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what is a soul and how do you know if you have one

I can give you my Catholic belief on souls. For some other religious or spiritual idea, you'll have to ask someone more knowledgeable than I.

Most Christians regard the soul as the immortal essence of a human - the seat or locus of human will, understanding, and personality - and that after death, God either rewards or punishes the soul. Different Christian groups dispute whether this reward/punishment depends upon doing good deeds, or merely upon believing in God and in Jesus.

Catholic beliefs:

* The present Catechism of the Catholic Church defines the soul as "the innermost aspect of man, that which is of greatest value in him, that by which he is most especially in God's image: 'soul' signifies the spiritual principle in man."
* The soul is the center of the human will, intellect (or mind), and imagination (or memory), and the source of all free human acts, although good acts are aided by God's grace.
* Every human being receives a soul at the moment of conception, and has rights and dignity equal to persons of further development, including the right to life.
* At the moment of death, the soul goes either to Purgatory, Heaven, or Hell. Purgatory is a place of atonement for sins that one goes through to pay the temporal punishment for post-baptismal sins that have not been atoned for by sufferings during one's earthly life. This is distinct from the atonement for the eternal punishment due to sin which was affected by Christ's suffering and death.
* The Catholic Church teaches the creationist view of the origin of the soul: "The doctrine of the faith affirms that the spiritual and immortal soul is created immediately by God." -Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 382


That's what I've got there buddy. Hope it helps you.

I read in a book and beleive that the soul is everything good about you, God will punish or reward it when you die. I think that it's because of your behavior. Be good and go to heaven *aahh* Be bad and go to hell You decide

Hmmm, ghostwolf. I'm not going to touch that one with a ten foot pole. However, I will say that my Catholic sentiments make me respectfully disagree with you on several points. Maybe I will PM you with some comments later on.....

The first part of that, Ghostwolf, sounds like Brother Micah. Basically your soul is the I guess you'd call it a thing, that leaves your body when you die.

based on your actions in this life you will either go to heaven or hell (purgatory is on the list for only for a few groups). Just because someone was a killer or thief in this life does not automatically mean your going to hell. Because if you ask for true forgiveness God will forgive you for your sins.