Thursday, July 14, 2011

A Soul to Heaven


 Aristotle's View on Souls states that aside from man the plants and animals also have souls. The only difference is human soul has the superiority among other living things.

Soul is defined as the first principle of life. As we all know living things has life- it is the basis of identifying whether the given object is living or non-living.

 If the soul is the first principle of life and life is present in all living things. By transitivity, it implies that animals and plants, as a subsets of living things, also have souls.

 In Aristotle's view on Souls there are certain differences among the 3 classes. This are the three degrees of soul:

  Nutritive Soul ----> (plants) The reason for growth, nutrition and reproduction.
  Sensory Soul ----> (animals) The reason for locomotion and perception.
  Rational Soul ----> (human beings) The reason for intellect and reasoning.

  The higher degree of soul also has all of the lower degree (Nested Hierarchy). All living things grow, nourish themselves, and reproduce while the animals also move and perceive. Humans do all of the above and reason, as well.



MAIN OBJECTIVE:
 If plants, animals and human have souls, is it possible that all of them can be saved and enter the kingdom of God? 

 The answer is NO because in order to be saved, you must accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and this is an example of a personal decision making. Decision making is a part of rational soul in a way that it involves Critical Thinking. 
Critical thinking has been described as “reasonable reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or do.”  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_thinking)





 " Yet to all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God " -John 1:12

 If you believe in God it is because of your faith. Some of us proves our faith through reasoning.

 The plants and animals are not capable of reasoning and decision making, therefore they cannot enter the Kingdom of God [because they can't be saved]

 Take Note! 
 The nutritive, sensory and rational souls are philosophical point of views. There's no scientific basis if these are true... but the main point is philosophical or not we can prove that only man can enter the Kingdom of God.

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