No Immortal Soul, Science and Bible Agree

Recently while checking my email I ran across an add of some sort that asked the question, "What happens to the soul when one dies?" This question, not being in the context of religion, got me to thinking about what I have been told. I decided to do some research into the matter. If I understand it correctly most traditional Christian Churches teach that the immortal soul concept comes from the Holy Bible. On the other side, much of the scientific community tells us that there is no evidence of an immortal soul. Who is correct?

Looking at the Bible I discovered that what is referred to as the Old Testament was originally written in Hebrew and the New Testament was written in Greek and not in King James old English. The first thing I discovered is the term "immortal soul" cannot be found in the Bible. Looking into the O.T. I found that the word translated soul was the Hebrew word nephesh and can mean an air breathing creature. I found passages where nephesh was translated as an animal and even a dead body. In the book of Genesis I read where man was formed of the dust of the ground and man became a living soul. The dust of the ground became a soul. So what I get from the O.T. man does not have a soul man is a soul. I could not find anything in the Old Testament that says man soul is immortal. In fact in Ezekiel chapter 18 verse 20 it says that the soul that sins it shall die.

Okay no immortal soul in the Old Testament . It must be in the New Testament. In the NT the Greek word for soul is psuche and has pretty much the same meaning as nephesh. One of the first passages I find in the NT tells us to fear the one who is able to kill the soul. The soul can be killed. Other verses tell us that the soul can be pierced through with a sword and the soul can be destroyed. In my search I could find no immortal soul in the bible.

Where then did Christianity get the concept of an immortal soul? As near as I can find out it came to the Greeks from the Egyptians and to the Christian church mainly from Plato who wrote in his book the Phaedo: "The soul whose inseparable attitude is life will never admit of life's opposite, death. Thus the soul is shown to be immortal, and since immortal indestructible....Do we believe there is such a thing as death? To be sure. And is this anything but the separation of the soul and body?" This appears to be exactly what I was taught in the church I was brought up in.

Putting it all together I am lead to believe that the immortal soul concept came down to Christianity from early paganism and that the Bible and science agree that there is no immortal soul.

Will Christ Return In 2007?

I am still thinking of that poll I read a few days ago in USA Today. One out of four Americans expect Christ to return in 2007. While I know that there is a religious element in this nation I had not idea that it is such a large contingent. I'm wondering if the respondents feel that things are really that bad in this society. I also wonder what they believe will happen when Christ does return. Do they have an idea of what Christ is like or is He just a name to them? Will His coming solve the problems of this world or will the Christ they are expecting just wafted them away to Never, Never Land? What does he expect of His followers? Are they expected to prepare in some way for His coming? Does 2007 mark the end of the world?

If He is returning in 2007 as 25% of those polled believe these are important questions. In my search for answers I went to the Holy Bible. In the Matthew chapter 24 starting in verse 3 I see where Jesus's disciples came to Him privately and asked, "What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" Curiously, the first thing He says is that many Christians will be deceived by false teachers of Christ. After religious deception He goes on to tell them of world conditions. There will be wars and rumors of wars, famines, pestilences and earthquakes in various places. He goes on to say that His follower will be hated and killed. He warns of false prophets and lawlessness. Then he tells them that the gospel (the good news) of the kingdom will be told to the world.

If I understand it correctly these events have been happening in every generation since His first appearance. Why will this time be different? I got my answer in verse 22. He says that unless those days be shortened no flesh would be saved alive or no flesh would survive, depending on which bible translation you are using. It wasn't until some time in the late fifty's that mankind had developed the power to destroy all life from this planet. So that kind of narrows the time frame down to the present generation. So could the 25% of those polled be right? And if not in 2007, when?