The question of the soul has been a subject of much discussion and debate among people for a long time. Recently, a renowned British physicist said, “Afterlife is a fairy tale for those afraid of death,” and his remarks became the object of controversy.
To those who think that death is the end of everything, the soul is nothing but an existence created by the human imagination. Not only atheists but even those who claim to believe in God insist that there is no soul. Just as the Sadducees, a sect of Judaism, denied the existence of the soul 2,000 years ago, so they insist that there is no spiritual world—God only reigns over the visible world.
The soul exists
The soul certainly exists. But we cannot see it with our naked eyes. That is why there has been a long-lasting dispute over the existence of the soul. However, it doesn’t mean that something that is invisible does not exist. There are many things in the world that are invisible but still exist.
Germs or bacteria are invisible to the naked eye, but we can observe them when we use a microscope. It is the same with the spiritual world. Though it is invisible to our eyes, if we use a special instrument, we can see it. That is the Bible written through the inspiration of God.
All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Ti 3:16-17
God’s ultimate purpose of giving us the Bible is to save our souls (1 Pe 1:9).
That is why the Bible contains numerous records about the soul from the history of the Creation.
the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. Ge 2:7
A living being refers to a combination of the dust (body) and the breath of life (soul or spirit). Death means the separation of the soul from the body. So, when a man dies, each of these two elements—the body and soul—return to its original place.
and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Ecc 12:7
The Bible shows that our souls were angels who were with God in heaven before we were born on this earth (Pr 8:22-26, Job 38:1-21; Lk 15:3-7). The world we are now living in is a place where the angels, who have been expelled from heaven as a result of sinning against God, are living in the flesh. Since the soul was originally in heaven, when a man dies, his soul goes back to God who is in heaven; his body returns to the ground and rots away, but his soul is still alive and continues to exist.
“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.” Mt 10:28
The Bible is fact
Those who do not believe in the spiritual world fail to believe in the Bible that proves the principle of the spiritual world. They regard the Bible merely as a history book about Israel or an agglomeration of myths which cannot be proven scientifically. But in many places in the Bible, we can easily find verses showing that the Bible is fact.
He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing. Job 26:7
The book of Job was written around 1500 B.C. In the Bronze Age when people could not even imagine that the earth is suspended in space, the Bible had already described the earth exactly as if it had been seen from a satellite. This is undeniable proof that the Bible is fact.
The internal structure of the earth as well as its external appearance was already described in the Bible, even before being proved by science. At that time, people believed that there was another Earth hidden inside the planet Earth or there is another world underground―a world which is vast, spacious and endless like the sky.
The earth, from which food comes, is transformed below as by fire … Job 28:5
The earth is made up of four main layers: crust, which forms the surface of the earth, mantle, outer core, and inner core. As we go deeper in the earth, the temperature rises. The temperature of the inner core reaches around 6,000 degrees Celsius. In the 1900s, scientists discovered that the earth is like a fireball, but God had already let the inner structure of the earth be recorded in the Bible 3,500 years ago. Besides, there are many convincing and undeniable proofs that the Bible is fact, such as the record about the size of the earth, which is only a speck of dust in the grand scale of the universe, and the prophecy about world history.
The profound truths of the Bible are absolute enough to prove that everything written in the Bible is true. Therefore, the testimonies about God and the testimonies about heaven and hell, which are described in the Bible, are also true, without a doubt.
Let us prepare for heaven, the spiritual world
Dragonfly nymphs that only live in water can never imagine a world with a blue sky and beautiful flowers in full bloom, where they will fly freely as dragonflies. Likewise, we, who are living on the earth which is nothing but a speck of dust in the universe full of hundreds of billions of galaxies, cannot easily understand the spiritual world that will be given to us.
God has given the Bible to those who are longing for salvation with humility in their hearts, so that they can understand the spiritual world as if they see it with their own eyes and can prepare for it. If we ignore the teachings of the Bible without knowing the will of God and live only for things on this earth, where we cannot even live for more than 100 years, we are unable to prepare for the spiritual world that is to come someday.
Even as for those who are confident in their lives in this world, most of them feel fear when they are faced with death. However, those who have true wisdom will think about where humans come from and where they are going, rather than being confident that what is visible is everything, and they will prepare for heaven, the beautiful spiritual world, with joy and hope.
Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. Ecc 12:13
The apostles understood the spiritual world which Jesus Christ had taught them about, and they devoted themselves to saving souls, looking forward to the heavenly rewards which they would receive, without being tied down in their physical lives. Like them, we, who have understood the secrets of the kingdom of heaven which Elohim has taught us, should also lead many people to righteousness, believing firmly in the upcoming spiritual world and the heavenly rewards for us, so that we can shine like the stars in heaven forever and ever.