ANIMALS
DO THEY HAVE A SPIRIT, A SOUL?

First let me say....That one of my hobbies, along with the study of Ancient Egypt, Mythology Astronomy and Astrology (Which is also in the Bible (Go HERE) is the study of different religions, Let me also say that I am not Christian. Do I believe in  a God?  YOU BET!!!!  Do I believe in the bible? Well, I believe in it, in it's  original thought from it's original mind!  Its just that after so much study I realized that the Christian church of today IS NOT in any way the  Church of Jesus day and that Christianity is not followed in any way that Jesus taught. For THAT discussion...please go HERE. 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

APOCRYPHA:  Greek, apo•kryp•hos. from the Greek kryp•to, the secret or hidden.

In Christianity, the Apocryphal, or what is also sometimes called the hidden or deuterocanonical books, are a collection of ancient Jewish writings that were translated into the LXX (70 or Septuagint) and the Latin Vulgate. The word Apocrypha which is used to describe these writings, was actually coined by the 5th-century scholar named Jerome. These books were not a part of the Masoretic Text (the collection of God inspired Hebrew text that the Jews themselves considered canonical), and thus the designation by Jerome as being "hidden or secret" books. I.e, hidden or unseen by their absence or non common use by the people.

The problem of course is, why would God keep hidden or apocryphal, the very words which were presumably to instruct the Old Testament Jewish congregation? The obvious answer is, He wouldn't! Mankind chose which books to include in "our current Bible", and he chose not to include all of them that the creator  give to us....how arrogant! I will say from own studies that these "left out books" tell us so very much, things that are were meant to be told...and meant to be listened to! These books are very interesting reading! 

Now, on to the background information.....

First. THE Old Testament must have been written nearly two thousand years before the invention of Printing. There were but few copies, and these were in the keeping of those whose interest might have prompted interpolations, and whose ignorance might have led to mistakes.

 Second. The written Hebrew was composed entirely of consonants, without any points or marks standing for vowels, so that anything like accuracy was impossible, Anyone can test this for himself by writing an English sentence, leaving out the vowels. It will take far more inspiration to read than to write a book with consonants alone.

Third. The books composing the Old Testament were not divided into chapters or verses, and no system of punctuation was known. Think of this a moment and you will see how difficult it must be to read such a book.

 Fourth. There was not among the Jews any dictionary of their language, and for this reason the accurate meaning of words could not be preserved. Now the different meanings of words are preserved so that by knowing the age in which a writer lived we can ascertain with reasonable certainty his meaning.

 Fifth. The Old Testament was printed for the first time in 1488. Until this date it existed only in manuscript, and was constantly exposed to erasures and additions.

 Sixth. It is now admitted by the most learned in the Hebrew language that in our present English version of the Old Testament there are at least one hundred thousand errors. Of course the believers in inspiration assert that these errors are not sufficient in number to cast the least suspicious upon any passages upholding what are called the fundamentals."

 Seventh. It is not certainly known who in fact wrote any of the books of the Old Testament. For instance, it is now generally conceded that Moses was not the author of the Pentateuch.

Eighth. Other books, not now in existence, are referred to in the Old Testament as of equal authority, such as the books of Jasher, Nathan, Ahijah, Iddo, Jehu, Sayings of the Seers.

 Ninth. The Christians are not agreed among themselves as to what books are inspired. The Catholics claim as inspired the books of Maccabees, Tobit, Esdras, etc. Others doubt the inspiration of Esther, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon.

 Tenth. In the book of Esther and the Song of Solomon the name of God is not mentioned, and no reference is made to any supreme being, nor to any religions duty. these omissions would seem sufficient to cast a little doubt upon these books.

 Eleventh. Within the present century manuscript copies of the Old Testament have been found throwing new light and changing in many instances the present readings. In consequence a new version is now being made by a theological syndicate composed of English and American divines, and after this is published it may be that our present Bible will fall into disrepute.

 Twelfth. The fact that language is continually changing that words are constantly dying and others being born; that the same word has a variety of meanings during its life, shows how hard it is to preserve the original ideas that might have been expressed in the Scriptures, for thousands of years, without dictionaries, without the art of printing, and without the light of contemporaneous literature.

