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To: TXnMA; xzins; betty boop; marron; P-Marlowe; YHAOS; MHGinTN; hosepipe; metmom
Thank you so very much for sharing your insights and process of analyzing this question, dear brother in Christ!

The operative part, IMHO, is this:

7. When Adam (and his clone, Eve) were made/created in the Garden, and ordered to "be fruitful and multiply", did their ensoulment pass on to their offspring (as did the sin from their Fall)? Or...

8. Does God perform a new act of ex nihilo creation every time a human is born? Every puppy? Every seed that germinates? Every microbe that undergoes mitosis?

The answer may be somewhere in between, i.e. Scripture makes various distinctions concerning the physical body v. the spiritual body.

Indeed, the physical body seems first relevant to me in God’s covering Adam and Eve’s shame with coats made of skins:

And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where [art] thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I [was] naked; and I hid myself. And he said, Who told thee that thou [wast] naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat? – Genesis 3:9-11

Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. – Genesis 3:21

And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. – Hebrews 9:22

Which is to say, the physical body seems relevant to me only after the fall.

Concerning the spiritual body, Jewish mystics point to the Hebrew words nephesh, neshama and ruach in Scripture used to describe the soul/mind/spirit.

More specifically, nephesh is the ordinary soul which all living creatures have (Genesis 1) and is returned to the earth upon death.

And neshama as you pointed out, is the breath of God which Adam received in Genesis 2 whereby he became a living soul.

Further, according to the mystics, the ruach is the soul pivot whereby the man chooses to be Godly-minded (neshama) or earthly-minded (nephesh.) That choosing parallels Romans 8.

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded [is] death; but to be spiritually minded [is] life and peace. – Romans 8:5-6

Concerning spiritual bodies, the big difference between the Old Testament and the New is ruach Elohim the Spirit of God (Genesis 1) Himself Who we Christians receive and Who guides us (Romans 8, John 15, I Cor 2, etc.)

He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet [given]; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) - John 7:38-39

And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. – John 1:33

Metaphysical naturalists, atheists, etc. would have us believe that the mind/soul/spirit is an illusion, an epiphenomenon. Epiphenomenons are secondary phenomenons which cannot cause anything to happen.

In that view, everything returns to the earth at death and new epiphenomenons begin at birth or conception.

But the Scripture speaks of creation being mindful:

For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only [they], but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, [to wit], the redemption of our body. - Romans 8:22-23

So perhaps all the microscopic organisms, insects, plant life and wild life which only had nephesh and returned to the earth at death (according to the Jewish mystics) actually constitute a creature that is continually being reformed, a hive-mind so to speak that is grounded to the physical.

Conversely then, the living souls which have ruach (choice) and/or neshama (breath of God) would "phase shift" (if P.S. Wesson is right) and continue onwards "in" the creation past the death of the physical body.

Moreover, we creatures called Christian being indwelled by ruach Elohim already exist "beyond" anything physical at all (including a phase shift):

For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. - Colossians 3:3

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. - Romans 8:1-9

What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost [which is] in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? - I Corinthians 6:19

Some foot for thought, dear brothers and sisters in Christ!

God's Name is I AM.

234 posted on 01/22/2013 8:53:22 AM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: Alamo-Girl; betty boop; marron; xzins; YHAOS; MHGinTN; metmom
Dear Sister, thank you for your insightful, beautiful (and Scripture-based) essay-post!

As usual, what God has provided through you is both enlightening and a true blessing!!

I perceive that we are, (again, as usual) on converging courses... :-)

~~~~~~~~

I AM is still in control!!

244 posted on 01/22/2013 12:26:32 PM PST by TXnMA ("Allah": Satan's current alias... "Barack": Allah's current ally...)
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