How many souls can one body hold?

[KingMerv00]

Many Christian believes that life begins at conception. As soon as the sperm enters the egg, the soul is forever infused within.

This leaves me confused though. Every once in a great while, a pair of fertilized eggs (unborn fraternal twins) will fuse into a single cluster of cells. This blastocyst can develop normally with two different sets of DNA inside. The resulting child is called a chimera.

Two fertilized eggs, one apparent soul. What happened? Does the chimera carry two souls? 1.5 souls? Is the non-existant baby in heaven or hell? After all he/she wasn't baptized.

[Piscivore]

Twelve times as many as its capacity for IPU's.

[Palimpsest]

Well, inasmuch as these Xians think about (or, really, are aware of) Chimera twins, they probably think that one of the siblings dies and only one soul remains.

[Ryokan]

How many souls can one body hold?

According to Scientologists, quite a lot :)

[Dogdoctor]

Yeah and what about the identical twin where the zygote splits in two? Does each one have half a soul? Those poor twins:(

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

I vote for waiting until, say, 10 weeks before soul infusion. That would finesse many of these complex issues.

~~ Paul

[Ducky]

Originally posted by Paul C. Anagnostopoulos
I vote for waiting until, say, 10 weeks before soul infusion. That would finesse many of these complex issues.

~~ Paul


That's about the best parody of xtian apologetics I've seen today.

[DarkMagician]

Originally posted by Dogdoctor
Yeah and what about the identical twin where the zygote splits in two? Does each one have half a soul? Those poor twins:( No, the soul sticks to one, but not the other, resulting in an evil twin.

[Ducky]

Originally posted by DarkMagician
No, the soul sticks to one, but not the other, resulting in an evil twin.



Entirely true. I have three pairs of friends that are identical twins.

All got an evil one.


And the evil one always shags like a minx.

[Lisa Simpson]

What about identical triplets? Is it one with a soul and two evil twins?

[Ducky]

Originally posted by Lisa Simpson
What about identical triplets? Is it one with a soul and two evil twins?



Please, let's not get me riled up more...

:D



OK bad joke over...

[Lisa Simpson]

Hmm...seems like I recall Tim saying he is an identical twin. Tim are you the good twin or the evil twin?

[Ducky]

Originally posted by Lisa Simpson
Hmm...seems like I recall Tim saying he is an identical twin. Tim are you the good twin or the evil twin?


Trying to find out if the's the one that shags like a minx?

[Lisa Simpson]

Originally posted by fowlsound
Trying to find out if the's the one that shags like a minx?

Yes.

[Atlas]

Legion...Luke 8:30 Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" He said, "Legion," for many demons had entered into him.

[Iacchus]

Can anyone say "gesticulate?"

Due to the fact that the body develops one head, I think it was designed specifically for one soul. However, in the case of siamese twins, obviously you can have two independent entities existing within the same body.

[jimmygun]

What about the phenomenon of a parasite twin? Does the parasite have a soul or does it feed off the live one's soul?

And another thing, we each have two soles on our feet. Do these count? And why are they called sole when there are two of them? Unless you have lost a leg (with the accompanying loss of a foot) you would then be correct in saying sole.

Isn't religion a lot simpler if you don't ask questions?

[Iacchus]

Originally posted by jimmygun
What about the phenomenon of a parasite twin? Does the parasite have a soul or does it feed off the live one's soul? Care to provide a link?

[Lisa Simpson]

http://phreeque.tripod.com/parasitic_twins.html

[TragicMonkey]

I knew a set of identical twins that were both evil. Does that mean each had an unborn good identical twin inside him, and that they started pre-life as identical quadruplets?

I'm beginning to suspect I'm my own evil twin.

Or like Calculon, perhaps I have a seventh evil identical septuplet.

"Calculon! I thought you were-"
"Egyptian?"

[Iacchus]

Originally posted by jimmygun
Isn't religion a lot simpler if you don't ask questions? Would the Universe exist without balance or symmetry? I think as a rule, the Universe strives for perfection and wholeness. Otherwise such "anomalies" would appear more frequently.

[c4ts]

What about all those stillborns, or deformed babies who are born without a set of lungs?

[Jyera]

Two souls.

[Zep]

Are souls?

[cyborg]

Originally posted by Iacchus
I think as a rule, the Universe strives for perfection and wholeness. Otherwise such "anomalies" would appear more frequently.

Proof that the Universe wants perfection is that it doesn't screw up often enough?

Praytell, how many anomalies would be required before you concluded that the Universe wasn't striving for perfection? I suspect you would just tell it's striving but not doing so well.

But please, don't let me stop you making up crap as you go along.

[Iacchus]

Originally posted by cyborg
Proof that the Universe wants perfection is that it doesn't screw up often enough?

Praytell, how many anomalies would be required before you concluded that the Universe wasn't striving for perfection? I suspect you would just tell it's striving but not doing so well.

But please, don't let me stop you making up crap as you go along. Do you admit that you're a pathetic worthless mess? Even if you are ;) ... how would you gauge it? If not from the standpoint of wholeness?

[KingMerv00]

Originally posted by Iacchus
Would the Universe exist without balance or symmetry? I think as a rule, the Universe strives for perfection and wholeness. Otherwise such "anomalies" would appear more frequently.

Anomalies are, by definition, things that don't happen very often. If chimerism was the rule and not the exception, it would be considered perfectly natural.

[c4ts]

How many souls can one body hold?

I dunno. How many angels can sit on the head of a pin?

[Iacchus]

Originally posted by KingMerv00
Anomalies are, by definition, things that don't happen very often. If chimerism was the rule and not the exception, it would be considered perfectly natural. Perhaps. But, generally as a rule, most people only have one head and, only one mind to coincide with that head.

[Oregon_Skeptic]

Originally posted by Iacchus:
I think as a rule, the Universe strives for perfection and wholeness.
Why would you think that when there is that entropy thing to consider? I rather like how Warner Hertzog puts it in his new film Grizzly Man: “I believe the common character of the universe is not harmony, but hostility, chaos and murder.�

Originally posted by KingMerv00:
Many Christian believes that life begins at conception. As soon as the sperm enters the egg, the soul is forever infused within.
If there is such a critter as a soul, I think it might be interesting if we had to earn it rather than just getting born with. How we would do that I’m not quite certain, but I think it might have to involve coming to understand certain things such as what it means to be human, what it means to be and act good or evil. Mythically speaking, maybe it involves a hero’s journey, and if we complete such a quest our boon, whether we know it our not, is getting a soul.

[cyborg]

Originally posted by Iacchus
Do you admit that you're a pathetic worthless mess? Even if you are ;) ... how would you gauge it? If not from the standpoint of wholeness?

LEARN TO COMMUNICATE IN ENGLISH.

More nonsensical jabberings from you I see.

[Wudang]

Originally posted by Iacchus
Perhaps. But, generally as a rule, most people only have one head and, only one mind to coincide with that head.

Unless of course you sever the corpus callosum and then you have two minds in the one head and exactly the same number of souls.

[Beerina]

Originally posted by jimmygun
What about the phenomenon of a parasite twin? Does the parasite have a soul or does it feed off the live one's soul?

Yeah, what about that guy from a hundred and fifty years ago whose siamese twin was head and shoulders inside him, but lower torso and legs hanging outside? It would even urinate. Assuming some non-degenerate level of brain tissue was in the head inside the body, what kind of life would that poor guy have? No education, no awareness of anything. But it had a soul.

Oh, that wacky Yaweh!

[Beerina]

Originally posted by Iacchus
Perhaps. But, generally as a rule, most people only have one head and, only one mind to coincide with that head.

That may not even be true. Your two brain lobes may be more like two minds working together, with the coherency just an illusion.

[Tormac]

My cat, Smitten, has assured me that human souls come in two halves, and reside in people’s ankles. If a person looses an ankle(s) for any unspecified reason, the soul-part(s) can reattach themselves to other parts of the human anatomy, but the brain repels the soul-parts, so they tend to stay as far away from the seat of intelligence as possible.

