Expert: Pastor Don Carpenter - 4/11/2006

Question
Hello. I understand that life begins at conception and abortion kills a baby with a soul. But what I am wondering about is in cases of identical twins and also in cases of tetragametic chimeras (a not uncommon occurance when the embryos of 2 fraternal twins merge in the whomb and develop into a single healthy human baby), what happens to the soul? Is it that identical twins share 1 soul, or each have 1/2 of a soul? And what would that mean for their salvation? Similarly for tetragametic chimeras, are they people with 2 seperate souls in one body? And what does that mean for their salvation.

Thank you for your time I find this confusing.

God Bless! - Joseph

Answer
Hi Joseph,

Thanks for this very interesting question.  The simple answer is that every human being has a soul... if there are two different lives... there are two different souls.

Genesis 2:7
7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.  

The King James Version, (Cambridge: Cambridge) 1769.

Where there is a seperate human life, there is a seperate human soul....even if the twins are joined...two seperate lives...two souls.  I hope that this helps you.

In Christ
Pastor Don