The Value of a Child

When does a child get his soul—that part of a person that never dies? It’s a question that people have debated for centuries.

To start with, let’s go back to Adam.  The record in Genesis says that the Lord formed Adam of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7). The initial thought, then, might be that a child receives a soul when he takes his first breath.  But I, for one, believe it is much earlier.