Dualism (Identity)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Saturday, March 21, 2015, 20:25 (3321 days ago) @ David Turell


> > 
> > > > Tony: God Says: The dead are conscious of nothing. 
> > > 
> > > Quotation, please.
> > 
> > Ecc 9:5,6,10 Psalms 146:3,4, Psalm 115:7,
> 
>David: Thank you. I am not widely read and needed guidance. You have quoted the OT, and the way I was taught, Judaism holds that there is no reference of any major sort to a Heaven. We are told to trust in God in the afterlife. There is no emphasis on Satan. I've been taught that is a Christian concept. So my thoughts about an afterlife are really on my own. None of the quotes talks about souls, and in my mind if souls enter an afterlife they carry soul/consciousness with them. Souls are discussed and recognized (Neshamah in Hebrew). Animals also are considered to have souls (Nefesh). With our different backgrounds, I can see why we look at it differently.-According to the OT, humans and animals do not HAVE souls, they ARE souls. A rather subtle but profound difference. (Gen 2:18-20, Ecc 3:19,20, Num 31:28)->The traditional rendering of the Hebrew word ne?phesh and the Greek word psy·khe?. In examining the way these terms are used in the Bible, it becomes evident that they basically refer to (1) people, (2) animals, or (3) the life that a person or an animal has. (Ge 1:20; 2:7; Nu 31:28; 1Pe 3:20; also ftns.) In contrast to the way that the term “soul” is used in many religious contexts, the Bible shows that both ne?phesh and psy·khe?, in connection with earthly creatures, refer to that which is material, tangible, visible, and mortal. ..words have most often been rendered according to their meaning in each context, using such terms as “life,” “creature,” “person,” “one's whole being,” or simply as a personal pronoun (for example, “I” for “my soul”)... When referring to doing something with one's whole soul, it means to do it with one's whole being, wholeheartedly, or with one's whole life. (De 6:5; Mt 22:37) In some contexts, these original-language words can be used to refer to the desire or appetite of a living creature. They can also refer to a dead person or a dead body.—Nu 6:6; Pr 23:2; Isa 56:11; Hag 2:13. -
As I have said before, Ancient Hebrew was a concrete language. They simply did not have words for intangible abstract concepts. If they had to refer to an abstract, it was done through the illustration of something tangible. For example, the word for "spirit" literally means breath or wind, and the word for passion literally meant a flaring of the nostrils.

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What is the purpose of living? How about, 'to reduce needless suffering. It seems to me to be a worthy purpose.