| Home | Our Hope | |
| Bible Study |
|
May 29, 2018 |
| What Are We | ||
In an earlier study we looked at what our resurrection bodies will be like1. With that we learned how different we will be.
In that study we saw the many Bible references that showed the apostles described us as something that had a body or was wearing a body. Over and over we see that distinction between the body and what we are.
Remember those who are imprisoned, as if you are imprisoned with them. Call those to mind who are afflicted, as if you are the people who wear their bodies. (Hebrews 13:3)
But it seemed good to me, that as long as I am in this body, to awaken your memory (2 Peter 1:13)
Just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. (James 2:26)
That study left a question remaining, though. If we will be so different and are now so dependent on our bodies for life, what are we? Yes, we are spirit, but what exactly is that spirit, that essence, that remains when the body is gone. What is it like? What capabilities does it have?
The Bible says very little that answers these questions. In this study we'll look at what the Bible does say and apply a little thought to understand it more deeply.
Many people, even Christians, have the idea that the essential us is a wispy, ethereal copy of our living self, like the ghosts popularized in media. Somehow through those wispy eyes and ears we see and hear. In this section we'll look at that idea.
In 1st Samuel, the account of the Witch of Endor, describes what could be the spirit of Samuel.
Then the woman said, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" And he said, "Bring up Samuel for me." 12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, "Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul." 13 The king said to her, "Do not be afraid; but what do you see?" And the woman said to Saul, "I see a divine being coming up out of the earth." 14 He said to her, "What is his form?" And she said, "An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped with a robe." And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and did homage. (1 Samuel 28:11-12)
There are some points that must not be missed here.
Is she describing the spirit of Samuel and therefore providing information about what we are? The truth is we know even less about what power this woman has than we know about ghosts. It raises some important questions though.
A little thought can carry us a bit further though. If she is seeing the spirit of Samuel that means our spirit ages just as we age. Age isn't just a number; it is the ravages of time on our bodies. Further extending that idea would mean that people who died without an arm would have a spirit without an arm.
Following this begins to lead us in ridiculous directions. What about people who were blown to pieces in battles? What about people who never were able to walk, or see, or hear? What about people who died insane?
Part of the woman's description of Samuel really pushes this idea over the edge. He is wearing a robe. Does a robe have a spirit that it should die with Samuel and live on as his robe? This leads us in even more ridiculous directions until we get to the question of whether rocks have a spirit and whether it is murder to burn a tree?
This has shown us there must be another answer. Is it possible she is seeing a projection of an image of himself, by Samuel's spirit, so that she will recognize it? If that is the case, and we also assume this it not this woman's first rodeo, then she has been seeing projections by the other spirits she has called up for her customers. Perhaps a projection is the same thing as a vision. In any case, if it is a projection, then she is describing the projected image and not the spirit and therefore there is nothing to be learned about the appearance of the essential us.
I think this leads us to accept that the woman is seeing and interacting with a vision or projection. Their are other cases in the Bible of someone interacting with a vision. Peter interacts with his vision of the sheet coming down with all the animals (Acts 10:11). Also, John appears to be interacting with the angels in his vision in Revelation.
That leaves us wondering what a vision is that a person can interact with it. It also makes us wonder where the voices / personalities come from for the players in the vision, but our understanding takes us far enough that we can say that the witch of Endor is not describing the spirit of Samuel.
Summarizing all of this we can say that there is nothing in this event that tells us anything about what we are.
We dealt with the idea of a spirit that is a wispy representation of the body, clothes and all, and how that thinking leads to foolish outcomes. This is a common belief however and we wonder where it got started. The ghosts of Dickens "A Christmas Carol" are of this type. The ghosts of the Harry Potter series are also of this type but this is somewhat contradicted by the souls that dementors eat are shown as bright points of light.
The idea of a humanoid spirit goes back thousands of years but it is not the only way the spirit of a person has been portrayed.
"Ghosts in the classical world often appeared in the form of vapor or smoke, but at other times they were described as being substantial, appearing as they had been at the time of death, complete with the wounds that killed them."
Two reasons people would choose to represent ghosts as being in the form they were in life are:
There are Christians who believe their spirit even retains the skin color of the body it had. I guess, somehow, the chemical Melanin has a spiritual component. If that is accepted as true then other chemicals would be expected to do the same, even water. But water does not die and we are made mostly of water. What if someone dies and his water is consumed by another person and then he dies. Whose water is it?
We see here, as we saw previously, the problems associated with accepting this idea. There is no reason to believe that what we are when the body is gone is tied to the body we wore. There is no reason to believe the spiritual form is set by the physical form - and good reasons not to believe that.
As strongly attached as people are to the idea that our human form is part of what we are and therefore our spirit has the same form, we are even more strongly attached to the idea that our personality is part of who we are. Is there a reason to accept this?
