Section 2 The Creation of Man - The Immortal Soul

Jesus said: "You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, with your whole soul and with all your mind." [Matthew 22: 37] The three levels of loving according to Our Lord, heart, soul, and mind, which is an impossibility if man does not possess a dual nature. It is significant to note that the body, the lower part of man is not included. Why? Because the body is beastly by nature, and thus answers to a carnal relationship and not a metaphysical one. The soul is man’s unseen nature and the one that gives him his genuine identity that attests to his divine origin. He was created by the Supreme Being who is spirit with no beginning or end, the Alpha, and the Omega. Though man has a beginning that happens at the point of conception, but the soul, like his Maker is immortal. It cannot die nor cease to exist. In other words, the soul is the extraterrestrial component of man. It is not made-up of elements from the Periodic Table like the mortal body; thus, it has no half-life, nor expiry date nor does it exhibit the properties of matter. Once it comes into being, it continues to live even in the absence of a mortal body. The latter, however, dies at the moment of separation of the soul from the body, for it is the spirit that gives life. Therefore, the soul is God’s trademark that attest to the truth of our creation, and that is, that we are created in his image and likeness, as we have an undying spirit. This most unique design is divinely patented and solely reserved for humans. It cannot be replicated, reproduced, or copied. Its unworldly nature is an obstacle in the scientific investigation of the soul, as it has no mass, nor volume, nor weight nor does it possess matter’s chemical properties and as such, science does not have methods to test or experiment on it. Though I hasten to add that there are a good number of out-of-the-body experiences, recounting the separation of the two natures of man, body and soul, the temporal and the eternal; impressive because these testimonies are consistent and thus eliminate the possibility that they are hallucinations. The belief in the existence of the invisible soul, like the belief in the existence of the invisible God, who created it, is an act of faith; as this faith proceeds from the revelation made by the One God sent, our Lord Jesus Christ through whom all things came into being. In the Prologue of the Gospel According to John, (1: 1- 5, 10- 12, 14, 16) it is written:

IN THE BEGINNING was the Word;

the Word was in God’s presence,

and the Word was God.

He was present to God in the beginning,

Through him all things came into being,

and apart from him nothing came to be.

Whatever came to be in him, found life,

life for the light of men.

The light shines on in darkness,

a darkness that did not overcome it.

He was in the world,

and through him the world was made,

yet the world did not know who he was.

To his own he came,

yet his own did not accept him.

Any who did accept him,

he empowered to become children of God.

The Word became flesh

and made his dwelling among us,

and we have seen his glory:

the glory of an only Son coming from the Father,

filled with enduring love.

Of his fullness

we have all had a share

love following upon love.

Jesus revealed: “When people rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage but live like angels in heaven. As to the fact that the dead are raised, have you not read what God said to you, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob’? He is the God of the living, not of the dead.” [Matthew 22: 30-32] The truth about man’s unique place in the eternal realm is revealed by the Incarnate Word of God. Man will rise from the dead and will live like angels. This everlasting dignity of man far surpasses the limitation imposed on him by science, which only stems from its inability to demonstrate by scientific methods the existence of the soul. Bypassing this scientific quandary, let us proceed and probe the nature of the soul. Does the soul have faculties like the mortal body? Yes, and it has three faculties namely: memory, understanding and will.