Tough Questions for Christians #20: Chimera

Image via Wikipedia

A "Chimera" is a mythological creature. It's part lion, part goat, part serpent, but when you're talking about biology it means something completely different, specifically human biology. And I'll get back to it in just a minute.

Most Christians believe that the soul is created at the point of conception. The moment the sperm his the egg, and a full strand of DNA, of human DNA, is created then it becomes a human soul which can be saved or damned.

Now back to the Chimera. A Chimera, when you're talking about human biology, is actually used to describe the very rare event where two fertilized eggs (which would normally grow into fraternal twins) actually meet in utero and merge to grow into one human.

They don't have multiple personality disorders, they don't have two minds or anything like that, but they do have two completely different strands of DNA that merged them into one human being. It is a very rare event, but it does happen.

Now that raises an interesting question. Because if the soul was created at fertilization, as soon as the eggs were fertilized, then you have two souls merge into one, and turn into just one human. Does that one person have two souls?

And what about identical twins? You have one soul created at fertilization, and then that egg splits in utero and grows into two human beings. Does each human have 1/2 a soul?

In the case of the Chimera, where does the second soul go? In the case of an identical twin, where does the 2nd soul come from?

TOUGH QUESTION FOR CHRISTIANS #20
How many souls does a Chimera have, and what happens to the other soul?