Actually the Book of Genesis is what caused me to think we had a spirit or really "were" spirits riding the vehicle(body) God created for us and the metaphor of "breathing into us" was code for adding the spirit to the body suit... Its all about the metaphor..
The Bible really is all about code/metaphor.. Jesus spoke in metaphor(usually) as did God(Jesus, Father, Holy Spirit) in the old testament.. Jesus existed long before Mary was even born.. You miss the "metaphor" you miss the "message".. You take the literal you gloss over the hidden meaning which is not hidden.. Spirits speak metaphor..
You look into the mirror what you see is not you, thats your transportation.. mere flesh.. casket fodder.. The spirit, your spirit, who you are, is looking back at you thru your eyes(metaphorically)..
Thats NOT gnostic.. The gnostics were/Are too caught up in fatalism and Flesh.. what they called spirit is soul as do every other religion including christian ones..
The truth is its not what you believe its whom you Are that counts.. for "You MUST be born again"- Jesus.. Therefore you can be a heretic and still be born again.. yes even a gnostic.. Family is family, funny beliefs are just mental flesh games.. the human brain is flesh you see.. No casket ever buried has a spirit in it.. because thats what baptism is, a burial.. Where the "old man" is symbolically(metaphorically) buried..
Hosepipe, you are making things up as you go along. The Hebrew word used is Xpn (nephesh), which simply means life, "living being."
It is most definitely not limited to human beings as you seem to imply, but to all the living beings. That this is indeed so is obvious from the Bible, beginning with Genesis (Gen 1:20, 1:21, 1:24, 1:30 for starters!). In each of those verses is nephesh, and so is in Gen 2:7 where God breathes life into Adam's inanimate nostrils and Adam becomes a living being.
What differentiates Adam from animals is that he was created with a potential they don't have, and that is in God's image and likeness. Those are human capacities. We can become like God and we can become an image of God if we cleave to God. Animals can't. But that is because we were created as rational and moral beings, not because God breathed something other than life in us.
The Bible really is all about code/metaphor
Well, there is nothing metaphorical about nepehesh.
The Septuagint (LXX) uses the Greek word ψυχέ (psuché), which simply means life (of all living creatures), a vital "force."
Both Hebrew and koine Greek differentiate nephesh and psuché (soul) from the spirit.
Spirit sustains our nephesh or psuche (soul), which sustains our body. Once the soul separates from the Spirit, it dies and that in turn causes body to die. The fact that we physically die means that our nature (psuchesarkos) is separated from God (without God's grace). Salvation is re-connecting with the life-giving, soul-sustaining force and continuing to live (being under grace).
Thus, our soul by itself is not immortal unless it is under grace. This life is our chance to reconnect with God and be saved (from death). The nephesh of the repenting believers will continue to live until such time that a new bodies are recreated (there is no reincarnation because there is no loss of identity).
But the continued existence of nephesh after the body dies is "unnatural" and by necessity unpleasant, uncomfortable. This discomfort is attenuated by our prayers for the departed.
The eternal death will be that of a resurrected man who remained separated from God until his physical death. There is no repentance after that, for man shall die once and is judged immediately (cf Heb 9:27). Hence the importance of true and complete repentance in this lifetime.
Thats NOT gnostic.. The gnostics were/Are too caught up in fatalism and Flesh
That was made in reference to your suggestion that our souls were sent to our bodies, which implies pre-existence of souls, which is not Christian but explicitly Gnostic teaching (Origen) and pagan (neo-Platonic).
Therefore you can be a heretic and still be born again.. yes even [sic] a gnostic...
No, absolutely not. No one who is with the Spirit will teach false doctrines and therefore cannot remain a heretic (which is what Gnostics are, btw).
We know this because we know that Christ is true God (because of His Resurrection). The Nicene Creed so states correctly. Therefore, by worshiping Christ we worship true God, and not an idol. All other religions worship some sort of an idol to a greater or lesser degree.
Jesus existed long before Mary was even born..
No, the Word exists in His divine nature eternally; His human nature did not exist from all eternity. Our Lord Jesus Christ is Word Incarnate, human and divine, indivisible and unconfused, and His natures in perfect harmony.
No, that is precisely gnostic.
-A8