IKnowHim@leavingsoon.com (IKnowHimDoYou- A.)
Re: Your Soul
Your Soul
Our souls consist of our intellect, will and emotions. All these exist in
the non-material world for they cannot be weighed, observed or separated
from our identity. This is a huge problem for the evolutionary religionist
for they have no answer for the soul's origin. Our soul is who we are and
no two are the same. Many question when we become a living person. The
answer could be when we are concieved and the two fertilization
components, egg and seed, are united. This is when we become the unique
person we remain for ever.
The soul never dies according to the Bible. The physical body dies and
returns to dust but the soul lives on (Matt 10:28).
Hello,
Actually, the Bible teaches us that a soul is not 'immortal' (source
of this teaching is Plato etc), but can die. Eze 18:4,
"Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the
soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die." (KJV)
Concerning Mt 10:28, if you carefully read those verses, you will see
that a "soul" can be 'destroyed'. (NIV)
Thus the Bible's "soul" is not immortal. So what is it then?
The word "soul" is translated from the Hebrew word "nephesh" and the
Greek word "psykhe". The first use of the word "soul" in relation to a
human is at Ge 2:7 (its first use is with fish and animals),
"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.
[nephesh]" (KJV) (my brackets)
Notice the man wasn't 'given' a soul, but when he started to breath he
BECAME a soul. Thus a soul is a whole person, and when a person dies,
so does the "soul".
But doesn't Mt 10:28 show a distinction between a "body" and a "soul"?
It reads,
"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in
hell. " (NIV)
Since Jesus used the word "both" here, the words here cannot mean one
and the same. The answer is that in some instances, the Bible word for
"soul" can also mean 'life'. And that is the case here. Notice this
brief comment from the French Professor Oscar Cullmann in his book
"Immortality of the Soul or Resurrection of the Dead?" He wrote
concerning Mt 10:28,
"psy·khe' [soul] here does not mean the Greek concept of soul but
should rather be translated 'life'. . . . W. G. Kümmel . . . also
writes with good reason: Matt. 10:28 'does not seek to highlight the
immortality of the soul, but underlines the fact that God alone can
destroy not only earthly life but also heavenly life."
Thus the word "soul" used in this verse means the FUTURE LIFE of the
person, not some 'immortal soul' which as shown by the Scriptures
above, is definitely NOT immortal.
According to God's
Word the soul can still think, decide, and feel emotions. The best
example of this is the story of the rich man and Lazerus found in Luke
16:20-31. The rich man could still know torment and had lost all hope, yet
he was physically dead.
That account was a parable. To take a parable literally can bring one
into all kinds of problems. For one quick example, what is Abraham
doing up in Heaven? (many people conclude that he was in Heaven based
on the wording) Because Jesus tells us that up to the time up Jesus,
no human ever made it to Heaven. Not Abraham, nor Moses, nor anyone.
Joh 3:13,
"No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from
heaven--the Son of Man." (NIV)
Thus that parable is not talking about some kind of unscriptural
'immortal soul'. For a deeper discussion on that parable, just ask.
You who think that the death of the physical body is the end are wrong.
Your soul will live on to enter either heaven or hell-for eternity.
Actually, all humans will eventually get out of "hell". And then God
will destroy "hell". ( you probably never heard that from the pulpit!)
Here is the Scriptural proof.
--the dead get out of hell: Re 20:13, "And the sea gave up the dead
which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were
in them: and they were judged every man according to their works."
(KJV)
--hell is then destroyed: Re 20:14, "And death and hell were cast into
the lake of fire. This is the second death." (KJV)
If you want more details on anything discussed, just send me an email.
Sincerely, James
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