Blitzen
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A Personal/Religious/Scientific Survey (for me, by me)
The thing I'm currently writing is about clones, so I've started thinking about them. I've got some questions, so I figure I'll post them, then answer them, then anyone else can have a shot.
1a) do you believe in the existence of souls
1b) if yes, where do you believe souls come from
1c) where do you believe souls go when we die
2) do you believe only 1 soul can be in 1 body?
2a) if yes, does this mean unborn children have no soul - they get it when they are born?
3a) do you believe 1 soul can be in several identical bodies (clones) or that souls can be copied?
3b) what do you think about the idea that people can be cloned after death, and their soul will go into the new body?
4) have you any other thoughts on the ethics/morals of human cloning.
I'm trying to sort my mind out for what I'm writing, but I don't know what I believe.
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3/6/2008, 7:55 pm
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Blitzen
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Re: A Personal/Religious/Scientific Survey (for me, by me)
Okay, my answers:
1a) do you believe in the existence of souls
Yes, I do.
1b) if yes, where do you believe souls come from
I don't know, but I don't think there is a new one for every birth, that seems kind of wasteful.
1c) where do you believe souls go when we die
I'm not sure, but I believe some people get reincarnated.
2) do you believe only 1 soul can be in 1 body?
Yes
2a) if yes, does this mean unborn children have no soul - they get it when they are born?
I suppose so
3a) do you believe 1 soul can be in several identical bodies (clones) or that souls can be copied?
No, 1 soul to 1 body, souls can't be copied
3b) what do you think about the idea that people can be cloned after death, and their soul will go into the new body?
Um, why wouldn't their soul go where souls normally go?
4) have you any other thoughts on the ethics/morals of human cloning.
Not really
So, you see, I'm struggling.
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3/6/2008, 8:02 pm
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Loud G
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Re: A Personal/Religious/Scientific Survey (for me, by me)
1a) do you believe in the existence of souls
Yes!
1b) if yes, where do you believe souls come from
I believe all souls are children of God sent to earth to recieve a body of their own. It is a one shot process, you don't get more than one chance. Once you get your body, it is yours forever.
1c) where do you believe souls go when we die
I believe that souls return back to God when we die to await the resurrection (IE. Rejoining of soul and body for eternity, never to be separated again)
2) do you believe only 1 soul can be in 1 body?
Yes one soul owns its one body.
Only one soul belongs in a body. I've heard of posession in which a demonic spirit enters a person's body, but have never seen it. I don't discount it though, it is just not in my realm of experience. But the invading spirit would only gain temporary control not ownership.
2a) if yes, does this mean unborn children have no soul - they get it when they are born?
I think unborn children have souls sometime after conception but before birth.
3a) do you believe 1 soul can be in several identical bodies (clones) or that souls can be copied?
One soul cannot enter multiple bodies. Souls cannot be copies. Each is an individual.
3b) what do you think about the idea that people can be cloned after death, and their soul will go into the new body?
In a story it could work. In practice, I don't think it is possible.
4) have you any other thoughts on the ethics/morals of human cloning.
Cloning is such a weird thing. I know that each person is born with a soul and that causes them to live. I do not think a souless body could live. I do not think a cloned body would recieve a soul.
--- Reading: Mistborn
Writing: Eriadhin
"Life is like a book, except it takes longer to get to the climax."
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3/6/2008, 9:49 pm
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Reythia
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Re: A Personal/Religious/Scientific Survey (for me, by me)
Here's my two cents:
1a) do you believe in the existence of souls
Yes -- something made my identical twin sisters behave differently from birth, and it certainly wasn't genetics.
1b) if yes, where do you believe souls come from
Who knows. Where did the rest of the universe as we know it come from? The usual answer is "God" which is fine with me.
1c) where do you believe souls go when we die
 Let you know when I get there!
2) do you believe only 1 soul can be in 1 body?
Yes. I've never seen any evidence to the contrary, at least.
2a) if yes, does this mean unborn children have no soul - they get it when they are born?
