Questions tagged [nature-of-man]
relating to the theological definition of anthropology - that set of doctrines which attempt to understand how God created the spirit, soul, and mind of a human being, and to ascertain that for which he destined and how he is subject to the natural laws
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Which is closer to traditional Christian doctrine: Judaism or Mary Baker Eddy?
Regarding the existence of the evil side in every individual, Judaism and Christian Science teach two conflicting doctrines. Judaism teaches that the evil side (Heb. yetzer hara) is an essential and ...
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Is there a single human nature or there are multiple human natures?
This question arose from the understanding that God being one nature and three persons. Though (I am trinitarian myself), I observe that in these discussions it is presupposed that humans have one ...
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Does the Catholic church teach that sin is "transmitted" by the father?
Many questions on this site (usually about Catholic/Marian doctrine) have had references to sin as being inherited/transmitted from the father (and specifically the father, as opposed to either/both ...
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What is the biblical basis for Semi-Pelagianism?
Broadly speaking, Semi-Pelagianism is the idea that while we are born sinners, we are capable of seeking God without a supernatural "override" of our nature, such as that of Calvinism's ...
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According to LDS is there a fixed and finite number of human beings?
D&C 93:29 Man was also in the beginning with God.
It has been presented in the comments here that one LDS belief is that "there was never a point where we did not exist. We grow & ...
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What's the biblical basis for a difference between children and offspring of God, if any?
People will commonly use terms like child of God, offspring of God, or descendants of God interchangeably. Do these terms mean and reference the same thing, or are they distinguished in some way in ...
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If all demons are believers, then why are some humans atheists?
According to the Bible, all demons are believers:
You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! (James 2:19 ESV)
Yet, this is not the case for (all) humans. Some ...
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According to Trinitarians, can beings other than God take on other natures?
The standard Trinitarian position is that a 'person' of the Triune God 'took on' or 'added' a human nature. So once that occurs, this person has both a fully human and a fully divine nature.
This ...
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What is an overview of Christian viewpoints on the afterlife of aborted babies?
What does the afterlife look like for an aborted baby?
What happens to their consciousness (if any)?
What happens to their spirit/soul?
Since these are presumably controversial questions, I'm ...
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From a Roman Catholic view, after God creates a soul, does He let the soul to choose if they want to enter a body? Can a soul refuse to be embodied?
The Catholic Catechism says this:
366 The Church teaches that every spiritual soul is created immediately by God - it is not "produced" by the parents - and also that it is immortal: it does ...
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What did the Apostolic Fathers believe regarding the state of the dead and the afterlife?
In the context of related debates such as:
Bipartite vs. Tripartite natures of man,
Soul sleep vs. Consciousness during the intermediate state, and
Annihilationism / Conditional immortality vs. ...
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How do believers in the tripartite nature of man (body, soul and spirit) reconcile Genesis 2:7, 1 Corinthians 15:44-45 and Matthew 10:28?
Essentially I'd like to know what trichotomists (i.e. believers in a tripartite nature of man, consisting of body, soul and spirit) have to say about a question I recently asked on Biblical ...
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How do believers in the tripartite nature of man (body, soul and spirit) explain Jesus' omission of the word "spirit" in Matthew 10:28?
Matthew 10:28:
28 `And be not afraid of those killing the body, and are not able to kill the soul, but fear rather Him who is able both soul and body to destroy in gehenna. [YLT]
28 And fear not them ...
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According to believers in post-mortal consciousness, do animals also remain conscious after death?
Short version
If humans remain conscious after death, do animals also remain conscious after death?
Longer version
I'm trying to figure out if there is any fundamental difference between the spirit of ...
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Did Jesus believe that the human soul lived on after death? [closed]
Jesus was deeply Jewish and practiced Judaism which, in Jesus's time, did not recognize separation of soul and body. So did Jesus believe that the human soul lived on after death?
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Are there any Christian scholarly publications on the differences between the nature of humans pre-fall and post-resurrection?
