Do Baptists believe someone with multiple personalities has multiple souls?
Upvote:1
I think some other answers are better aligned with the juxtaposition of medical and theological perspectives represented in the original question. However in understanding the difference between the body and soul, I believe it is also important to include the following quote from George Macdonald (sometimes erroneously attributed to C.S. Lewis):
Never tell a child, “you have a soul.” Teach him, “you are a soul; you have a body.”
This quote highlights the difference of paradigms. Medicine views people as bodies, but theology views people as souls. Thus, it is a contradiction to say that a single person might have multiple souls.
Upvote:4
The first thing that has to be said is that the movie 'Jonathan' is fiction. There is no indication that the story is intended to be based on anything resembling real life. Christian theology does not deal with fictional situations, and so it is not really useful to ask what the Christian theological approach to an unreal situation is.
Multiple Personality Disorder does exist in real life, but looks very little like the movie. Where it occurs it is not seen as 'multiple people inhabiting a single body' by anyone, either medical professionals or Christian theologians. Instead it is seen as a single person exhibiting differing personality traits, and it is a disorder of the (one) mind that inhabits a body, and can be treated. There is no question of them having 'two souls'.
What is possible in Christian theology is that of a second spirit entering and sometimes taking over the body of a person - called 'possession'. Note that I carefully say 'possible' because most Christians would consider it a largely theoretical possibility, occurring only extremely rarely if at all, and that ancient (or modern) descriptions of possession were almost invariably instances of multiple personality disorder.
If we accept possession we must note that again there is no question of multiple souls for a single person. The possessing spirit is a separate entity from the person whose body it is, and can be cast out. The person has a single soul
More post
- 📝 Does the divine council in Psalm 82 correspond to different religions that we see in the world today?
- 📝 Did God forgive sins based on Jesus' future sacrifice?
- 📝 From where did Cain get his wife?
- 📝 How are prayer and asking the saints to intercede distinguished?
- 📝 In the Lord's Prayer, do some Churches Omit "Thine is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory," as a later addition?
- 📝 Could the pope adopt a child?
- 📝 Why is Hell considered a permanent situation?
- 📝 Where are the manuscripts of Dean John Burgon?
- 📝 What are the arguments in favour of the 'beginning' at John 1:1 being the new beginning?
- 📝 How can one judge how accurate a given Bible translation is?
- 📝 What does "holy thing" refer to in Leviticus?
- 📝 Where can one buy a new physical copy of a full (OT & NT) Protestant RSV where its NT is of '71?
- 📝 How sound are the arguments that Melchizedek invoked a Canaanite deity when he met Abraham?
- 📝 Is there any clue/hint in the Bible that tells us “why or how” we won't sin on heaven?
- 📝 What is the present attitude of the Church of England towards the 39 articles and the 33 Homilies?
- 📝 How voluntary is original sin in Adam's descendants?
- 📝 What do Evangelicals who speak negatively of "religion" mean by that?
- 📝 What is the justification for applying God's promises to Israel to modern day Christians?
- 📝 Are there any reports or stories that the pope has seen God face to face in the last 200 years?
- 📝 Can I project more than 500 verses of Scripture over the course of a year? Or, an entire book of the Bible?
- 📝 Were all of Jesus' healings performed on the Sabbath?
- 📝 Is the OT unveiled in the entire NT or just the Gospels?
- 📝 Can a non-Catholic be Canonized by the Catholic Church?
- 📝 What are Christians trusting God about, when in fallen world circumstance?
- 📝 How would a Calvinist interpret Matthew 13:37-40?
- 📝 What is the biblical argument for eating meat, or that vegetarianism is possible but not commanded?
- 📝 What is the biblical justification for permitting female pastors?
- 📝 What is the Full Preterist view on Noah's flood and how it compares to the second coming of Christ?
- 📝 For what human reason was Christ crucified?
- 📝 Is it morally okay to donate potentially tainted goods?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Do Baptists believe someone with multiple personalities has multiple souls?
- 📝 For those who don't believe baptism is required for salvation, when, scripturally, does someone die with Christ?
- 📝 Why do Baptists believe in the autonomy of local congregations?
- 📝 What do Southern Baptists believe about Predestination?
- 📝 What traditions believe that a woman's relationship with God must go through some man and how do they support it from the Bible?
- 📝 How does the doctrine of British Baptists compare with their American cousins?
- 📝 What is the evidence that someone is filled with the Holy Spirit?
- 📝 John 1:18 - "No one has ever seen God" - How do Trinitarians reconcile this scripture with the belief that the Lord Jesus Christ is God?
- 📝 Has the term "born again" always been synonymous with baptism with the Christians of the Early Church?
- 📝 What do immersionists believe it means to be buried with Christ through Baptism?
- 📝 Did Jacob Arminius and/or the remonstrants believe they were in agreement with John Calvin?
- 📝 What do the Amish believe with respect to Creationism?
- 📝 Do baptists believe baptism did not pre-date Jesus Christ?
- 📝 Can I still be a Catholic if I don’t believe everything in line with the church?
- 📝 Who if any Evangelicals still believe that Adam was created with "a perfect knowledge of God" and everything else?
- 📝 How did Baptists in the southern US justify slavery as compatible with Christianity?
- 📝 Are there any groups of Christians who believe that all loans made with their money should be made without the expectation of repayment?
- 📝 Do preterists who profess the two-age model believe that Jesus is still with us?
- 📝 Do Protestants believe that "Our Father" is on par with "Our Mother," or is Jesus strictly invoking a male symbol only?
- 📝 What denominations believe that Jesus Christ has a current physical body?
- 📝 How can we be with Christ when we die, if Christ has a glorified body and we won't until the resurrection?
- 📝 Do Orthodox Christians believe that God wants a personal relationship with the individual?
- 📝 Do Jehovah Witnesses believe that Jesus Christ returned to Earth in 1914, or has this teaching now been abandoned?
- 📝 How many covenants has God established with humanity and are any of them everlasting?
- 📝 Do Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that God equips humans today with the gift of prophecy?
- 📝 Do Lutherans believe that the sacraments are necessary for salvation (similar to Catholics), and if so, how do they reconcile this with Sola Fide?
- 📝 Since Mormons believe in multiple earth-like planets, do they believe that the "fall" was likewise needed on each of them?
- 📝 What guidance has Scripture or church fathers offered on how to deal with sacred objects of other religions?
- 📝 What do Southen Baptists believe about Jesus' dual nature?
- 📝 What arguments from scripture are given by Baptists for the belief that one third of the angels were banished from heaven with Satan?