Interesting that we have always marked the beginning of life at the date and time we take our first breath.
Just in case you are interested, this is what God calls "Breath life"…
Genesis 2:7
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
That, I believe, is why we record life at the time the newborn actually takes his/her very first breath. Otherwise we would have to record it at the time of conception. Funny that the time of conception is not really known with direct evidence, only circumstantial evidence.
In Genesis we learn that "breath life" is what makes us living souls. So is breath life really our "soul life"? This is separate from our physical life - our body, brain etc. It is also different from our spiritual life - although some people think that soul life is a spiritual form of life. I don't think so.
In the first chapter of Genesis God talks about making man in His own image. What is the image of God? Well in John we are told that God is a Spirit and that He can only be worshipped in spirit and in truth.
'''Genesis 1:26"'
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
John 4:24
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
I think this shows that our Breath life, our soul life, is very different from our Spirit or spiritual life. That also better explains the two births today's man has available to him.
The first birth is of water - a baby is in the womb filled with water, the water breaks (and btw, to this day no doctor has figured out at what point the water will break or what causes it to break), and the baby is born. Our second birth is that of Spirit, the same Spirit that Adam lost when he sinned against God. We now have it available to us to be born again of Holy Spirit, but it's even BETTER than what Adam had because this time it is NOT CONDITIONAL, meaning we can never lose it. Awesome! Once you are born again of Holy Spirit you can now worship God in Spirit.
Theos Agape!
God Bless your New Year, filled to overflowing!!