Maybe, but not necessarily. This is at the heart of the abortion debate, you know. If a fetus gains its soul at conception, that makes abortion murder. But if a fetus gains its soul at birth, that makes abortion no worse than killing a dog, for example. Some cultures even believed that a child didn't gain his soul until later in life -- usually until he started to talk, for example. I have difficulty believing this, since I've known too many kids who are too young to talk. But I've no evidence (even the anecdotal kind) to differentiate between ensoulment at conception, birth, or any time in between. To put it another way, we've never found any way to weigh the soul.
3a) do you believe 1 soul can be in several identical bodies (clones) or that souls can be copied?
I don't think that copying the body copies the soul -- my experience with identical twins refutes that. I suppose that, if humans somehow found a way to "weigh" the soul, it might be possible to somehow copy a soul too. But I'd see that as a separate issue from biological cloning.
3b) what do you think about the idea that people can be cloned after death, and their soul will go into the new body?
I suppose that depends on what you think souls do after the body's physical death. If there's a heaven, I don't see why the souls would want to leave there to come back and be stuck in a body again. If there isn't, but the souls don't immediately vanish at death, then why aren't all the dead souls floating around being made into more "ghosts"? There aren't nearly enough ghost stories around for that to be the case. So I guess I really can't believe the soul (if it remains after death at all) would want to go back into a body.
4) have you any other thoughts on the ethics/morals of human cloning.
One of the classic questions is this: Imagine a rich old man clones himself twice. Which clone inherits his fortune? Which clone is "him"? Is either?
---  -- YAR! |
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3/7/2008, 4:59 pm
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Reythia
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Re: A Personal/Religious/Scientific Survey (for me, by me)
I just read everyone else's comments, and wasn't going to comment on them (after all, they're opinions!). But this one required one comment:
quote:
Loud G wrote:
Cloning is such a weird thing. I know that each person is born with a soul and that causes them to live. I do not think a souless body could live. I do not think a cloned body would recieve a soul.
I totally agree that cloning sounds like a weird topic. But remember: there's one type of cloning that is considered "normal" -- the natural cloning process that produces idential twins. That process is, largely, the same as man-made cloning -- with the exception of where the original tissue comes from, obviously. I think it's generally accepted that identical twins have separate souls, right? Even though they are, by definition, "cloned bodies"? (This isn't saying that what LoudG said was wrong, by the way, just that he probably phrased it inexactly.)
Point is, Blitzen, be careful when you talk about cloning and souls in your book, because what you say there may also apply to "natural" clones like my sisters.
quote:
Loud G wrote:
I know that each person is born with a soul and that causes them to live. I do not think a souless body could live.
A second point: you believe that mosquitos have souls then? Because they are certainly alive! ...If that's true, I definitely don't want to visit mosquito heaven! (If you squash a mosquito in mosquito heaven, would you be sent to mosquito hell? And what would the difference be?  )
--- -- YAR! |
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3/7/2008, 5:11 pm
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Loud G
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Re: A Personal/Religious/Scientific Survey (for me, by me)
I do believe that all living things have souls as well. plant, animal, bug, etc.
--- Reading: Mistborn
Writing: Eriadhin
"Life is like a book, except it takes longer to get to the climax."
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3/7/2008, 6:23 pm
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QS2
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Re: A Personal/Religious/Scientific Survey (for me, by me)
It looks like my opinions vary massively from most others on this topic here. 
1a) do you believe in the existence of souls
No, I don't. Basically because I'm skeptical and this idea has no evidence to support it.
1b) if yes, where do you believe souls come from
Not relevant for me I guess.
1c) where do you believe souls go when we die
Same. Though as a side note, why would they go anywhere at all and say not just die with the body if they did exist?
2) do you believe only 1 soul can be in 1 body?
2a) if yes, does this mean unborn children have no soul - they get it when they are born?
Is it possible that it would grow and develop as the body does?
3a) do you believe 1 soul can be in several identical bodies (clones) or that souls can be copied?
3b) what do you think about the idea that people can be cloned after death, and their soul will go into the new body?
Interesting ideas, it would be a kind of immortality then. Without souls immortality actually seems to be harder to achieve, go figure eh.
4) have you any other thoughts on the ethics/morals of human cloning.
I think if you start making new kids, that you are responsible for raising them properly. So in logical extension, abuse of clones is the same as abusing kids/adults.
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3/7/2008, 9:07 pm
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