I have questions about the soul.
What is it? Is it energy? In which case, what prevents it from running afoul of the laws of thermodynamics? Is it physical? In which case, where is it and what is it made of? Is it neither? In which case… how can it exist in our universe?
How is it attached to humans? It is said that it leaves the body after death, so there must be some attribute of living things that keep the soul attached to us. How does the soul know when to leave and when you’re going to be revived? Is the soul intelligent?
Take an analogy. My TV turns itself off after 25 minutes of no activity. It does this regardless of my plans or intentions. My TV doesn’t know if I’m going to be back and ready to watch in 25.3 minutes or if I’m gone for the week. It doesn’t ask me. It just turns off after 25 minutes.
The attachment of the soul to us must be strong enough to survive minor deaths, but be capable of being released in a real death. Is there some kind of timer? Or is it more like a cable that breaks at a specified force? Is there a non-death way of breaking that attachment?
Is the soul affected in any way by the substrate on which it is attached (i.e. us)? We know that brain damage can cause massive personality shifts, physical and memory problems. Does brain damage affect the soul? If a relatively nice person turns into a psychopath due to brain damage, is the soul still relatively nice? Why or why not?
Looking up “soul” in the Bible (NIV), there are 95 references. Only three make it seem like anything other than an emotional feeling. Those are Matthew 10:20 and two references in Revelations. Since even most Christians seem to think that Revelations is little more than an LSD induced dream, I’m not going to worry too much about it. However, all three of them refer to souls as something that is either heaven or hell… and I’ll note that Matthew says that souls are destroyed in hell… at least in this version of the Bible. Who knows what the other versions say.
Soul is never defined in the Bible. So what is it? Why?
