The Myth of the Immortal Soul

Commentary: The Myth of the Immortal Soul

What if I told you that at death you have no thoughts, no memory no knowledge of anything beyond the grave? Would you believe me?

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Video Transcript
What if I told you that at death you have no thoughts, no memory, no knowledge of anything beyond the grave? Would you believe me? What if I told you that your life is composed of physical elements that decompose and return to the dust of the earth and that at death there are no thoughts that survive?

Would you be confused? And what if I told you you did not have an immortal soul - a soul that lives on in either a place called hell or heaven? Would that challenge you in your long-held beliefs?

Most people believe, or at least they want to believe, that there is some part of us that lives on when we die. We cannot accept that this physical life is all there is. Since the beginning, it has always been this way. Virtually every civilization and culture has held the belief that something of this life transcends death. Its embodied in the belief of the immortality of the soul - the idea that man has a spiritual soul, housed in the body, that's released at death.

This belief is so important that it ranks probably as the fundamental question for theologians and philosophers. It centers on the question of "What is a human being?". Is man merely an animal? The highest form of life that has evolved on this planet? Or is he a unique being created for a special purpose by a Creator God?

If man has a soul that is immortal from some previous point of existence, then you must do something with that soul when it dies. That has led to other fundamental beliefs in the afterlife. Ideas like a heaven or a hell or a purgatory, all of which are cherished beliefs by most religions. But we have to ask where these ideas came from. Do they come from tradition or from a divinely revealed source?

On Beyond Today, we take the Holy Bible as the source of understanding on these questions and we're not afraid to tackle all the questions that surround the issue. But we look to the Bible as the standard for our teaching and we think you should do as well. The Bible tells us that only God has immortality, but the good news is, He wants to share that eternal spirit life with you, with me, with all mankind. We are physical, composed of flesh, and we will die. The only way we can live forever is to follow Christ's teaching to repent. You can turn your life around, accept God's offer of eternal life. The choice is yours and it will be a decision that will be for all eternity. Don't put it off any longer. Choose God's way that you may live forever. For Beyond Today, I'm Darris McNeely.