I wonder if this question has been asked before or if it has occurred to anyone else.

The issue at stake is how many souls exist.
If we take the biblical account of creation, after creating man and woman, god did not create anymore. He apparently created humans with a soul. He made man and then blew "breath" into him after which the "body" of man became animated.
Same apparently goes for woman.
Obviously the reproductive process ensured that all god needed to do was create male and female and they would take care of themselves.
The question now is that seeing that god apparently only created two souls, where did the rest of the souls come from ?
Is god blowing breath into every baby in the womb ?

This question seems important when you think about the concept of re-incarnation. Where did all these souls come from to be recycled ?

If you consider the grail account of the virgin birth, it is held that Jesus was not literally born of a virgin, but rather his soul was a virgin soul. In other words his soul had never been incarnated and he was thus free from any karma that would weigh his soul down.
This of course brings fresh perspective to the term "the second Adam".

So the question in a nutshell is; apart from the souls of Adam and Eve (created by god) where did the rest of the souls come from. The population keeps increasing. Say we have 500 people in one generation, say all of them have bad karma and need to reincarnate (500 souls), by the next generation, there will be more than 500 people. Lets say double that figure. Where did the extra souls come from ?

God itself being the eternal element that could not but be - the self-existent compound of all self-existent principles- does not cease to create, or I might say - "expand." Therefore an infinite and limitless amount of sparks of the God element will eternally proceed from it: finding form and expression in the many infinite forms existing in God's very infinity of nature.

There is no use relying wholly on the Bible in this matter: Jesus himself stated clearly that there was much else to impart: but he could only impart that which mankind needed: namely the teaching of love and nothing more.

There are many worlds in existence and as such souls emanating from the energy of God's manifestation would continue to enter the worlds eternally and infinitely. I personally believe that souls incarnate in different worlds in the course of their journeys. As such, I would not limit the question of amount of souls to earthly reproduction alone: or the adamic supposition alone.

The above are just my personal beliefs and are not intended as proof, logic or evidence of anything please, nor do I claim to be able to adduce proof for same.

Cheers.

God made man with the ability to proCREATE and multiply. That's Life's quality.

How many bodies exist?

love the way your mind thinks and this is a simple question. i will copy and paste an answer i gave to a previous question. see, a lot of people are under the impression that God only created adam and eve. this is because they listen to what their pastors tell them but they never critically read the bible themselves. God created a multitude of people at once.

ok here we go GENESIS 1 VS 26 lets make HUMANS in our own image. ( keep in mind the word HUMANS. at this point eve had not been made so i dont think he will call one man HUMANS.) vs 27 so he created HUMANS IN his image. he created them male and female. (keep in mind at this point he still hadnt created eve but he has created humans both male and female ). ok lets go to chapter 2. vs (20) the man ,adam, found no helper who was right for him (out of the other females that had been formed ) vs 21 so the lord caused him to fall into a deep sleep, took out his ribs vs 22 formed a woman called eve for him etc etc etc.

Deep Sight, I saw your post and thats one perspective.
I just wondered about it and if anyone had given it some sort of consideration. You obviously have whether your views are right or wrong is an entirely different matter.

Image123, you did not address the question

Calloti, I am not sure what that question has to do with the topic but the UN recently predicted we would hit the 7 billion mark some months ago. Therefore, I can guesstimate that there are close to 7 billion bodies today.

buzugee, that still does not address the problem because the question was about souls and how they come about. The major religions believe in souls and so if we accept that, then there are close to 7 billion souls on earth.
Even if god made several men and women in genesis, he didnt make anything close to 7 billion. However many he made, they all had souls.
The question is where did the other people who were "made" by procreation get their souls from.

So far only Deep Sight has answered the question from his own perspective.

soul and spirit are used interchangeably in the bible. i am sure before the creation of man there were and are billions and billions of spirits in the spiritual realm. heck if you read the apocrypha the lord says if he puts all the spirits he has made on earth at one time, there will be no space for them so he puts them on earth in instalments. basically we are spiritual beings in body suits getting an earthly experience.

what please is this "soul" that you all speak about?

^ Consciousness, perhaps.

Soul is a pure form of energy,perhaps the purest in terms of oscillations or resonance.Consider a soul as flame of a candle. If you use one candle flame to light even one thousand other candles, the original candle is never diminished in form or brightness. So one can light an ifinite number of candles with just one flame. i suppose that is why we have an infinite increase in the number of souls.

The "soul is sometimes personified eg being weary, overjoyed etc.

Most will recoil at the thought of the soul being hungry (for mortal food).

Is there a way to reconcile these seeming contradictions ?

One way to look at it is to observe that the "soul" seems fully capable of being involved in non material things (per the examples above). However when it comes to the more "human" attributes eg hunger, it would seem no one would argue that the "soul" cannot be involved.

Flowing from this, is there anyone that is willing to argue that the "soul" can feel physical pain ?

To get an idea, consider "hell" and the attendant agony. From the claims, it is the "soul" and not the physical body that will be in "hell".
So, if anyone is willing to argue that the "soul" can feel physical pain, will the person agree that the "soul" might also hunger (particularly considering that thirst is mentioned as a consequence of hell CF: The parable of the rich man and Lazarus Luke 16:19-31).

Buzugee I have a feeling that uu will get flogged with fiery koboko when u get to heaven due to all these fable stories and rearranged tales u create constantly…

jayriginal: I wonder if this question has been asked before or if it has occurred to anyone else.

The issue at stake is how many souls exist.
If we take the biblical account of creation, after creating man and woman, god did not create anymore. He apparently created humans with a soul. He made man and then blew "breath" into him after which the "body" of man became animated.
Same apparently goes for woman.
Obviously the reproductive process ensured that all god needed to do was create male and female and they would take care of themselves.
The question now is that seeing that god apparently only created two souls, where did the rest of the souls come from ?
Is god blowing breath into every baby in the womb ?

This question seems important when you think about the concept of re-incarnation. Where did all these souls come from to be recycled ?

If you consider the grail account of the virgin birth, it is held that Jesus was not literally born of a virgin, but rather his soul was a virgin soul. In other words his soul had never been incarnated and he was thus free from any karma that would weigh his soul down.
This of course brings fresh perspective to the term "the second Adam".

So the question in a nutshell is; apart from the souls of Adam and Eve (created by god) where did the rest of the souls come from. The population keeps increasing. Say we have 500 people in one generation, say all of them have bad karma and need to reincarnate (500 souls), by the next generation, there will be more than 500 people. Lets say double that figure. Where did the extra souls come from ?

Very interesting:

In his final question, I would add another:
We have 500 souls in a generation, and dying, 450 go to hell and 50 go to paradise ...
What happens then to the process of reincarnation? Not fulfilled.
Councils have devised various ideas such as "purgatory" to solve problems like that, but these "solutions" actually generate other problems.
Your question is very good, but I doubt anyone manipulating biblical passages come to a simple answer and that is based on faith, to find a decent solution.
God may have a "reservation of souls" on the bench of alternate of the sky ...

Image123, you did not address the question

i said God made man with the ability to proCREATE and multiply. That's Life's quality. Even for plants, its the same. It's like asking where the leaves, the fruits and the seeds came from when just one seed was planted in the ground. That is the quality of Life. God "programmed" life in such a way that we all(the universe of living things) can procreate and multiply.


Gen 1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

Gen 1:22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

Gen 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

There is no negligence inferred BTW,. God still watches over His creation with deep interest.
Heb 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

Luk 12:7 But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Job 35:11 Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?
Psa 40:5 Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to usward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.