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today- or any day in the pas t- you
need to understand, first, just wha t
the human mind is, and why and
how it is so vastly superior in in–
tellect to anima l brain.
Despising and rejecting revela tion
as the only source of basic knowl–
edge, this world's educated do no t
understand the real difference be–
tween huma n mind and anima l
bra in.
This source of basic knowledge
revea ls tha t the first humans we re
created with, and a ll since have
been boro with, a spirit that is IN
man . This spirit- no t a "ghost," but
a spirit essence- is actually not the
man, or any part of him- not an
"immortal soul" - but some thing
that is merely
in
each pe rson.
lt
performs a most essentia l func–
tion.
For example,
man 's
composition
is revealed in Genesis 2:7: "And the
Eterna! God formed man of the
dust of the ground, and breathed
into his nostr ils the breath (air] of
life; and man (made of ma terial
dust) became a living soul."
The origina l word for "soul" here
is the Hebrew
nephesh ,
meaning "an
ai r-breathing creature." A lite ra l
tra nsla tion of Moses' words in G en–
esis 1:20 might be: "And God sa id.
Le t the wa te rs bring forth a bun–
dantly the moving
nephesh
tha t ha th
life . ..." Thus God called wh a les,
a ll fish, and birds tha t fty in the a ir
nephesh.
They a re no t immorta l
souls. In ve rses 21 and 24, Genesis
1, anima llife is called
nephesh-only
the ·King James transla tors here ren–
de red
nephesh
as the word "crea–
ture."
G enesis 2:7 says tha t wha t was
made out of the dust- MATTER- be–
came
a
SOUL.
There fore a soul is
physical and ma terial, no t spi ritua l
and immortal.
1 have written on this subject
many times, but 1 sha ll he re try to
present it . very briefty, in a d ifferent
way than before.
This passage in Genesis 2:7 has
no reference to the spirit in man
wba tsoever. But the soul described
there does, of course, include the
phys ica l brain.
However, e lsewhe re in the Bible
we find tha t there is some thing
non-
The
PLAIN TRUTH May 1978
physical that is IN man which per–
forms the function of imparting in–
tellect to the physical brain.
One man who earned his Ph .D.
a fter doing bra in research in a t leas t
three well-known universi ties carne
to the conclusion tha t wha t imparts
intellect to the human bra in is the
presence of "a nonphysical com–
ponent tha t is nonexistent in an ima l
brain." Needless to say, o the r schol–
ars in bra in research do not agree
with him. But the human mind can–
no t be explained in any way tha t
makes sense on the basis of the
phys ical brain alone.
The human brain is sli ghtly
smaller than the brain of an ele–
phant, a whale or a dolphin.
lt
is
slightly larger than a chimp bra in.
In physical quality it is only so
slightly superior that the vas t supe–
riority in human intellectua l output
canno t remotely be accounted for.
The Splrlt of Man
Mos t scientists and highly educated
schola rs not only reject biblical rev–
ela tion as a source of knowledge,
but they a re utte rly unable to com–
prehend spiritua l knowledge or spir–
itual principies.
As
we read in l Corinthians 2:9:
" Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart
of man [bis mind), the things which
God hath prepared for them tha t
love him." Na turally, knowledge
can enter the human mind only
through the five channels of sight ,
hearing, taste, smell and feel. Spiri–
tual things, spiritual principies, spir–
itual knowledge canno t be seen or
heard, tasted, smelled or fe lt. Only
phys ical and ma te ri a l knowledge
can enter through those five chao–
neis.
So the quota tion above from 1
Corinthians simply says tha t spir i–
tua l things, or the things of God,
canno t enter the mind through the
five natura l channels. The passage
continues: " But God ha th revealed
them unto us by H1s SPIRIT: for the
Spirit searcheth a ll things, yea, the
deep things of God . For wha t man
knoweth the things of a man. save
the spirit of man which is in him?"
In other words, no man could have
the know l ed g e possesse d b y
huma ns- knowledge millions of
times greater than that possessed by
me re animal brain- except for the
presence of the
spirit of man
which
is
in
him. The spirit of man is he re
contrasted to the Spirit of God.
Therefore, because it is spirit and
no t ma tter- though
man
ís wholly
ma tte r- 1 term it the
human spirit.
This spirit is no t a ghost, or con–
scious being.
lt
is spirit essence. This
spirit that is in every human is the
fac tor tha t impa rts the power of in–
tellect to the human physical brain.
1 can explain at Ieast part of the
process by which the power of in–
tellect is imparted to the brain by
this spirit. This spirit is like a com–
puter. In our Data Processing Ceo–
te r o n the Ambassador College
campus we have sorne giant com–
puters. A group of employees pro–
g r a ms information into thes e
compute rs, which contain millions
of pieces of information- for ex–
ample, names and addresses, among
other informa tion.
One inte resting little trick we
showed visitors to the Center was to
ask the computer to supply wha t–
ever information had been pro–
grammed into it under my name.
The demonstrator typed my name
on the keyboard- and out of mil–
lions of facts, names, and pieces of
information, the computer instantly
sorted out my name and spewed out
the informa tion:
It
said, " Herbert
W. Armstrong, age 37, going on 36."
Of course it gota Laugh.
A Nonphyslcal Component
This human spirit cannot see, hear,
sme ll , tas te or feel. The physical
brain sees through the eyes, hears
through the ears, etc. And the brain
can receive through these five chao–
neis only wha t is material and phys–
ical. But wha t the bra in sees or
hears- wha t knowledge it receives–
is instantly programmed into the
human spirit. In other words, the
spirit in each human memor izes,
and it provides instant recall for the
bra in. The human spirit impa rts the
power of intellect to the physical
bra in in two ways: 1)
lt
gives the
bra in
instan/ reca/1
of wha tever the
bra in calls for in the knowledge
(Continued on page 42)
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