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Do we Possess three entities namely a "Body" "Soul" and "Spirit"?
I need to hear from members on AAG, what they understand by the terms "Body" "Soul" and "Spirit" Let's look forward to a lively discussion as to your impression and beliefs on the subject.
"Do men and women possess three entities, namely a "Body" that possesses a "Soul" and a "Spirit"?
The Lord Bless all on AAG
Ron.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Rita Cullimore on
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I resurrected this topic from a year ago because I think we have a great deal lacking on this particular topic, information which will help us understand many thing including free will.
God made us in His image. We have 3 parts. He has 3 persons.
The first is our body. We know that it is going to die because it is corruptible, made that way because of original sin.
The third is our spirit. When we were born again we received the Holy Spirit. Our spirit is communicating with the Holy Spirit at all times. (More to be discussed)
The second, our soul or our mind is the one that we need to understand. The Bible tell us to regenerate it, get in tune to God.
Our soul wants to have free will. We want to do what we want to do. And because God gave us free will, we do it. So much for regenerating it. The ideal circumstance would for us to consider what God wants and train our minds to be in agreement. We know what to do by the reading of God's Word, yet we fail because our soul isn't in complete regeneration. I think that we have to consciously regenerate our mind day by day. I don't think we ever get to the point where we do God's Will continually. I think we have to literally recall the instruction to regenerate our mind, and recall it daily.
I am concerned about what you think about this.
Blessings,
Rita
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Permalink Reply by Ron Payne on
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Hi Rita,
There are those who believe that they only have a body with a brain, with which they can make decisions, write books, watch out for oncoming cars, and simply meet their needs to exist, where finally their utmost concern is that a day will come when their body starts to decay and die. This makes them extremely selfish in that they only look out for themselves. They continually live in the present, with self-preservation the number one choice. For them there is nothing to look forward to, no after life and if there is a Hell lurking in their thoughts, they believe that they are already living in a Hell on earth. A Hell I might add, of their own making.
Then there are those who realize that they have within themselves a spirit. Sadly their belief is that it is not an entity that has a distinct existence, but rather a quality which they already possess and can be controlled by feelings, namely joy, sadness, thoughtfulness or hate….. Example: “A loving or hateful spirit”
In regard to the soul, there are those who incline towards, “That deep inner feeling” Something deep inside one, when important decisions have to be made.
Those who practice good logic by thinking and working “things” through, will invariably make good decisions and normally conclude that: “I just felt deep down in my soul that it was the decisions to make.” Sadly for them the soul deep down inside them is simply feelings or an intuition that they may get.
From the above we see that none of the above is Spiritual, as it is all accomplished through the brain and mind including the subject’s own intellect.
The above types will tell you, that when they die these attitudes and feelings will die with them, become non existent, as will their bodies. For them their psyche is made up of a body, a brain and personal thoughts. There is no God, no heaven and no Hell. Death is final and similar to Heaven, Hell is scoffed at.
To truly understand and come to terms with the Spiritual/Biblical concept of the trinity one has to be Born again, failing which the none Believer simply looks on the Trinity, as “Just so much hogwash.”
I could go on to the specific functions of the triune body Believers possess but I believe Rita, that you have basically covered most of it yourself in your own “blog” .
I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:23).
Blessings and Bless all those you love
Ron
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Hi Ron,
It is so great to hear from you. And to hear what your input is. We talk a lot about *free will* but it seems to me that everyone or most everyone thinks that *free will* needs to be exercised. Exercising it doesn't make the action correct. I'm thinking that we should consider first the regenerating of our minds and let free will be a secondary right and treat it as though it is a secondary right.
God has given us all kinds of promises that are meant for us through His Grace but I seldom hear of someone who is willing to forfeit that free will to have a closer walk with the Lord.
All our sins are forgiven when we become born again and if we sin there will be forgiveness there as well because we are God's children but I think that we are missing out on a lot of understanding of the Word of God for not trying to understand our own triune being.
I was also hoping that I would generate enough interest in the topic for all of us to benefit from it. Maybe it will still happen. Time will tell.
For myself, I think that I am understanding so much more as I study about my spirit, soul, and body and that studying my 3 parts I will be able to grow in my understanding of exactly what God has gifted us with. My desire is to grow in my walk with Jesus and I feel that the more I understand, the better off I am.
I hope you continue to monitor this topic to see if there is any more comments made where you could assist me in answering the comments. (I did hijack your topic after all.)
Blessing to my friend in South Africa...
Rita
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Hi Rita,
Free Will...... If you did not exercise your free will, you would simply be an "Automaton".
At times during my own personal experience when coming face to face with a Spiritual problem, I sometimes found that there was a need to speak out my concerns and state of mind, by saying: "I don't like that Lord and I don't want to do it or even think it's necessary." That may be considered blasphemous by some, but for me it's an expression of how one feels about a certain issue and is exercising one's free will. I do believe the Lord won't mind, because He knows exactly how one feels at that particular time. So He would not be surprised at the rejection.
But what may well be happening is that the Lord could well be leading one into a deeper truth and He is busy setting the scene where rejection opens a deeper discussion on a subject that we have not been able to understand or find victory over it by simply agreeing to do it.
To give a simple example. Rejecting the Lord's request to to stop a particular habit in one's life. To simply stop may not prove to be a real victory. But when one chooses to continue the habit, the Holy Spirit who is also known as the "Hound of Heaven" will persuade one differently, while possibly teaching 10 reasons why one must stop. When one finally agree to stop, that person may find that he or she is now equipped with 10 reasons to help anyone with a similar problem. Whereas simply stopping right up front. One would have been obedient, Yes! But learnt nothing that the Lord really wanted to teach the Christian in helping others. As an ex Firefighter, I learnt that the closer you got to the fire the more effective you became in extinguishing it. Remember too, there is no one more qualified than a Christian ex alcoholic who can speak to an alcoholic.
