immortality of the soul

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fineca

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What commonsensical arguments do we have for the immortality of the soul? I know the one about humans being able to conceive abstract ideas, to depart from materia, which means that we must be above materia, for materia can’t turn away from itself, thus there is a soul/spirit (can someone give a good short explanation to the difference of these two again please?) in addition to the body. And because spirit can’t be cut or destroyed since it’s not material, it lives on after death. BUT - for example JWs argue that our abstract thoughts are dependent on our brain and at death the brain stops working so there is no more consciousness. Of course we could argue from God, Scripture or NDEs but I’d like to know how to explain this philosophically.
Thanks!
Emil
 
A simple response would be that we believe in the resurrection of the body. Humans don’t become angels when they die, but remain fully human (body and soul). Basically we will be able to do anything we can do now and then some because we will have glorified bodies like Christ after the resurrection.
 
Hi Fineca,

The JW do not argue against the immortality of the soul when they state that it is not conscious. For them, it sort of falls asleep until the resurrection.

It is a fact that in this life, the soul depends on the brain to function. But scripture shows us that, when we die, the soul is in no way “asleep”. Think of Lazarus going into the “bosom of Abraham” and the people in hell asking Abraham to warn their brothers about going there too. Think of Moses and Isaiah conversing with Jesus during the Transfiguration.

Robert
 
Check the library for a book called Shades of Sheol by Johnson. It contains the most recent research on the biblical data.
 
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