Before you begin reading, I must warn you. This post is quite a bit longer than a normal AP answer, and it is also a bit more complex and serious. With that aside, please, be my guest.
IYAAYAS Moderator asks:
Do you think that God has a soul? If so or if not, define one’s soul in a non-christian manner. Thanks.
Oh goodness. Today’s post is going to be a bit heavier than usual. Where do I even start? First of all, I suppose that I should make an attempt to define what or whom is meant by the term God. The idea of God is one that is held by many different belief systems. God could be a deity, personal in form and mind. He could be an impersonal entity that exists only as a power or abstract idea. Many gods could exist; maybe the Greeks’ or Hindus’ belief system is the one we should choose. Perhaps God exists as a bond that holds all of the metaphysical universe together. Maybe we are our own gods, and none can tell us what to do. Besides all of those options, we have those who do not believe in a god (atheists), and we have also those who believe that we can’t know (agnostics). Now we’re back to the original question. Where in the world do I start?
Since you asked if I think that God has a soul, you are assuming (at least for the purposes of this question) that I believe in God. I do, in fact, believe in a God. I believe in the God of the Bible. I believe that there is only one God, who is comprised of three distinct persons–The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit–yet He is still one god. He is an all-powerful entity who cannot be fully understood by us. You will recognize the Father as the God of the Bible. The traditional Lord of Judaism and Christianity, if you will. Jesus is His only-begotten, not created, son. The Holy Spirit, also referred to as the Holy Ghost, is the third person and acts as a guide to Christians. The idea of the trinity is a hard concept to wrap your mind around, but it is somewhat easier to grasp when one realizes that God is God. He is not necessarily bound by the same natural laws of physics, math, or even existence that we are (Psalm 90:4, 2 Peter 3:8). That, on the very surface, and in a very simple form, is what I believe. So, let’s go with that definition of God for the purposes of this post.
Now, you have asked whether or not I think that God has a soul. Let’s first look at what a soul is. Then we can decide whether or not God has one. The Oxford English Dictionary defines soul chiefly as “The principle of life in man or animals; animate existence.” That is the non-Christian, mainstream, definition of the word “soul.” The principle of life. I think you’ll agree with me that there is something in men that is beyond the current secular ability to understand. What makes a person alive? Why can we not sew together body parts, insert working organs, and bring a hideous personal minion to life, like Dr. Frankenstein did? You ask me to define soul in a non-Christian manner, and that is about the best that I can give you. So, in secular terms, the soul is that hard-to-define idea that gives life to men and animals and makes up their conscious existence. Your soul is whatever makes up life at the deepest level. I cannot continue further without bringing in Christian views, as they are inherently necessary when defining terms pertaining to Christianity.
Let’s look at Oxford’s second definition. “The principle of thought and action in man, commonly regarded as an entity distinct from the body; the spiritual part of man in contrast to the purely physical. Also occas., the corresponding or analogous principle in animals. Freq. in connection with, or in contrast to, body.” The spiritual part of man. The soul is that which encompasses life and the spiritual, non-physical side of man. The Greek word used for soul in the Christian New testament is ψυχὴ (pronounced sue-kay). It encompasses the idea of life-breath. I believe that there are three parts to man: the body, the soul, and the spirit (1 Thess. 5:23, Heb. 4:12). The body is the physical part, that which contains the soul and spirit. The spirit is that in which God works; the soul is that which makes up life and also contains pieces of the spiritual, and the body is that which contains and encompasses both the soul and the spirit. Everything is quite strongly interwoven.
To answer your question. Does God have a soul? Let’s look at what/whom we’ve decided God is. God is an all-powerful entity who is made up of three persons and who created the world. As to the idea of a soul, we’ve defined the idea of soul as it applies to man, and in the case of the non-spiritual elements, animals. I don’t think that we can apply the same concept of possession of a soul to God. We can’t say that God has no soul, for that would be to say He has no life. Rather, God is the one who bestowed life to others. God has a soul in some sense of the word. Perhaps God’s soul is the ultimate idea of soul. I’m really not qualified to answer that question, as I am not God. Obviously, however, we cannot apply the human definition of soul to God, as the make-up of God and man are different. Humans have souls; animals have life and some form of soul, probably excluding the deeply spiritual aspects of humans’ souls, and God gives and creates souls. If God gives souls, then He has souls, or soul, to give. Therefore, we can say that God has, in some form, soul.
So, in summary, I believe that God has soul, in some sense of the word, but we can’t limit Him to human terms. I hope that, to some degree, answers your question.
Have a Great Day!
~XK
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