This site has had discussions on angels which interbred with humans, creatures which are part man and part beast, spirits of nephilim which roam the earth and evil entities which can possess a body. All these things can seem strange to those who have not ever heard of them and even seem unbelievable when compared to what is usually believed and taught as reality which must never be questioned.
Now i will discuss something which though is rare and strange, science admits to its being a reality. Science does not, however have any answers to the spiritual questions which come with the condition and there are some very interesting spiritual questions to be answered about it.
When chimeras have been mentioned here before, this term has applied to unnatural, genetically manipulated creatures which are physically the product of more than one species. In human, medical terms though, there is a condition which is also called chimerism which is perhaps one of the most bizarre abnormalities which can occur to otherwise normal, unborn human beings.It is maybe difficult enough to live one life in one lifetime in this confused world. Imagine, if you are able, living two lives in one lifetime within your one body.
The life of a human chimera begins as fraternal twins, siblings which have developed from two normal egg cells fertilized by two normal sperm. At a point early in the development of the twins, in the zygote stage, one twin begins to absorb the body of the second twin. This does not result in the destruction of the absorbed twin, as one might expect, but results in two people becoming one body.
There is a very high probability that a human chimera will never be diagnosed as such unless there is a reason to genetic testing on more than one part of the body. The twins are now intermingled with each other, resulting in one whole body which is made of two distinctly different sets of genes. It is possible, then, that the heart belong to one twin while the kidneys belong to the other or that the scalp and hair of both are scattered like patchwork on the head, or that one eye belongs to one and is a certain color, while the other belongs to the second and is a different color. It is even possible that one eye be a mixture of both individuals and be split between two colors. One of the more obvious signs of chimerism are pigmentation irregularities like this, which when they occur on the skin are called Blaschko's lines. These show up as two shades of skin complexion which take on a pattern much like a tabby striped cat.
The strangest of all instances of chimerism is where the twins were of opposite sexes. This can result in the rare condition of true hermaphrodism. It is possible for either sex to manifest physically in the outward appearance, or both. The internal organs are often split between the two and the condition is likely to be unknown if the outward physicality appears to be all one sex unless there is a cause to investigate internally such as surgically intervening to bring down what would be expected to be an undescended male reproductive gland, only to find a female counterpart and a remnant of a partial uterus. It is possible for mixed sex chimeras to be fully fertile as one or the other sex in spite of having the partial anatomy of the opposite sex.
In recorded cases of Chimerism there have been instances of women giving birth to children who were genetically not their own, but upon further investigation were found to be the children of a sibling (the absorbed second twin) due to the reproductive organs of the "mother" actually belonging to her twin sister.
The question of the spirit is then obviously, is there one or two spirits in a chimera's body? Is this one or two actual people? Most believers would agree that the spirit of a child is imparted to them in conception. As soon as the egg becomes fertilized by a sperm and the cell division begins, there is a spirit present in that tiny, undeveloped potential body. If then, a spirit is present at the moment of conception, it must also be present at the point when two fraternal twins become fused into one anatomy in the instance of chimerism. There is no reason to assume that one of the two spirits would depart as if one twin had died, because it has not died. Both twins remain equally alive, but simply joined. It is reasonable to conclude that chimeras literally are two people who have two spirits within the space of one body, though genetically occupying different parts of it.
One might assume that this would create a situation in which two streams of thought were battling in one body, and to some extent this might be actually true. Chimeras, though rarely detected, have been known to be diagnosed with disorders such as schizophrenia or bi polar disorder. Those diagnoses though, are only superficial observation of symptoms, they do not reflect a cause and science being what it is, it is not approved to suggest that instead of a disorder, they simply have two spiritual consciousness working in one brain.
It is then, maybe another obvious question to be answered as to what might become of two spirits in one body after death. Is it possible for one spirit to become saved and the other not? Perhaps it is possible. One might seek diligently to follow Him and yet there are moments of repulsion to that seeking. Each train of thought remaining mysterious to the other as the chimera might not understand that these ideas do not all originate in one spirit. It would be possible then, that one spirit is redeemed and enters into eternal life while the other perishes.
Two redeemed spirits in one body, of course, would have a future to look forward to in which they would finally be resurrected to enjoy individual, unique and incorruptible bodies of their own and finally get to greet their sibling face to face whom they had only ever seen in the mirror.