Originally posted by twhitehead
I'm getting more and more confused. Whenever I start a thread on the soul (or it comes up in other threads), everyone goes quiet and wont talk about it except lucifershammer who says it is your 'essence'.
Now you say we also have something else called a spirit.
So we have a body, a mind, a soul, a spirit. Which ones go to heaven? Which are really me? Al ...[text shortened]... dy so if my soul and spirit go to hell who cares, I don't seem to know what they are anyway.
First Thessalonians 5:23 is one verse which establishes that man is made up of three parts - spirit and soul and body.
"And the God of peace Himself sanctify you wholly, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thess 5:23)
This passage seperates the spirit and the soul and the body with a conjunction the same way Matthew separates Father and Son and Holy Spirit with a conjunction.
Man is of three parts -
"spirit and soul and body"
The body is the organ that substantiates the physical world. The soul is the organ that substantiates the pschycological world. And the human spirit is the organ that substantiates the spiritual realm.
Hebrews 4:12 is a verse which establised that there can be a division between the human soul and the human spirit:
"For the word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and able to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Heb. 4:12)
This passage shows that the human soul and the human spirit can be divided by the living and operating word of God. So soul and spirit are distinct parts of man.
As for the "going to heaven" fallacy. It is not biblical that man's eternal destiny is to dwell forever in heaven. That is not to say that there is no heaven. That is also not to say that a man cannot visit heaven temporarily. But the emphasis in Christianity about people going to heaven forever is not supported by Scripture. It is in fact a destraction and a perverted teaching.
God's salvation is exceedingly practical. It does not just include the soul. It includes the body, the soul, and the spirit. But it also includes the environment and even the entire univese.
So you should not think of departed souls floating in a bright heavenly afterlife. You should think that transformed and glorified human beings are saturated with the divine nature and life of God in a new heaven and new earth - a entire universe made new.
This is the saved man's eternal destiny.