 Thirteenth. Whatever there was of the Old Testament seems to have been lost from the time of Moses until the days of Josiah, and it is probable that nothing like the Bible existed in any permanent form among the Jews until a few hundred years before Christ. It is said that Ezra gave the Pentateuch to the Jews, but whether he found or originated it is unknown. So it is claimed that Nehemiah gathered up the manuscripts about the kings and prophets, while the books of Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ruth, Ecclesiastes, and some others were either collected or written long after. The Jews themselves did not agree as to what books were really inspired.

Fourteenth. In the Old Testament we find several contradictory laws about the same thing, and contradictory accounts of the same occurrences. In the twentieth chapter of Exodus we find the first account of the giving of Ten Commandments. In the thirty-fourth chapter another account is given. These two accounts could never have been written by the same person. Read these two accounts and you will be forced to admit that one of them cannot be true. So there are two histories of the creation, of the flood, and of the manner in which Saul became king.

 Fifteenth. It is now generally admitted that Genesis must have been written by two persons, and the parts written by each can be separated, and when separated they are found to contradict each other in many important particulars.

Sixteenth. It is also. admitted that copyists made verbal changes not only, but pieced out fragments; that the speeches of Elihu in the book of Job were all interpolated, and that most of the prophecies were made by persons whose names we have never known.

Seventeenth. The manuscripts of the Old Testament were not alike, and the Greek version differed from the Hebrew, and there was no absolutely received text of the Old Testament until after the commencement of the Christian era. Marks and points to denote vowels were invented probably about the seventh century after Christ. Whether these vowels were put in the proper places or not is still an open question.

 Eighteenth. The Alexandrian version, or what is known as the Septuagint, translated by seventy learned Jews, assisted by "miraculous power," about two hundred years before Christ, could not have been, it is said, translated from the Hebrew text that we now have. The differences can only be accounted for by supposing that they had a different Hebrew text. The early Christian Churches adopted the Septuagint, and were satisfied for a time. But so many errors were found, and so many were scanning every word in search of something to sustain their peculiar views, that several new versions appeared, all different somewhat from the Hebrew manuscripts, from the Septuagint, and from each other. All these versions were in Greek. The first Latin Bible originated in Africa, but no one has ever found out which Latin manuscript was the original. Many were produced, and all differed from each other. These Latin versions were compared with each other and with the Hebrew, and a new Latin version was made in the fifth century, but the old Latin versions held their own for about four hundred years, and no one yet knows which were right. Besides these there were Egyptian, Ethiopic, Armenian, and several others, all differing from each other as well as from all others in the world.

It was not until the fourteenth century that the Bible was translated into German, and not until the fifteenth that Bibles were printed in the principal languages of Europe. Of these Bibles there were several kinds -- Luther's, the Dort, King James's, Genevan, French, besides the Danish and Swedish. Mort of these differed from each other, and gave rise to infinite disputes and crimes without number. The earliest fragment of the Bible in the "Saxon" language known to exist was written sometime in the seventh century. The first Bible was printed in England in 1538. In 1560 the first English Bible was printed that was divided into verses. Under Henry VIII. the Bible was revised; again under Queen Elizabeth, and once again under King James, This last was published in 1611, and is the one now in general use.

KING JAMES
Inspired by God or Greed?

        If one can grasp the reality of the Bible's historical setting then there is only one more hurdle to conquer. Although the term "dumbing-down" did not exist in the early 17th century that is exactly the intent of King James when he undertook the project of translating the Bible and it was the inevitable result of that work.  This infamous King of England cast a veil over the treasures in this ancient writing.  The language he chose was not the common English of the day but the obscure language of the royal court he commanded.  He chose a language not only foreign to the common people but one so simplistic that it was totally inadequate to properly render the languages it replaced.  The incompetence of the translators was really of little importance considering the true agenda of this despotic authoritarian and repressive monarch.  He had only two goals.  One was his desire to be a god-king by affirming the "divine right of kings" and the other to eliminate the access of the common people to these works.  To accomplish this end he gave his hand picked supervisor of the project, the Bishop of London, strict dogmatic instruction and gave final approval to the book that bears his name.  Had it not been what he wanted it would never have been published.  The result is a language nobody understands, numerous purposeful  mistranslations, and so many words added or deleted the toll is incalculable.  The fruit of his labor has held fast over four centuries.  In the world of Bible-based religions there are more denominations than books in the Bible, more sub-denominations than chapters, and more pastoral schisms than verses.    

On To "The Soul Of An Animal"

THE SOULS OF AN ANIMAL