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•
by
Herbert W. Armstrong
How can you prove what happens to man at death? Does man inherently have
eternal life abiding in him? Here revealed is
the plain truth about the so-called "immortal soul" doctrine.
M
AN KNOWS
what
other things are–
the things around
him- but he knows
very little about himself.
Almost nobody knows what
man is! Man devotes himself, it
seems, to learning about alrnost
everything except himself.
And so we find this world today
steeped in various and contradict–
ing beliefs derived from fallible
human reasoning.
The Common Assumptlon
The ancient pagans taught (and it
has continued to be taugbt for
many, many centuries) that man is
a spiritual being- that be really is
an "immortal soul" composed of
spirit. The pagans further taught
that this imrnor tal soul is housed in
what you might call a bouse of
flesh-tbat tbe human body is
merely the house we dwell in, or
the cloak we put around us tempo–
rarily- and that the real you is not
March 1984
the body, but an immortal invisible
soul- and yet a soul that knows,
that thinks, that hears, that sees,
and that will live on
consciously
forever.
Then, tbe theory goes on, tbat at
death, the soul leaves tbe body,
goes to a heaven, or a hell, or a
purgatory, or a "happy hunting
ground." Still others believe in the
doctrine of the transmigration of
souls, that you, yourself, after
deatb will become, perhaps, a but–
terfiy, a mosquito, a fly or perhaps
something in the plant kingdom.
You will find that one religion
believes one thing and another'
believes something altogether dif–
ferent. Even in the Western world
of professing Christianity, one
denomination believes one thing,
and another sect " holds to" some–
thing altogetber different.
And since tbese various religions
are combinations of various beliefs
stitched togetber-each one in a
different way-can any of tbem be
right?
Unless there is a supreme Cre-
ator God and unless there is sorne
divine revelation from that God
revealing tbe truth in all of its pur–
ity, tben you have no basis at all for
any knowledge or belief as to what
man really is.
Unless you believe what is found
in the Holy Bible, then you have no
reliable source of belief wbatsoever.
It 's the Bible, then-or notbing.
And the Bible does
not
reveal
anything about an " immortal soul"
that resides in a body of flesh,
though many men have tried to
read such a meaning into it.
What, then, is the real truth of
the matter?
Science Reveals Part of the Secret
First, consider the proofs of science
and tben, secondly, the truth of
Scrípture.
Science deals wi th the material
universe, with only matter or mate–
rial substance. Science knows of no
life apart from matter. No scien–
tific authority believes that life in
plants or animals is a separate enti–
ty that may exist apart from, or
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