Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: betty boop; Alamo-Girl
[ I do not regard the born-again experience as an instance of "evolution." Rather, I believe it is an instance of a person becoming what God has already "designed" him to be. In that sense, nothing has "evolved" at all; man simply finds himself, as he already is, to be "under God." And only the soul or spirit is engaged in the born-again experience anyway. ]

Interesting observation.. among so many.. by so many..
The word "change" could be many things to many observers..

Does anything ever change or anything ever stay the same..
Pretty much capulates the polarization of america(the world) these days..
What "IS" change.. what constitutes change..
The some whats changed is no change at all..
To others change is perceived in a hundred ways..

Process theology I know.. nothing of..

[And only the soul or spirit is engaged in the born-again experience anyway. ]

Am I soul/spirit or physical?..
Is my body like a space suit(clothing) for my spirit?..
Should I identify with my body or my spirit?..
Which one is "ME"?...

138 posted on 04/17/2009 4:13:17 PM PDT by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 136 | View Replies ]


To: hosepipe; Alamo-Girl; GodGunsGuts; xzins; MHGinTN; spirited irish; LeGrande
The word "change" could be many things to many observers.

Yes; and "evolution," too.

So here's a scenario: A seed falls into good soil; it germinates, then grows, and ultimately brings forth fruit. What do we call this process — Evolution? Growth? Change?

It doesn't look like "evolution" to me; for the seed–to–fruit system is not one in which one thing leads to another distinctly different entity (species), which is what Darwinists claim evolution involves. Rather, it looks to me like one single entity viewed at different stages at various times. To me, that doesn't qualify as "evolution," though it is clearly a type of change.

You wrote, "Am I soul/spirit or physical?" Well, since you're a human being, I imagine you are both. Or to put it another way, you are an incarnated soul. The "carnate part" — the body — is mortal, finite, perishable; the "soul part" is not. Rather, it is eternal, imperishable.

Interestingly, some classical Greek philosophers held that the soul is the "form" of the body. In Aristotelian language, the soul would be the formal cause of the physical body. In the seed–to–fruit system just mentioned, the change that we observe is guided as if by an unseen hand, some "instruction set" that tells the plant at its various stages "what to do." This would be the formal cause — or the "form" as Plato called it — of the plant thoughout all its life stages.

The interesting difference between Plato and Aristotle in this matter is that Plato regarded the Forms as transcendent to physical nature. Aristotle regarded the Forms as immanent in the entities themselves. Perhaps both men were onto something here.... But I digress.

In any case, to Christians, the soul is ever so much more than merely "the form of the body."

Thank you, dear brother in Christ, for your fascinating essay/post!

180 posted on 04/18/2009 9:04:35 AM PDT by betty boop (All truthful knowledge begins and ends in experience. — Albert Einstein)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 138 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson