Monday, March 03, 2008

What You're Made Of

What are you made of? That's another question we discussed last night. I described 4 prominent views which you will find briefly described below:

Option 1 The Materialist View says we are just made of material stuff. Flesh is all there is. We don't have a soul and/or a spirit. Option 2 is the Monist View which was held by many ancient Hebrews. By primary biblical usage, the word 'soul' is synonymous with a breathing being. We don't 'have' souls, we 'are' souls. Souls have various 'aspects' (material and immaterial). Option 3 is the Dichotomist View which was held by many ancient Greeks. This view says people are made 2 distinct 'parts' (flesh & spirit/soul). Option 4 is the Trichotomist View which says that man is made up of 3 parts (flesh & soul & spirit). It distinguishes b/w soul & spirit based on a couple of NT verses.

Which View Seems Right to You?

1 comment:

matthew said...

Personally, I don't see a vast difference b/w 2 & 3 (aspect vs. part). I would suppose I lean slightly closer to 2.