“Warehouse” of souls before
birth
What is the “warehouse of
souls”
There are things in the Bible that are not said, but that one can gather from the information received in the Bible. In those cases, because we cannot present a clear reference to the subject in the Bible, prudence advises us to present our observation as a theory, not a Biblical doctrine. That is the case with the “storage of souls before birth”, a theory I explain below.
My opinion is that God has already created all the human souls that are going to exist, and that He has them stored in some place whereby although they exist, they do not feel nor suffer, because they have no flesh, which is what places the human soul, being spiritual, in contact with the physical world. From that place which I have supposed, God sends or his angels take each soul to the body where they should live. I suppose that this occurs at some point between conception and the first or second year of life, a time which can be variable in each case. Perhaps this may be the reason why some remember things about when they were one or two years old and some before and some after.
Due to the fact that they have no sensation whatsoever, they cannot perceive that they exist; and due to the fact that they have never had any sensation, they cannot remember them, and therefore, they cannot perceive that they exist by those means (their memories). It is like a fetus in a maternal womb; but in reality more isolated than a fetus, without the slightest indication or sensation that they exist. However, these souls exist, God knows them, He knows how they are and how they will develop, what they will do, etc.. I call that supposed place “a storage of created souls”. It seems to be that this existence without knowledge, is referenced in Ecclesiastes 4:10 and further in Ecclesiastes 6:10.
“2 Wherefore I praised the dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet alive. 3 Yea, better is he than both they, which hath not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 4:2-3)
“That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man, neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he.” (Ecclesiastes 6:10)
In the first passage, it tells us that the ones who have not yet been are better off than those who are alive and those who have lived and died. Which means, the ones who have not yet been sent to a body of flesh.
This cannot be referring to one who has not been created, because someone who has not yet been in existence cannot be neither better nor worse than one who exists. Therefore, we have to think that it refers to someone who is in existence, but has not been born as yet. A created soul, who has not had a conscious existence, as in a fetus in the womb of its mother, a soul that will come to live among us for the first and only time, and that later will depart to wherever God disposes, Heaven or Hell.
The second passage declares that the one who already is, his name has been named. This is to say that he who has been born, was known in advance, his name and qualities were known. This, in a certain way is in concordance with that which can be reasoned from the prophesies made upon Josiah, king of Judah and upon Cyrus, the king of Persia, both of which were made centuries in advance to the birth of the one about whom the prophecy is mentioned.
“1
And,
behold,
there came a man of God out of
“44:28
That saith of
Cyrus: He is my
shepherd, and
shall perform all my pleasure,
even saying to
From what we have seen in these four verses, it gives us the sensation that the souls were created at the same time, but were not all sent at the same time to dwell in a body of flesh, but that are sent progressively according to the convenience of divine plans.
But let's suppose that this theory is wrong and let's analyze the alternatives that we would then have to admit.
If we didn't admit the theory that God created at the same time all the souls of humans that are going to born until the last day, we would have to admit one of these two alternatives: a) either God has not ceased in this task of creation since He began around 6,000 years ago; or b) God ceased creating, but God has given flesh which is physical, the ability to generate the soul, which is a spiritual entity, which is to say that the soul creates itself, automatically starting from the masculine or feminine gamete, in the same way that the skeleton, muscles, nerves, etc., of a fetus are made.
Accepting alternative “a” (that God has not ceased in his task of creation), would contradict Genesis 2:1-3, Hebrews 4:4, 10 as well as all of the Bible, which indicates to us that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh, and that from that time forward all matter functions automatically, reproducing, changing form, etc., according to the laws established by God, which matter cannot cease fulfilling. In that case we would have to leave this healthy teaching, and think that God from the point of creation continued creating souls in order to place them in the bodies of thousands and thousands of babies that are born in the world day and night. Absurd!
“1 Thus the heavens and the Earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” (Genesis 2:1-3)
“For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise: And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.” (Hebrews 4:4)
“For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.” (Hebrews 4:10)
Admitting theory “b” (the soul creates itself, automatically as part of the flesh) steers us in something even more illogical as it is to think that something spiritual like the soul, is produced by something physical as is the body, and that the nonphysical thing which is the soul, multiplies itself in the sexual cells of man to later acquire something larger, because of nutrition. This is like to the Russellite theory, which affirm that the soul, as something non-physical does not exist and is, therefore, complete absurd.
Specifically: either we accept
that a “storage or warehouse of souls” exists or we fall into one
of two of the absurd.
I don't think there is any other alternative, but if someone sees an alternative based in the Bible, please write to me and send it in a clear manner, like I do, because I will be very grateful. Same thing can do if no other alternative he sees, but find a lack of logic consistency, internal or external, to the theory of the storage of souls, which I hereby explain; or if you see errors in the chain of reasoning made in order to reach such a conclusion.
The existence of a “storage of souls” perfectly agrees with “circumstantial predestination”, which say that God can predestinate the circumstances in which a human being must live his existence, according to divine plans, but very different is the “absolute predestination”, which affirm that God predestinates each person to be saved or lost. God does not force some to be saved and others to be damned or lost, but since He knows them in advance, since He “sees” how they are in the “warehouse”, He sends some souls to be born at a certain time, family, race or nation and others to others.
This is similar to the difference that can be made by a sculptor upon looking at different materials or different types of marble he has in his storage, with which he intends to sculpt statues. He will know how a statue will be or will look by taking a glance at the material which he intends to sculpt, thanks to having the appropriate knowledge and experience for it.
Pharaoh's soul that did not want to let the Israelites out of Egypt, was sent to be born in the body that was developing in the womb of the wife of the previous Pharaoh; in a way that this soul that was malicious and obstinate came to the world in the time, place and family that was convenient to God's plans. In that sense, God predestined that soul, but he did not predestine it to be malicious or obstinate, he predestined it to be there.
The same can be said about
Judas. If his soul would have been sent to the world 100 years before
or 100 years later, it would not
have been possible to betray
Jesus. If that particular soul
would have been sent at the same time Jesus
lived, but not to
Even with all the circumstances mentioned, fulfilled in favor of the possibility of betraying the Lord, if Jesus would not have elected him as one of his Apostles, he would not have been able to betray him, he would not have been able to put into effect the tendency to be a traitor. A tendency that had developed in him after his birth, without God having created him that way. Therefore, God predestined him to betray Jesus Christ, not to be a traitor. God knew that he would develop that malicious tendency and placed him where he could use that tendency with Christ, but he didn't predestine him to be a traitor.
It is not logical for God to make one bad and later become angry because he is bad, and punishes him sending him to Hell. This is not the type of justice that God teaches us throughout the entire Bible, and we, in order to know what is just or unjust must seek to be guided by what God teaches us in the Bible. What the Bible teaches is not absolute predestination. To believe that is to flirt with blasphemy.