To have seen the first ocean the first plant, the first animal, and then of course to have seen the creation of the first human being. Truly "Man" must have been a very important creation, because God did not just speak us into existence pointing to a patch of ground and saying "There will now walk a man, who will tend my gardens and worship and glorify me". No. All other animals have (Just as we have) bone, skin, blood, vital organs and brains. We all eat food, multiply, play, strive for preservation of "Self", and we all die. We all have the same traits, sometimes the same habits, but for some reason we are different.
No, God didn't just speak us into existence, he took a material from the world that He had already created (dust on the earth), and (much like a sculptor) began forming a figure. He began perhaps with the brain, the organ which would control this figure, then maybe He moved onto the skull and onto the rest of the structure or skeleton. The placement of the organs, veins, muscles skin hairs and nails would have been so intricate and tedious. so beautiful is the creative genius of this Great artist, and as He clears away the left over sprinklings of dust from upon His new and beloved created figure, all of creation (Including angels and all other entities whom God has created)
realizes that God is about to do something that He has not done before in this new creation Endeavour. He breathes into this figure the breath of life,
the figures chest rises and the organs and fluids therein take action and movement, the nostrils flare and the eyelids flicker as the pupils adjust. Man then became a living being, or as the KJV states "And man became a living soul"But what of the soul, what is it? You see I have always had trouble understanding the difference between, the soul leaving the body and the
spirit leaving the body, I know this seems trivial to ask this question when you look at the grand scheme of things and realize that in the end, all that matters is that we grow closer to Christ. But at the same time, if I am ready to give an account for the faith that I have, I think that it would behoove me to figure out what exactly I am made of, and how it works. So lets take a look at what the scriptures have to say about the soul and spirit, I don't want to approach this with any presuppositions, so as to pull what "I" want out of it. I believe that when one begins studying any subject, one should be open to the possibility of being transformed by the renewing of their mind. Finding what it is that God wants one to pull out of his word.
Keeping that in mind, lets begin. When we read Gen 2:7 we find that when God breathed the breath of life into Adams lungs, the NIV states that "He became a living being", but if you look at the KJV you will find that in the latter portion of this scripture "Living being" is changed to "living soul". Now I was raised with the idea that the soul was basically a being within you, an indwelling you that was the real seat of your emotions, your true intellect. Growing up I had supposed that my soul within was indeed the one that commanded my brain to make movement instructions for the rest of my body, I know that this might seem strange to you, but I had presupposed this and formed these opinions from the information that was set before me in my younger years.
I had presupposed that when a man dies, his soul would leave his body and enter the heavenly realm anew, without the restraints of the physical shell that he leaves behind. To me that seems like a logical conclusion for a young person, when you take into account that teachings in modern day Christianity do in fact point towards the idea,
that when someone dies their soul is what leaves, instead their spirit. But maybe I am getting a little to far ahead of myself in this, if we take a look at the meaning of the word soul by referring to ancient Hebrew as our source, we find that the term for "Soul" is actually "Nephesh". Now when you look at it from an ancient Hebrew point of view, you will find that the Hebrew term "Nephesh" refers not to an indwelling being alone, something that does the real thinking for you, or the real feeling, or that tells your body when and how to move.
