mind can exist as an eternal mind. The body is material and hence bounded by space and time. The body comes into existence and goes out of existence. The soul comes into existence and can remain in existence or go out of existence. Our limited minds cannot understand all about the eternal truth. Since eternal truth is unlimited, our limited minds must form part of an eternal mind in other to uncover the eternal truth. The human person is a free being but the human person cannot enjoy complete freedom. The mind and the soul are outside the body and are not bounded by space and time and therefore the mind and the soul can enjoy eternal freedom. However, the body is material and it is bounded by space and time and hence the body cannot be hundred percent free because it is bounded by the laws of nature (matter). Therefore the complete human person (body, mind and soul) is not completely free but has the ability to enjoy complete freedom. When the soul forms part of an eternal soul, the soul of the human person becomes an eternal soul and hence efficient. When the mind becomes an eternal mind, the mind of the human person becomes efficient because it becomes part of eternity. The complete human person however cannot be hundred percent efficient because the body is not efficient. Death therefore is not the complete disassembling of the human person but maybe a way to perfection. In other words, death can be a way to an increase in efficiency of the human person. There is life after death. However, the body has no life after death. The mind and the soul on the other hand can enjoy life after death because they can become one with eternity.
Who really am I? The driven wheel, the driving wheel or both? The soul gives meaning and form to the body. The mind is one with the soul at infinity and it is the body’s duty to take instructions and to detect sensations. The complete human person is therefore both the driving wheel and the driven wheel however, the true self lies outside the body and it is that which directs the body and gives it meaning.

Theological view of the Human Person - The Christian View

According to Christianity, the human person is the handwork of God and God created the human person in his own image and likeness. God created the human person after He has created almost everything but He put the human person in charge of almost all the things He has created. “And God said, let us make man in our own image after our likeness and let them have dominion over all the earth and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth and every creeping thing that creeepeth upon the earth”. (Gen 1:26) Continuing in Genesis, God made man from dust and He gave man the breath of life and man became a living soul.
The dust is a material from the earth and hence the dust is the body of the human person. Without the breath of life, the dust is nothing but dust. After God has given the breath of life, the dust became a living soul. From here we can say that the body per say is nothing compared to the breath of life that made it a living soul. The breath of life is not a material because it came from something not material and the breath of life is the driving force of the body of the human person. The human person according to Christianity is therefore composed of both the material and the immaterial aspects however the material aspect of the human person is nothing compared to the immaterial and the immaterial per say is a being in itself.
According to the gospel of John chapter 11:25 “Jesus said to her ‘ I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die…”
Also in 2 Corinthians 5:8 “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord..”
These verses show that there is something more than just the physical body. This physical body may die but the immaterial part of the human person (the soul or the breath of life) may live forever.

[Khelos]

Every soul, a voice.
Every voice, a choice.
Every choice, a price.

Time passes by and by and here we stay.
The human race, to wrestle with temptation for all eternity.
Here we stand, living for the day.

If we die to live again, the pain we cause we also take.
If we die to rise again, the consequences we must face.
If we die to darkness, the great sleep awaits.

Live as if all are true.

[fadi]

! that is true ! u r good u really have an open mind ! and it will be very nice to talk in this sub freely ! what i believe is this ! we are humans made by sun because we are heat its true we have 3 things body and brain and soul but i call the soul as thought soul=thought. we have 2 kinds of life the one that we are awake and the one when we are asleep ! u see the body can live for a very long time without eating or drinking but not without sleeping! and even then we don't let out thoughts to stop coming ! the brain made for one thing to control the body and the soul or the thought made to control both! we die as humans but even if our body has nothing wrong with it we die! from aging ! but why do we get old ! if we already don't have time? because time its a human creation everything in this world until now its a human creation or we discover what other humans did and we just upgrade it or we just recreate the discovering ! if too many humans know what we are as a race our technology will be faster then light ! even the light speed we can create ! well our body work like light speed ! from inside. why couldn't we create light speed until now ! because half humans here on earth don't know why they are here ! and why they die ! they believe in too many unseen things but even the unseen we can create it !

[Atubiga]

You are absolutely right. The eternity of the soul is the only meaning to life yet science doesn't believe in the soul of the human person. According to science, human beings have no souls and hence there is no meaning to life which is so sad.