Smitten also claims that felines can steal parts of a human soul through the generation of static electricity. Apparently, human souls are controllable through electro-magnetic phenomena, and cats like to take part of their human’s soul and play with it, rather like a wadded up piece of paper.

Smitten says it is all in good fun though, as human souls can regenerate, and really are not that important to cats anyways.

Smitten knows a lot about other things that don’t exist, not just human souls. (At least that is what he tells me; it’s hard to check him on these things). Feel free to ask, and I’ll find out what his opinion is on a given topic.

Edited to add

Smitten reminded me that I did give his answer to the original question. He says that soul-parts reside on the skin of a human body, and they tend to repel themselves, so there is a finite number of souls a human can have on them. This will vary with the surface area the individual has. People with more surface area can have more soul-parts, and in fact may have bits of other people’s souls unknowingly stuck on themselves. Some people have a lot of soul-parts from only a few people on them, while others may have a lot of single soul-parts from many different people.

Smitten also said that there is a second variable, that being the repulsion phenomena created by the electrical activity of the human brain. Because of certain thought patterns some people have, they tend to be more repulsive to soul parts than other people, and thus one can not tell for certain how many soul parts a human can carry with them just by looking at them.

Smitten says on average, most Americans have can carry about seven soul parts on them, although few Americans have more than five on them at any one time.

[Atlas]

Sounds like a smart cat Tormac.

I ain't no expert though. I knew this dog once, I think his name was Poopy - but he didn't like to be called that. Anyway, he wasn't too taken with cats and said that they'll say anything because they like to mess with your mind and see how gullible you are.

If I were you I'd ask Smitten straight out if he's messin' with you. You know, just to be sure.

[Tormac]

Well that’s a good point Atlas, sometimes it is hard to tell if the cats are telling me the honest truth, or if they are just making it up to string me along.

I've learned the hard way that theories that involve feeding them more often, or helping them torment the neighbor's german shepherd are suspect.

But I think Smitten was telling me the truth about this soul thing, because my other cat Mr. G confirmed that it was true, while my third cat OrangeNTan said is was crazy nonsense, then started to rub against my ankle till I felt a static shock.

It is always hard to tell with cats though.

[KingMerv00]

Originally posted by Iacchus
Perhaps. But, generally as a rule, most people only have one head and, only one mind to coincide with that head.

I forget, do you believe in souls or not? Does your above statement suggest that they reside in the head?

If you do believe in souls, when to they enter the body...or whatever.

[DarkMagician]

Originally posted by Iacchus
Do you admit that you're a pathetic worthless mess? Even if you are ;) ... how would you gauge it? If not from the standpoint of wholeness? You only need to take ONE blue pill, Neo.

[c4ts]

Originally posted by DarkMagician
You only need to take ONE blue pill, Neo.

He took the red pill and the blue pill at the same time in the same sense.

[Beerina]

Originally posted by Iacchus
Can anyone say "gesticulate?"

Due to the fact that the body develops one head, I think it was designed specifically for one soul. However, in the case of siamese twins, obviously you can have two independent entities existing within the same body.

But that is the whole point of this. If soul infusion happens at conception, then there must have been two souls, at least at first. When the cells stuck together and started developing into one body, which soul "won", and which one went off to, presumably, Hell, not being baptized. Or are both there sharing the merged body, e'en tho it have but one mind?

[Beerina]

Ahhh, life was so much easier when demons haunted the world. Obviously this thing is an abomination in the eyes of the Lord and we should just kill it.


I mean, duh!

[Beerina]

If the soul is synonymous with the mind (which it had better be -- if I, i.e. my mind, dies at death, I don't care that my mindless, experience-less "soul", whatever that is, survives.) And if the mind is synonymous with the brain, being instantiated by it (neural correlates of consciousness) then the brains merged, and thus the minds merged, and thus the souls merged.

Why couldn't souls merge?


(Well, aside from they must exist in order to merge, of course!)