Oh my goodness! A thread that I made has reached 100 comments! I don't think that has ever happened! Wow! I'm glad you guys like it! :D

Sorry, my bad. It might have autocorrected it to my old name, I don't know. Maybe I just did that on accident lol. XD

whoa whoa whoa whoa.

I believe animals do not have souls or go to heaven or hell. They have emotions because they have brains. I believe your soul is not for emotions, it is what lives on after you die and goes to purgatory to be judged and then goes to heaven or hell (that's why my family prays every night for them). As for rocks, umm... hate to break it to you, but rocks and other things that can't breathe don't have brains or souls, and they don't go to heaven (or hell) either.

I think you misunderstood.what I meant ... But that's okay! It happens. ^^

I believe God loves everyone, regardless of whether or not they love Him back. He sent His one and only Son to die for EVERYONE in the world. Everyone, regardless of whether or not they believed in Him or actually thought He was the Son of God. Imagine that. Could you love the world and all the people so much that you would send your only child to die for their sins?

Whether or not the Greeks or anyone currently believes in God, He loves them, and hopes they use their free will that He gave them to believe in Him. He made all humans in His image, and that's why He loves everyone so, so much. 

I think I want to add my own little opinion on souls because I think this is a very interesting discussion.

I think that the soul is a combination of the spirit and the body. Up in heaven, we all had spirit bodies. When God proposed his plan to send us down to Earth, he created physical bodies for us. That is why we need to be careful about what we do to our bodies because they are a temple for the spirit. When we die, our bodies will stay on Earth and our spirits will go up to heaven (I am using the generic term "heaven" because of lack of another term). When we are judged and after the Savior comes to the earth again, our spirits will be united with our perfect bodies again. That's what I think is so beautiful about the whole spirit-body thing. Our bodies are imperfect, but when we get resurrected  our bodies will be made perfect. That means that those people who have lost limbs or have medical problems will be healed and be in a whole, perfect body.

So, as far as animals having souls, I think I believe they do. Animals can be very important to humans, and I don't think heaven would be heaven if it didn't have animals. Also, in the Bible Christ cast out evil spirits into pigs. I think that the pigs would have had to have a spirit in order for this to happen, but I don't know.

I also don't really know about plants having souls. I think it's a really beautiful concept to think about, but I don't know. There have been experiments to find out if plants have emotions, and I think some of the results are very interesting. I would like to have my pumpkin plants to have a soul, but I guess that's something we will just have to figure out when we get to heaven. 

Ok I have a ton to say on this thread, but I'm going to start with answering Silver's questions.

I think this thread is very interesting to read, and a good topic to discuss. 

 What do you believe: 

I believe in G-d and his Torah. I believe that G-d created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th. I think the concept of evolution is real, that we change over time, but not that humans evolved from apes. I think that is false.

 Can you prove your ideas no matter what? 

I don't really know. The Torah had been passed down through the generations since the beginning of time. I think it's true, but proving it to someone who doesn't believe in the same things would be hard.

What happens when you die? 

I belive that everyone is judged by G-d and his heavenly court. The righteous go to The World to Come, which is a place of reward and happiness, and evil people go to Hell.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? 

The chicken, because G-d created all the animals and creatures and then commanded them to be fruitful and multiply.

Do ideas hatch from eggs?

????????? 

Is the scientific universe in G-d's mind?

Yes. I belive that G-d created the earth and unvierse and everything on it.

How do we know that science is right?

There are many ways, through measurements and studies and fossils etc. that show what the world was like, but scienctists are only guessing and making inferences based on observations and evidence they found.

 How do we know the bible is right?

I don't know, honestly

Hmm... This is quite a detailed discussion and I am unsure where to jump in at. For starters, congrats on reaching over 100 comments, Silver! That is amazing, who knew such a topic would create so much to talk about? I will try to answer in general, but who knows what it'll be like. Do not be offended anyone, please!

What do you believe? 

For starters, I do believe in God and the creation of the Earth as said. But I feel He also created science, and that scientific events are *usually* accurate. I also believe in the Old Earth theory instead of New Earth, again falling back to the fact that I also believe in science.

Can you prove your ideas, no matter what they are? 

