Did the soul exist before the body?

If each soul were created for its body, how to explain the differences between siblings raised the same way? Tom shows there is only one answer compatible with the justice of God.

— Was the soul created for that body, or did it already exist before it?

— An excellent question, yet a very easy one to answer. If the soul were created for a particular body, how do we explain the fact that some children are good and others bad, rebellious, within the same family, placed in the same environment, both having a similar upbringing? They are very different souls. Where would that difference come from? Where would that goodness, that gentleness in some, and in others that wickedness, that rebelliousness come from, if they did not exist before their material bodies? Did God create some souls better than others? Obviously not. That idea violates the attribute that God is infinitely just and good. God being supreme justice and goodness, He cannot create some souls better than others. God must create them all in the same state, at the same level of development.

Roger interrupts Tom and says:

— I now understand why we cannot comprehend the soul and its destiny without comprehending the attributes of God. Continue, Tom.

— Without doubt, Roger. If we do not comprehend the attributes of God, we cannot comprehend the soul and its destiny. Still speaking of children, imagine two children: one is born into a good family, which gives it good examples. The other is born into a bad, perverse family, which gives it the worst examples.

Once again, the idea that souls are created for the body violates the attribute of God's sovereign justice and goodness, because, while one soul would find it easier to follow the good path, the other would more easily be dragged towards wickedness and perversity (it is a tendency, not an irresistible dragging, since good families can have bad children and bad families can have good children); why would God place one soul in a good family and another in a bad family? The thought that the soul is created for the body, that it did not exist before it, violates the attribute of God's supreme justice and goodness.

Roger signals to his friend to continue.

— If the soul were created for the body and did not exist before it, what would be the destiny of that soul when a child dies at a tender age or shortly after being born? That soul had no time to do either evil or good. Then, where would it go after the death of the physical body? To some hell? No, because it did nothing to justify such a punishment. To some kind of heaven or paradise? But what good did it do to justify such a reward? To some limbo? Would that not already be a punishment or a reward? That idea violates the attribute of God's supreme justice and goodness.

Roger is astounded by his friend's reasoning and says:

— Yes, yes, it makes no sense at all that the soul is created for the body. Yes, God can only have created all souls equal.

— Without doubt, my friend. God created all souls equal, like a blank sheet. Little by little, they write their own history, marking it with the traits of their own will.

Excerpt from the work The Great Discovery, by César Manuel Malainho de Oliveira.
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