In response to a comment made by anonymous about the article titled “Spirits” I write this article to address the question asked, “What about insects, fish or plants, do they have a spirit ?” I must confess that at first this question threw me, took me by surprise. It was something that I had not ever thought about. After thinking, meditating and desiring GODS help the answers began to formulate in my mind and I consulted the scriptures. The results are given below.
Every living thing breaths something. Nothing can survive in a vacuum, even extremophiles. The breath required for life is not always a nitrogen oxygen atmosphere. Most Plants gravitate towards sunlight seek moisture and draw nutrients from the soil. Whatever any type of plant does is what all plants of the same type do, there is no variety, no change, thus indicating no conscience, no thought, just non-sentient. The same is true of insects . It is as though all plants and insects are preprogrammed to do whatever it is that they do. In order for any life to be alive, and plants are alive, some type of spirit must be present, but this spirit is far different than that of humans and animals. Humans are the highest form of animal and all other animals are far below them in intelligence and humans are sentient, that is awareness of self and others.
Each living thing has a spirit tailor made to what they are. Each after it’s own kind. Various kinds of behaviors are expected from each animal, they each have their own unique nature. Cats don’t chase cars or lift their legs at fire hydrants. Horses don’t climb trees or howl at the moon. These things are obvious to the observer. Fish are in their own way similar in this respect but even though the lower animals; fish, plants and insects are all different and operate differently from each other, they all need spirit in order to be alive.
The following scriptures, I hope, may help in understanding all of these various life forms and even though there are drastic differences between them they all are alive.
Ecclesiastes 3:19-20 “For what happens to the sons of men also happens to animals; one thing befalls them all, as one dies so dies the other. Surely they all have one breath (the breath of life) man has no advantage over the animals, for all is vanity. All go to the same place; all come from dust and all to dust return.”
Genesis 7:22-23 “Everything on dry land that had breath in its nostrils died; people, animals, creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the face of the Earth.”
Genesis 6:17 “And behold, I will bring floodwaters upon the Earth to destroy every creature under the heavens that has the breath of life. Everything on the Earth will perish.”
Genesis 1:30 “And to all the beasts of the Earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground, everything that has the breath of life in it, I give every green plant for food. And it was so.”
Genesis 8:13. “And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.”
There are some in the scientific community that believe even plants have feelings and intelligence but scripture testifies that only humans are sentient. You never see plants building sky scrapers or going to the moon. Plants are the lowest form of life followed by bacteria, insects, aquatic, land creatures, humans, angels, Jesus and GOD. GOD is the creator of all spirits, excepting HIMSELF, spirit is the breath of life and no life can exist in a vacuum.
Extremophiles, or life that lives under extreme conditions of temperature variations and pressure variations, do exist and some while in the vacuum of space cannot thrive or reproduce and are dormant; which are conditions that are not life or living. True life is action, movement, processing and procreating. Only Earth has extremophiles and some have been taken into space by astronauts and exposed to the vacuum of space and survived for various periods of time but never have any alien extremophiles been discovered.
If there are life forms on other planets I don’t believe that it would be sentient but more along the line of plants, microorganisms, or possibly slightly higher animal life. Scripture is silent about this and concentrates on Earth not outer space.
GOD created perhaps billions of spirits and each unique to the creature that they would be. To be alive requires that life the spirit gives. So yes, plants, insects, fish, bacteria and all others things, if alive have a spirit.
“It is the spirit that gives life the body of any life form profits nothing.” Modified John 6:63
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