Have you ever had the privilege of being with someone as they died? Watching the process as soul separates from body, and watching the process as the body slowly shuts down? (Hint-- it’s a process that’s a whole lot like childbirth.)
Once the soul is gone, and just the body is left behind, you realize that the important part of what made them “them” isn’t there anymore. The important part of “them” isn’t their brain or their synapses; the important part of them is the spirit part. But while we’re on earth, we’re soul-and-body together. After death, the two components separate. Eventually, we hope to have glorified bodies at some point in the distant future.
But the point is, I make decisions to live my life a certain way. Not, “My hand decides to shove someone who’s in my way” or “My foot decides to kick someone” or “My tongue decides to spread lies about someone I dislike.” I’m a whole, not a jumble of assorted components.
And so, to take it one step further, not only are we as individuals a whole, but we are connected in the Unity of Creation. And so, that’s one of the things we’re held accountable for---- the times when we harmed that Unity, either by active evil, or by failing to do good.
So just like things are connected through the Unity of Creation, which is kind of like all created things— everyone doing the jobs God gave them, even if it’s just ants or cows or whatever-- there’s also the Unity of the Body of Christ, which is a special kind of Unity. It helps to remember when Jesus was talking to Saul of Tarsus-- “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” he wasn’t saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you being a jerk to my followers?” Because Saul wasn’t just physically harming A, B, and C through his persecution— he was committing harm at a level he wasn’t aware of, due to that spiritual connectedness of the Body of Christ.