What was the nature of humans (i.e., Adam and Eve) like before the fall? What will the nature of humans be like after the resurrection (when those who are saved receive glorified bodies)? Are there ...
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Are the weaknesses in man intended by God? What are those weaknesses? Are they sinful?
In the scriptures, it says in Romans 8:20
For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope.
I also remember Paul saying in 2 Corin. 12:9 that:
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God as the Ground of Being
What is the biblical basis for the idea that God can be defined as the Ground of our being?
Secondly, anyone (perhaps already familiar with this) who can give us a better sense of it, beyond ...
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How powerful (literally) is a soul? Has Any Christian sect calculated it or explained it? [closed]
If a soul can control its own body it has to be able to exert a force and do work. This is an important point that often gets overlooked because of the very powerful illusion of unity in being all ...
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From a Protestant perspective, do we really have free will if sin nature is passed on from Adam and Eve to us?
If we are born with a sinful nature from Adam, does that really mean we have free will, since the sin nature makes us more likely to choose to sin?
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Why did St. Augustine and St. Thomas endorse ensoulment at 40 or 80 days?
I know the story that they lacked our current biological knowledge. I know the story that they still considered abortion to be a grave evil. These two excuses seem inadequate to me. Regardless, they ...
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Contemporary Evangelical human nature positions that are different than St. Augustine
St. Augustine's theology is highly embedded in Western Christian denominations today, including among Evangelicals. But I'm sure his theology is not the only one supported by the Bible. In other ...
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Is disembodied heaven better or worse than embodied heaven, according to Catholicism?
According to Catholicism, immediately after death someone either 'goes' to heaven (or purgatory) or hell. This is the first, or 'particular' judgment.
Then, at some unknown point in time, there will ...
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What is the biblical basis for only Men being created in the image of God? [closed]
My pastor says that only men are made in the image of God, not women. He's not a sexist. He believes the verse in Galatians which says we are all one in Christ Jesus but he says God only created Man ...
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Is the human spirit eternal/immortal? [closed]
I'm not talking about soul sleep here. I believe that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Cor 5:8) and I believe we are made up of spirit, soul and body. (1 Thessalonians 5:23,...
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Question for those who hold to the immortality of the soul
These verses were used to teach conditionalism/ human souls are mortal. What is the “traditionalist” response to these verses.
(1 Timothy 6:16):
“who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable ...
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Are there any Christian denominations that assure equality with God?
Christianity, in general, is a monotheistic religion and confirms the existence of a single god.
But in the Trinity God exists in three forms. And the three forms are equal except for relational ...
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What is the ultimate goal of a human according to Bible?
Bible contains several aspects. The best among them for humans is the guidance for conduct. It also instructs a way to live with honesty.
I'm confused about the ultimate goal of living a life ...
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How man created by God gets along with anthropology? [closed]
For example even before homo sapiens existed neanderthals or homo heidelbergensis that used tools, had closes etc.
How christianity explain their existence? Is Adam was some kind of homo erectus that ...
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How to reconcile the original creation of every soul (Creationism) by God with original sin?
The Catholic Church teaches that (CCC 366),
every spiritual soul is created immediately by God — it is not 'produced' by the parents.
So, if every soul is uniquely created by God and is not produced ...
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In the Reformed tradition, can an elect expect progressive recovery of reason, emotion, and will before death?
Reformed tradition teaches that human beings are totally depraved, and cannot even come to faith without God's assistance. Their reason rejects God's supremacy, their will refuses God's invitation, ...
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St. Augustine and woman sexuality? [closed]
Did Saint Augustine of Hippo say that "inter urinas et faeces nascimur" (we are born between urine and feces).
As I understand this fragment implied the inferiority of female sexuality as something ...
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Why is Jesus Christ only one person despite having two minds?
I think this question haven't been asked yet here. The teaching of Chalcedonian Christianity (including the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Protestant churches) is that Jesus Christ exists as one ...