I feel anyone can "prove" their ideas, but really it is part of our mental subconscious on how we prove it. No matter what we do, there will always be someone who says, "That isn't proof!" Like when you make cookies from scratch and show them your shopping list of the ingredients, and they are like, "Dude, I don't care, that's not real proof! I think these are store bought." You know what I mean? We, personally, have ways we prove something. Why the sky is blue. Why roses smell good. Why most people hate geraniums. Why our religion is true. Etc, etc. Yet being that there is always a split opinion, someone's mind will form a way to make it false to them, even if it is true to you.

Will we ever find out what happened so long ago?

Again, it goes with the answer above. If you believe in an afterlife, then you should learn then what the truth is. If you don't, then you would believe what your heart says. Will all of us, all at once, ever figure out while we are living? Chances are, probably not. I mean, unless - assuming you are religious - we are told by God directly. But then again, it goes into the whole proof thing. Many people will simply refuse to see it as proof.

What happens when you die?

Well, ideas vary for everyone. I believe Christian views on the subject, but I know some don't. 

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Gosh, this question has always confused me. I'd think chicken would have come first though because if God had created all the animals, he wouldn't have made eggs. Those eggs would have died without warmth from a hen. (Or died period. You can't have a baby calf wandering around, they would die too). I mean, to me it seems simple as that, but again, everyone's opinions vary with their own proof.

Do ideas hatch from eggs?

Even more confusing... I literally have no idea what that question means.

Is the scientific universe in God's mind?

As I said in my very first answer, yes, I do feel it is. 

How do we know that science is right?

Well, I mentioned this in my second answer I think. No one knows for sure, our proofs are believed individually (or small masses) and never in totality. Therefore, a kid could say science is right due to fossil records and such, while another would say no because those records are false.

How do we know that the Bible is right? 

Same as #2 and the one above. Can we know anything for fact that the whole totality of society will agree? No. But, like science (fossil records, etc.), we do have proof throughout history. So really, you pick what is proof to you, and you believe that proof. If the Bible is right to you, then it is. If it isn't, then it isn't. We cannot satisfy the entire world but we can satisfy ourselves and those who will listen. 

Also, I saw something about animals having/not having souls? As for that, I feel very deeply that animals do have souls. Whether or not they go to Heaven, I haven't really thought about that. Animals have a conscious, just like you and I. They live and breath, like you and I. They make their own choices. There are stories all the time about a lion who, instead of killing the antelope, befriends it and helps it heal. Animals can make up their minds and fight their "instinct". We fight our instincts too, time to time. Lock ourselves out of human reach (we are creatures of socialization, so this is definitely breaking the instinct), become vegan, fly, go to space, everything that totally is not intentional xD. I also feel - now this idea is very thin spread, as it is typically a Native American belief - that plants are, in some way, the same as well. They are living. Scientists are even beginning to see they feel pain. I cannot bear to throw away a dying plant because it is still living - to me it's like throwing a dying dog out on the road. Then again, I have always had a strong connection to nature. It's like... well, not sure. Native Americans believe that everything has a soul (rocks, water, all that too). I don't know about this, exactly, but I do feel there is something more to plants than meets the eye.

Wow, I posted on this thread over a month ago, I had no idea it was still going! Anyways, just thought I'd add on a little to the discussion...

First off, souls. I am not religious and do not believe in God, but I do believe that every living thing has a soul. Sure, there are different levels of complexity, but they're all souls. An elephant, for example, will mourn for days when another of their fellow elephants dies.I also believe that people are just the same as any animal, just more intelligent. I guess it's harder to believe that something like, I don't know, seaweed, has a soul, but everyone's got something.

Second, evolution. I just started high school a few weeks ago and have found myself learning a lot more about evolution than I ever have. On the second or third day of school I ended up conducting a lab in science that modeled natural selection among birds depending on their food source, which was actually very interesting (but I already kind of knew what would happen anyways). My history class is called "History of the Ancient World", and I have just discovered how ancient that meant. We're starting out with human evolution - Kestrel and I just finished a project about Homo habilis, which lived at least a couple million years ago, before Neanderthals, even. Now we're studying the Neolithic Revolution, which was the development of agriculture and what we call "civilization" (Wait, where was I going with this again? Oh yeah.) Evolution actually makes a lot of sense, scientifically. Also, a lot of people have been saying that evolution states that humans evolved from apes. That is not actually true, we just shared a common ancestor with them at some point, which eventually split off into two paths, one of which became the modern apes that we see today, and the other of which became us, humans. Just thought I'd clear that up :)

Anyways, that ended up longer than I meant, feel free to respond with whatever you believe about souls and evolution and whatever you want.