Please do not think that I am promoting or suggesting that one must always reject the Lords requests simply to learn something.
What I am saying is that the Lord can at times, use our rejection and disobedience as a tool to teach a deeper Christian experience. Only our free will may allow us to get to that point. Be sure of one thing though and that is, the Lord uses different methods and experiences with each and every one of us, while He continues to promise: "I will never leave you nor forsake you." This is the wonder of the Christian experience and the confidence we can place in our heavenly Father.
Blessings
Ron.
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I'm not inferring that we should forfeit free will but rather use it with discretion. There are times when we don't have to have our own way but can give over to the Lord and what He teaches us in His Word. And probably would be better off for it.
However, I see the importance of what you are saying.
The most important thing would be being in agreement with what God would have for us.
Blessings
Rita
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Permalink Reply by Theophane on
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God is a triune being, so wouldn't it make sense that we His creations have this triune (mind/body/soul) nature as well? We have our Heavenly Father's image and likeness, do we not?
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Hi Theophane,
Most don't consider spirit and soul but spirit(soul), however, there are verses like 1 Thess 5:23 that speak differently.
23 Now may bthe God of peace himself csanctify you completely, and may your dwhole espirit and soul and body be kept blameless at fthe coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
OR this one:12 For wthe word of God is living and xactive, ysharper than any ztwo-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and adiscerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Even in research of various reference books, the explanation are the same for both.
I think one of the problems that Christians have is that they don't understand that the soul is not the spirit.
http://www.awmi.net/radio has a great teaching on this very subject 2009 first 4 weeks. Give a listen. I have studied this topic for several years and this is the best teaching that I have found to date.
Blessings,
Rita
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This topic was started by Ron Payne in April, 2010. There are many pros and cons for us having a body, soul spirit instead of a body/spirit. The greatest thing that I have seen is looking at the Greek translation and the word for spirit isn't the same as the word for soul.
The Greek word for spirit is pneuma; the Greek word for soul is psuche.
My question would be...why would Paul have written 1 Thess 5:23 the way he did if they were the same thing?
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I need to go back and look but somewhere it talks of the *spirit of our minds* or the *heart of our minds. I've heard it mentioned that it's like we have 2 spirits....one being our spirit the other the spirit of our minds.
Our spirit is going to remain perfect in Christ. Our soul does battle constantly with outside forces. AS we renew our minds, we are moving our soul into identical thinking as our spirits are in. The more we renew our minds the more we are in tune with our perfect spirit within us. (not the Holy Spirit). I would think that the filling of the Holy Spirit is effecting our souls mainly.
When we are born again, are spirit is made perfect. Our souls are made perfect by our renewal of our mind...looking at things from God's POV. I think that we are trying to get our spirit and soul in sync. We can't see our spirit so how do we see the perfection that God has placed there. The only glimpse we get of it is through looking at our souls. Our souls need to work with our spirits and I think that the filling of the Holy Spirit helps this to occur.
One of the things that I desired was to love all people and have forgiveness for all people. It wasn't in my nature to do this. Through mind renewal, I have been able to have love and forgiveness for any and all. I hardly remember what hate is except in regard to Satan and his minions with their works. As I was renewing my mind regarding love and hate, on occasion hate would jump on me but I would sling it off.
Since Danny passed, I have had a peace that passes all understanding. However, Satan would sock me in the stomach with it. I sling it off by calling out to the Lord. Those socks are becoming less and less because of my *mind renewal*....looking to God for the peace. In the same token, I have a friend that lost her husband to cancer about 8 months before Danny. She can't deal with it yet. Her sorrow is so deep that even her daughter is offended by it and can't be around her mother. It is a sad thing not to come to grips with a loss like that because how can one grow still holding this sorrow?
I think that might be an example of the spiritual battle you are referring to.
Blessings....
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praise |God\
Body - which God gave us see thisworld, to mingle with fellow human - the dwelling place of soul.
Soul- the life in us
Spirit- the power of God in us.
God bless us
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Hi Varghese......
One needs to take care when forwarding a definition of Body soul and Spirit.
To say that our spirit is the Power of God within us, may lead those who have never experienced the New Birth
to believe that because they possess a body, soul and spirit, therefore the spirit that they have is the Power of God within them. Sadly many people walk around believing that they have the spirit of God within them. When in fact they have never had a relationship with God, or experienced the New birth..
We know that The spirit a Non Believer may possess could well be a murderous one or that of a Thief or rapist.
We see read in Luk 9:55 where the Lord rebukes people "But he turned and rebuked them, ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of...." Luk 9:55
It is only when we are "Born Again" where we accept God's gracious gift of becoming a new creature in Christ, that we may boast: "Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature, old things have passed away, behold all things become new 2 Cor 5:17 Where we may also rejoice in the knowlege that we are no longer alone, and whether it be day or night we have the ability to commune with God personally. "Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 1 Cor 3:16. WOW! Goosebumps all over me.
Your Brother in Christ.
Ron.
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Hi Gary,
Thank you for your input.....
I would believe that the soul of a man is influenced by a man's spirit. "And I will say to my soul, Soul thou has much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink and be merry." Luk 12:19
It is only when the spirit of man has been rejuvenated by the Holy Spirit, (hence the need for the new birth) does he then nurture his soul in it's search for "that which is from above".
Blessings to all on AAG.
Ron.
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