Soul...
What is a soul?
The dictionary defines it as:
"the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal, regarded as immortal."
I am doing some research on what it means biblically. Once again my mind is spinning and I am going to have much to process. I realize that wikipedia is not always the place to find "Truth," however there is some information there that I now want to investigate and find out more about. Here are several things from there ...
"The traditional concept of an immaterial and immortal soul distinct from the body was not found in Judaism before the Babylonian exile,[1] but developed as a result of interaction with Persian and Hellenistic philosophies.[2] Accordingly, the Hebrew word נֶ֫פֶשׁ, nephesh, although translated as "soul" in some older English Bibles, actually has a meaning closer to "living being". Nephesh was rendered in the Septuagint as ψυχή (psūchê), the Greek word for soul."
"The concept of an immaterial soul separate from and surviving the body is common today but according to modern scholars, it was not found in ancient Hebrew beliefs.[28] The word nephesh never means an immortal soul[29] or an incorporeal part of the human being[30] that can survive death of the body as the spirit of dead,[31]"
Here are two verses from Ezekiel 18:4 One from the Complete Jewish Bible the other from the ESV
Look, all lives belong to me — both the parent’s life and the child’s life are equally mine — so it is the person who sins, himself, who must die.
Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.
Here is another one from Matthew 16:26
What good will it do someone if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life? Or, what can a person give in exchange for his life?
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?
A well known verse from Psalm 23:3
he restores my inner person.
He restores my soul.
I think I have some work to do...
I want to explore what this idea of LIFE vs a soul that never dies is. And why was there not a thought of an immortal soul before they mixed with Persian and Hellenistic thought processes?
The reason my mind was drawn to the word, "soul" is because a friend knew that I was going to have an evening away to just be and do without distractions. I try to take time away every couple months to read, relax and have quiet with no distractions. She made the comment that she had recently read an African story that mentioned the idea of letting your "soul catch up with you."
Here is a link to the article she read:
Friends, regardless of what the word "soul" really means, we all need to take time to regroup and recharge ourselves. If we don't, we cannot LOVE those around us with the LOVE we should be showing them. I was talking with one of my daughters this morning and we discussed the fact that we live in a world that has almost forced us to be selfish at times. And I don't like that. But, if we don't care of ourselves, we cannot care for those around us.
Find time, my friends, to let your soul (according the what the Hebrew word means - let your LIFE) catch up with you. Don't let it spin so far out of control that you miss what HE has planned. HIS ways bring LIFE and LIFE more abundant.
There is sooooo much more I want to write, but today - this is enough. Let HIS LIFE and LOVE flow through to those around you.
Love and blessings,
Rose
