In this issue:
i)    Why would anyone believe in the Soul - D. Fincher
ii)   Moses returns to Egypt (Part 2) - C.E.Wigg
Why would anyone believe in the Soul?
Dale Fincher
 
This question is on the tip of the pen in many of the popular-level magazines that deal with this topic. In the March 2005 National Geographic, the author states that René Descartes' view of the soul "still feeds the popular belief in mind [or soul] as a magical, transcendent quality." The article tells us that those who really know science do not believe in that sort of mythology.

Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker in Newsweek last fall said we need to get past "traditional dogmas" and "childlike intuitions" when we talk about a soul.(1)

Yet scientists are not supposed to be in the business of determining whether we have as soul or not. Their job is to understand how the material universe works. The immaterial parts of existence are off limits to them.

Even philosophical naturalists like John Searle and Colin McGinn believe it is dishonest to say that we are no more than a brain. While they will not allow the existence of immaterial things, like souls, they at least admit there is more to us than a brain. McGinn thinks we should shelve it as a forever mystery.

But the belief in the soul goes back long before Descartes. In fact, the existence of the soul has been believed by the majority of the world for the majority of human history. To say that it is fed merely by a 17th century European philosopher reveals ignorance.

So why would anyone believe in the soul? First, there are many near-death testimonies of people leaving their bodies and even looking down on the doctors in the operating room. While I don't think every one of them is true, I think it possible that at least some of them are true. That is evidence that we are more than our brain.

Second, we have a unified experience. What do I mean? I mean that it is "I" who feels and learns and runs and believes and loves. "I" do this. And they can't find me in my brain anywhere.

Third, we have thoughts. It may seem easy to think that our thoughts are in our brain, but on further examination it may not be the case. If I have a thought of Grandma rocking in her chair, Grandma and her chair do not suddenly show up within the boundaries of my skull. She wouldn't fit. When opening my brain, all a person would see is that certain fibers are pulsing electrical currents. Grandma is nowhere to be found.

In like manner, suppose I were to cut my finger. I experience pain. But all that is going on in my brain is that an electrical current is moving. Also, when my wife holds my hand, I experience gentleness. Another electrical current also moves in my brain. How does one electrical current differ from another electrical current? All a scientist can tell us is that there are electrical currents in certain regions of the brain. They cannot tell us why one "feels" like a pain and the other "feels" like a pleasure.

By the way, God and angels have thoughts too. And we assume they don't have brains for they are not made of material parts.

Fourth, we have intentions. The fact that we have a will is a hard argument that there is more to us than our brains. If we were only material parts, then the process of our brains and our behaviors would be explained in terms of causes and effects in the world. We would no longer be accountable to evil (as serial-killer Ted Bundy confessed) for we would simply be responding to an "evil gene" or the "product of our environment." In short, if we are no more than our brain, then we lack the freedom of choices. Freedom hinges on the idea that I can choose one thing against another. If we are no more than our brain, then we are a mass of atoms in a certain configuration that responds according to the stimuli it is given. The only way to interact with that stimuli, sort though it, and respond accordingly is if we are something more than our brain—a soul.

These reasons alone are sufficient to show there is more to a human than her brain. So why do National Geographic and Newsweek continue to promote this view? I have a hunch that as soon as we admit there may be a soul, then we have to admit there may be other immaterial beings in the universe to whom we are accountable. Evidence for the soul reveals evidence for God. Can a secular culture stomach that thought? I believe a good dose of honesty can help.

And, of course, not only philosophical arguments, but biblical ones also tell us there is a soul. Moses and Elijah, both without resurrected bodies, appear to Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt 17:2). Jesus speaks to the thief on the cross that "he" (not his brain) will be in paradise that very day (Luke 23:43). And even the Apostle Paul speaks of leaving the tent of his body to be united to Christ (2 Cor. 5:1-10).

Let me challenge you to navigate the culture with biblical eyes and a renewed mind. The souls of many may be at stake.

(1) Steven Pinker, "How to Think About the Mind", Newsweek (September 27, 2004). Also found at http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/articles/media/2004_09_27_newsweek.html
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[Copyright(c) 2004 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. A Slice of Infinity is a ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.]

Moses returns to Egypt  (Part 2)
Charles E. Wigg
 
So  he returned to Egypt alone, (without the support of his wife or his sons), but God was with him, and he had the rod of God, (the symbol of divine authority), in his hands. It was after he had sent Zipporah and their two sons back to Jethro, that God spoke to Aaron and sent him to meet Moses.(Exodus 18:2) The lot of the servant of God is often a lonely one, and though Moses’ wife and two sons were brought back to him, as we have seen in the above scripture, yet they are not mentioned again in the scriptures, and it would seem that thereafter Moses live the lonely life of a bachelor. (ICorinthians 7:29-30)
 
Aaron Meets Moses:   Though God had told Moses quite some time before that Aaron Moses’ brother was going forth to meet him, yet it would seem that the command did not come from God, until after Moses had sent his wife and sons back to their home. And though Moses had reason to be disappointed in Aaron many times, yet poor character though he was, still he was God’s provision for Moses. So that when they met on the Mount of God, and they kissed each other, Aaron was glad in his heart. Thus Moses had to learn that if he was to serve God, he must be weaned of natural and wifely affection, and in its place he would have to be content with brotherly love. This quality of affection, if rightly expressed surpasses the love of women. (2Samuel 1:26).
 
Next we are told of the quality of the conversation that passed between these two brothers at their meeting place, the very place where Moses had seen the vision of the burning bush. It would seem that they did not discuss family matters, or the politics of Egypt, neither the weather, or financial matters, but Moses told Aaron about all that God had revealed to him; Their conversation centred around the word of God. Moses also told him of the signs that God had shown him, and these were to be done before Pharaoh, not before the people as such. However when they had returned to Egypt, first Moses told the people of Israel all the words that God had spoken unto Him, but he went beyond the command of God, as it would seem that he could not resist the novelty of showing the signs to the people also. Whereas; God had distinctly told him to do those signs before Pharaoh. (Exodus 4:21) Moses was to learn that the power of God was not in the signs,, (they could be imitated by others), but rather it was in the mighty word of Jehovah.
 
When he had uttered the word of God, he then witnessed its mighty power. He saw the heads of the Elders of the people bow in adoration and worship their position was one of the greatest weakness. They were in a position from which they were unable to deliver themselves, they were just defenceless slaves, but the Almighty Jehovah, had now condescended to do for them what they were powerless to do for themselves.
 
The sight of this stiff necked people with their proud heads thus bowed in worship,  moved the heart of Moses. Here before him was the proof that God knew what He was doing. These people whom he said would never believe him, had submitted to the power of the word of God, at their first meeting. He had surely underestimated the power of the word of God. How foolish must his arguments now have seemed to him, but he was to witness more wonderful scenes than this, he was to see the proud head of his adopted cousin, (the pagan Pharaoh), also bow before the mighty power of God. But still he had many lessons to learn, and he was to learn these as the years unfolded. May God give us teachable spirits, just as he gave to Moses!
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[Reproduced by permission of the Author]

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