Changing Views in the Faith About Heaven and Hell
Prolific author, Bart Ehrman, will soon release a new book about how concepts of heaven and hell changed during the period when the Bible was written. They continue to change today.
Today, I suppose every believer knows their bodies stay in the ground and rot or are burned up at the crematorium. If there is a heaven, then, something else has to go there. The concept of a "soul" was invented to solve that problem. The innovation of a soul being separate from a body had not occurred yet at the time Jesus was supposed to have lived. In the Old Testament the body and soul were never separated.
According to Ehrman, the views attributed to Jesus were that the coming kingdom would separate believers from non believers. The right minded would live in an earthbound paradise, not one in the sky. The naughty people would not go to hell but would be annihilated. Souls and bodies were one unit, not separated. Views attributed to Jesus were the prevailing views of Jews at that time.
Years passed and followers of Jesus became not Jews but gentiles. Seventy to 100 years later the Greek view of a soul that could separate from the body was infused into Christianity. So souls going to heaven or hell is not really a view of original Christianity but an innovation brought into the faith from the Greeks, at least according to Bart Ehrman. His new book on this will be available soon.
I've often wondered which part of the idea a soul lives on after death of the body is most appealing to the vast audiences of Christians. Is it the soul going to heaven and living the good life, or, is it souls of those Christians dislike suffering in fire for eternity. Judging from the number of times I have been told I will be burning in hell I get the impression that is the most appealing part of separating the soul from the body.
For whatever reason, billions of people enjoy believing there is such a thing as a soul and that it is separate from the body. If it helps people face their coming death such nonsense it serves a good purpose.
Until someone can hold up a soul for all to see, it is most rational to conclude there is no such thing as a soul.
Actually, "what is seen is temporary, what is unseen is eternal." Everything you see, Jon, can be destroyed, either by humans or by God. Every object, including a human brain, has a begininning and an end. It can be smashed and destroyed. So a soul would also be temporary if it was visible.
ReplyDeleteBut like energy, what is invisible is eternal. One cannot destroy anything invisible, including energy, because one cannot hold it or contain it.
But funny thing, in the 19th century, a few scientists claimed that there were "bugs' in the air." They were considered quacks until the microscope was invented. ;) Then when the electron microscope was invented, scientists gradually found out that what is invisible to the naked eye is what contains the BUILDING BLOCKS of life...DNA, atoms, molecules, electrons, protons, neutrons, and the infinite other number of partcles that ALL work together to make the universe and every living thing in the universe work.
So you speak without knowledge and look foolish doing so. It's what is invisible to the naked eye that scientists now study because they KNOW that's where the answers to life are. But even scientists know that there's a a MUCH larger invisible world that they cannot quantify or analyze at present. Since they cannot analyze it, then try to refrain from talking about it. But that doesn't at all mean that what is invisible to the naked eye doesn't have eternal life behind it. ;)
Carcio "...19th century, a few scientists claimed there were 'bugs in the air'. They were considered quacks until the microscope was invented."
DeleteActually, they were considered heretics because it was thought God caused illnesses as punishment for sin. It was religious people who were embarrassed. Same with Galileo.
If a "soul" is discovered I will stand corrected. No one is now looking for a soul and no one is looking for fairies or angels so I'm quite certain all of these will remain religious myths. But, they seem real to you, so keep on believin'.
We have what has been revealed by the prophets and Jesus. It is in scripture. If one accepts the Word of God, then believing in an afterlife, in angels, in saints, in the triune God all become second nature. The gift of Faith has to be embraced prior to death or it is all for naught.
DeleteA soul has been "discovered". It would be unnerving to visit a museum of souls; especially living souls, i.e. souls of people currently alive.
Matt "We have what has been revealed by the prophets and Jesus. It is in scripture."
DeleteWhat is in scripture, according to Ehrman, is that Jesus followed OT authors in declaring the soul and the body are one. Jesus was to return most any moment back then and would establish a kingdom on earth. Nonbelievers would be dead, period. There were no souls traveling to either heaven nor hell. That was invented later.
According to Ehrman ...
DeleteThe soul and the body are separate after death. The body dies but the soul lives forever.
While I am sure some thought Christ would return to judge all mankind shortly after His death and resurrection, others had a longer term, uncertain view of when Christ would return. Nonbelievers would like to believe mortal death ends all existence.
Matt; Ok, you don't like Ehrman. Let's go elsewhere. Wikipedia, "The traditional concept of an ... immortal soul distinct from the body was not found in Judaism before the Babylonian exile but developed as a result of Persian and Hellenistic philosophy...Canonical teaching of the Old Testament made no reference to an immortal soul independent of the body."
DeleteIn the New Testament, Matthew 10:28, words attributed to Jesus tell us the great return will happen, believers will live in paradise on earth (keeping their souls/bodies together) and nonbelievers will perish, souls and bodies perishing together.
What you are talking about, souls living forever, was an innovation introduced later as a marketing ploy. Obviously it worked. You bought it.
Starting to sound a little like the Jehovah's Witnesses.
DeleteAs is usual, those who decry literalism, practice it to the extreme for their purpose.
There are elements of the New Testament in the Old Test. Much of what is in the NT, is foreshadowed in the OT.
Re. "this earth and this body, "Changed" means changed, not identical to the former. Not in context or timelines.
re. "innovation" is to ignore the dualism in Hebraism. Job 19;26 is a good example. The Psalms (of the poetic genre, are full of Hebraisms.) Many of which relate to the subject at hand. You can't hyperliteralize poetry.
Much of the NT related to this subject connects directly to the OT (Hebrew Bible)
Enter, "The already, but not yet". I know it is difficult for unbelief to understand, but it is there clear and simple.
I'm not going to argue this subject. If you can't see it, it's not there, nor will you find it. I won't help you. That would be futile.
Also; Jewish humor is loaded with all the above.
DeleteQuestion; When is a Jewish boy declared a person?
Answer; When he graduates from med. school.
The Catholic definition of a soul is find here - https://www.catholic.com/qa/what-exactly-is-a-soul
ReplyDeleteA soul is the spiritual principle of human beings. The soul is the subject of human consciousness and freedom; soul and body together form one unique human nature. Each human soul is individual and immortal, immediately created by God. The soul does not die with the body, from which it is separated by death, and with which it will be reunited in the final resurrection.
I am sure there are volumes of Catholic theology and philosophy, Scripture references and infallible teachings. There is a Heaven. There is a Hell. There is a Purgatory wherein souls go for purification prior to entering Heaven.