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Do any denominations teach that humans exist before birth? [closed]
I'm agnostic, and there is is a specific symmetry in the timeline of life, when looking at it over all time.
To me, a person does not exist before it is born, and does not exist after it died. During ...
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Did John Calvin teach that souls 'pre-existed'?
My understanding of Calvin's teaching on Paul's expression of foreknowledge, election and predestination is that all of these are within the eternal Deity.
That which occurred within Deity (I ...
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How does Human Nature relate to Angelic Nature, specifically regarding sin and free-will? [closed]
I have seen quite a few questions on here asking: How could Lucifer, being a perfect creation, have fallen or sinned?
However, my question is this:
What can we find in the Scriptures about the ...
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According to Southern Baptists, where does a baby's soul come from?
When someone dies their soul either goes to heaven or to hell, there is no true end for a soul, only for the body because energy cannot be created or destroyed. By the same token, when someone is born ...
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Sin Nature and the Sarx, how can Jesus be sinless if all flesh is evil
Someone asked about sin nature and the answer they were given was that the word Sarx was translated as sin nature? In Greek Sarx just means flesh. So if Jesus came in the Sarx and was sinless how is ...
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Is there an ontological change in human nature after Jesus Passion and resurrection?
I came across this passage from Jacques Servais, commenting on Thomas Aquinas’ view on Christ’s Passion:
God himself acts in human nature by regenerating it from within. He, in fact, wanted, to ...
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What does Reformed Protestantism teach regarding 'spirit and soul and body' (I Thessalonians 5:23)
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. I Thessalonians 5:23 KJV
Paul lists '...
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How does the Catholic church distinguish between the human soul and spirit?
I see questions about the creation of the human soul, and the soul's "infusion" into the body. But the Bible considers a human being to "have" three parts or concepts: spirit, soul, and body. How does ...
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Is Mary's human soul pre-existent in eternity?
There is a statement in the Catholic Catechism that says that Mary is chosen from all eternity by God. Would this mean she pre-existed in eternity with God, or does "chosen" not really imply ...
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Could "The human soul is created at the moment of conception." be defined as dogma?
Could the proposition
The human soul is created at the moment of conception.
be defined as dogma?
(question idea courtesy Peter Turner, who asked "What paths exist in the Catholic Church for a ...
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Did Prophet Jeremiah's soul pre-exist his conception in human form?
At Jeremiah 1: 4-5 we see the prophet speaking of his call:
Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
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Souls being immortal vs all of existence needing to be continually and actively maintained by God
Non Christian asking a question here.
My understanding is that Christianity claims that:
A) Souls are immortal.
B) Everything that exists (except God Himself) needs to be continually maintained by ...
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What are the arguments for the belief of the immortal soul? [duplicate]
I'm looking for a list of arguments for the immortal soul with the bible verses supporting the arguments (finding the arguments against it is very easy).
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Is there a biblical basis for the claim that humans are shaped into the God-human Christ?
In Is Transhumanism a Challenge or an Opportunity for the Christian Faith? the following statements are made (emphasis mine):
Yet, by painting Transhumanism as an offshoot of atheistic naturalism,
...
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When was the tripartite (body, soul, and spirit) view of man officially rejected by a church council?
The trichotomy of man (or his trichotomous or tripartite nature) is the belief that man was created with three "parts" – body, soul, and spirit. This is a popular viewpoint among many Christians, but ...
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Who are the "extreme Anabaptists" who believed that regeneration makes people incapable of sin?
While reading Louis Berkhof's Systematic Theology, I noticed an interesting tidbit about the beliefs of "extreme Anabaptists" on regeneration. He argues:
[Regeneration is not] a complete or ...
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What were the main arguments put forth at the Fifth ecumenical council against the preexistence of human souls?
As far as I know, the idea of the preexistence of human souls was condemned on the Fifth ecumenical council (the Second Council of Constantinople). The Wikipedia page on the decrees of that council ...
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