Immortality of the Soul

[thecone137]

Can anyone recommend a good book to teach Immortality of the Soul from a philosophic perspective?

 

[JDaniel]

Can anyone recommend a good book to teach Immortality of the Soul from a philosophic perspective?

Welcome to CAF Thecone:

I don’t know of any book that per se develops the idea of the immortality of the soul. Certainly one place you could look is in Scripture, especially the writings of St. Paul. But, it appears that everything God creates survives. The question is: in what form?

Matter survives. It merely changes form. The laws of thermodynamics attest to the eternality of matter and energy. It would seem that everything God creates lasts from then on as God’s act of creation is ongoing. The universe may die from extreme cold, but, its matter survives. A man may die, but, his atoms merely alter their form. They no longer continuously instantiate individuation.

To the best of our knowledge, spiritual matter, not being identical to physical matter, does not change substantially. In other words, it does not die. Whatever a spirit is, after it departs the body, it becomes a full-fledged soul, once again, at God’s exquisite discretion. If everything else that God creates remains, it would seem illogical for the soul to die, i.e., change substantially, i.e., annihilate.

God bless,
jd

 

[nfreak141]

Is God eternal? Did he give us the breath of life, which gave us souls? If God is eternal, wouldn’t that mean that His Breath is Eternal? If His Breath is Eternal, would that not mean that our souls are eternal?

 

[BraveNewFamily]

Welcome to CAF Thecone:

I don’t know of any book that per se develops the idea of the immortality of the soul. Certainly one place you could look is in Scripture, especially the writings of St. Paul. But, it appears that everything God creates survives. The question is: in what form?

Matter survives. It merely changes form. The laws of thermodynamics attest to the eternality of matter and energy. It would seem that everything God creates lasts from then on as God’s act of creation is ongoing. The universe may die from extreme cold, but, its matter survives. A man may die, but, his atoms merely alter their form. They no longer continuously instantiate individuation.

To the best of our knowledge, spiritual matter, not being identical to physical matter, does not change substantially. In other words, it does not die. Whatever a spirit is, after it departs the body, it becomes a full-fledged soul, once again, at God’s exquisite discretion. If everything else that God creates remains, it would seem illogical for the soul to die, i.e., change substantially, i.e., annihilate.

God bless,
jd

I never thought of it that way. I am not sure how sound that is theologically, but it puts things in an interesting perspective. And to answer the original question, there are lots of accounts of people who came back from heaven because there heart restarted. Similarly, there are also accounts of people who came back from hell. Google it.

 

[SteveGC]

Can anyone recommend a good book to teach Immortality of the Soul from a philosophic perspective?

Best modern Christian philosopher I know of is Dr. Peter Kreeft. He has a talk about the soul you can listen to. The Soul

And a book which explores Aquinas’ Summa, titled Summa of the Summa, which has a section on the soul.

Also, Kreefts website has an abundance of wonderful material.

Peace.

 

[thecone137]

Wow, Kreeft has alot of material… thanks!

 

[paduard]

Welcome to CAF Thecone:

I don’t know of any book that per se develops the idea of the immortality of the soul. Certainly one place you could look is in Scripture, especially the writings of St. Paul. But, it appears that everything God creates survives. The question is: in what form?

Matter survives. It merely changes form. The laws of thermodynamics attest to the eternality of matter and energy. It would seem that everything God creates lasts from then on as God’s act of creation is ongoing. The universe may die from extreme cold, but, its matter survives. A man may die, but, his atoms merely alter their form. They no longer continuously instantiate individuation.

To the best of our knowledge, spiritual matter, not being identical to physical matter, does not change substantially. In other words, it does not die. Whatever a spirit is, after it departs the body, it becomes a full-fledged soul, once again, at God’s exquisite discretion. If everything else that God creates remains, it would seem illogical for the soul to die, i.e., change substantially, i.e., annihilate.

God bless,
jd

If you don’t mind my saying it JDaniel, what an excellent article in response.