Great post. This is the third time I'm reading this post and it gets interesting anytime I read it. Thanks very much for sharing

There is nothing to prove the existence of the soul and there is nothing to prove the existence of the spirit. The only thing we can prove is the body and once the body dies, you are gone! "finished". The idea of soul and spirit is just human imagination. there is nothing like a "soul" and there is nothing like a "spirit". You are just a body and once your heart stops beating, you are die and that is the end of you!

we may argue there is no soul, but doesnt that depend on what and where the soul is? some people think its an extra skin, and when you die thats the only skin you have. but there is also the theory that the soul or spirit is in your mind, giving and absorbing actions like another form of you. that is also to be contemplated.

[Cranky Bitch]

You might want to take into consideration known physics.
There is XX amount of energy in this universe. Energy cannot be created and it cannot be destroyed. It can only be transformed. If energy were constantly transformed into souls, there would come a day when no energy was left in the universe except what had been transformed into souls.
Then what?

Nothing is eternal, everything is in motion and decays from time.
Even the universe will end some day. Everything is moving apart faster and faster, every second of every minute. You cannot discount these facts when talking eternity. Eventually, if the movement keeps increasing, the night sky will no longer have any stars, and even further along, even the planets and people and the very particles that make us up will will be diluted into nothingness.

Originally Posted by Cranky Bitch

If energy were constantly transformed into souls, there would come a day when no energy was left in the universe except what had been transformed into souls...

You are right this universe is an isolated system so the energy level in the universe remains constant. In other words, energy cannot be created nor be destroyed. This universe is bounded by space and time. The human body is matter and is bounded by space and time. The human body is not eternal. However, what if the soul is eternal (has no beginning and no end)? what if the soul exists outside of space and time and doesn't affect the energy level in the universe?

[Doug]

God formed a body out of the dirt of the earth. He breathed on it and it became a living soul. What can we deduct from this? God formed a body out of dirt. Gave it all the functions of a human body. This body was nothing but a dirt body. It was a dead soul. Only when God breathed on it did it become a living soul. So in conclusion a human is a body made out of dirt. It had a soul but was a dead soul. Or, it could be this body had no soul at all and got a living one when God breathed on it. Take your choice. In any event this body has the power to gain the world but lose his soul. Now if man loses his soul what happened to it? Where did it go? Did it die? Did it become again a dead soul?. What in the world is a soul anyway? I don't know anything more than what God and Jesus said.

God said you are dust and to dust you will return. That is true from experience. A person dies, is stuck in the ground, the worms eat him, they poop him out he becomes fertilizer and turns back to dirt. Quite a process I must say. So when Jesus says (John 5:28-29) "Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of damnation, he gives us a clue.

In conclusion, lets figure this thing out. What is coming out of the tombs? Can't be the body made of the dust of the earth because God himself said it was going to rot back to dirt. So that leaves only the part of the human body that it became when God breathed on it. You guessed it, the living soul of man. Now all soul sleuths, what should man do while his body is still alive and what will happen to the living soul part that does not rot and become dust again? This living soul that is trapped in the tomb will come out when it hears the voice of Jesus, the appointed judge of humans, and either go to a resurrection of eternal life or a resurrection of eternal damnation. Elementary dear Watson as the saying goes. Please don't thank me for this imfo for it has been there for a very very long time. And now we all know.

A soul is the part of man that never dies but will wind up somewhere depending on what the dust man did in his lifetime. The soul can only be life itself. The mind of man is freewill given to man to do what he desires to do. The dust body is the mode of movement to carry out the decisions of the mind for a set time of it's life either good or evil. In the very beginning before God created anything He separated good from evil and said it was good. So those who have done good are those who resurrect to eternal life. Those who have spent their life again mixing good with evil are evil for they are disobeying the will or Word of God who deemed separation of good and evil IS good.

So what do you think? Have we made any progress in soul searching?

[Kofi]

Traditional African worshipers believe that the human person is made up of body, soul and spirit. Your body comes from mother earth and it returns to mother earth or the earth goddess once you die. Your spirit comes from your father and it joins your ancestors once you die. Some communities in Africa consider the spirit the same as ghost. Your spirit can be good or bad but only good spirits can join the ancestors in the ancestral world. Bad spirits continue to wander about on the surface of this earth for thousands of years. Those bad spirits are the bad ghosts that scare and torment people. The good spirits on the other hand are allowed to join the ancestors after death and they can return to earth to bless people from time to time. According to the traditional African worshipers, the soul of the human person belongs to the supreme God (Onyame in Akan or Chukwu in Igbo) who is the creator of all things and the head of all the gods and the soul returns to the supreme God for accountability and judgment after death.