No authority in Christianity believes that animals have spirits that survive their death, as we have. If they did, God would have created a plan for salvation for them as well. Also, they were affected by the sin of Adam and Eve, as a possession, would be and not because they had sinned and were separately responsible. There are other reasons as well.
These animals, however have their own distinct personalities. Yes, most cats behave more like other cats than they behave like a dog, for example. Yet, each cat is different from other cats. This comes from years of being a cat owner. I've known battle cats, scaredy cats, bright cats, silly cats, pushy cats, protective cats, and those characteristics are just beginning to describe their personalities.
Cats might not have the range of personalities that humans have but that might only appear to be the case because they lack a sophisticated language. The difference in personalities though, makes it clear that personality is at least partly not an aspect of our spirit. It's possible it is entirely not an aspect of our spirit.
In 1 John 2:16 the Apostle John defines the triune nature of man as a combination of body, mind, and spirit, as he describes the evils of each, "the desire of the body and the lust of the eyes and the pride of temporal life." We also note that Jesus was tested in all of these areas, as was Eve.
If personality is not an aspect of our spirit then it must be an aspect of the body / mind combination, and likely mind. Therefore personality dies with the body.
Some people have suffered injuries that have caused their personality to change. The people who knew them best say they are not the same person they were before.
We've already rejected the idea that changes to the body cause changes to the spirit. That leaves us thinking again that personality is a characteristic of mind, not spirit.
The existence of mental illnesses essentially defines personality as a characteristic of the mind. In less serious cases, a person may be recognized as a "troubled" version of themselves. In more serious cases the previous personality is completely gone. There even seem to be cases of multiple personalities.
Unless we accept that a spirit can be insane, it is necessary to accept that personality is a characteristic of the mind.
Many studies of identical twins are being done right now to understand the separation between nature and nurture. Nature is a product of genetics and the birth process; nurture is a product of experiences. These don't interest us directly because both die with the body. Some of these studies, though, have shown that aspects of personality come from the nature side.
With identical twins having identical genetics, they also have some personality characteristics that are identical. So far we've been saying that personality is an aspect of mind; now it appears mind may be a product of genetics.
We do accept that spirit is a product of genetics. Among the problem with that idea are that a womb would need to be more than a physical organ. It would also need to be the creator of spirit. This becomes a problem if we consider cats again and are forced to ask why a cat womb would not produce a spirit for a cat.
The Bible doesn't discuss where the spirit comes from or how it becomes attached. The generally accepted idea is that God endows each human with spirit.
We've discussed various evidence that strongly indicate that personality is not part of our spirit, not part of what we really are. This is a disconcerting thought because we define ourselves so much by our personality. We might think of ourselves as funny, witty, clever, or whatever. Can it be that these are only "in our mind"? The evidence indicates this is so.
We may have personality traits we think are good and would like to keep after death. There are other personality traits, some that we would be happier to see die with the body, such as hatred, jealousy, deceitfulness, and lust. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we gain mastery over these and persevere against them. In most cases though they still exist and the battles goes on until we die.
Even the traits that we think are good, are they really good? Have you noticed how often "funny" turns into "mean"? Is there an arrogance or competitiveness or self-centeredness behind all of it? I wonder.
I'm going to define consciousness as "the awareness we have of the thoughts we are thinking." That is a common dictionary definition. With that in hand, we again ask our central question. Is that what we are? Is that what survives death?
The answer is, again, probably not. Consciousness appears to be a by-product of mind. If we think of "mind" as being the place where consciousness is formed, that's pretty close. Therefore consciousness is part of the body / mind that does not survive death as the spirit does.
Paul very clearly separates the two. He also goes further to say that different things can be happening in each. Paul's purpose in 1 Corinthians 14 is not to discuss this separation but he does so to make an unrelated point.
For if I should pray in languages, my spirit is praying, but my understanding is unfruitful. 15 What therefore shall I do? I shall pray with my spirit, and I shall pray also with my understanding. I shall sing with my spirit, and I shall sing also with my understanding. (1 Corinthians 14:14-15)
The word Paul uses is translated here as "understanding" which seems like a good match with consciousness as I've defined it - awareness of thinking. He says the consciousness can be speaking the words the spirit is praying but be unaware of the meaning of the words. He encourages us to pray both in the spirit and in the consciousness.
In this, Paul gives us a model for the parts of the triune nature of mankind - body, mind, and spirit. The mind thinks, analyzes and decides. This is what would be expected based on my observations of cats. They have no spirit but they think for themselves. They are fully functional without a spirit. Their thoughts in their minds result in actions in their bodies.
In this model, we, who have a spirit, have that as an overseer for the mind. It also analyzes and decides. It is also likely the home of the conscience. No cat owner would claim a cat has a conscience. About its role of overseer, Paul says, the spirit is able to instruct the mind to speak words the mind does not know.
The mind is aware of the desires of the body, which it experiences as deep longings, not words, though we sometimes put those longings into words. The mind has its own desires which it experiences as wanting for things. The spirit is aware of both the desires of the body and the wantings of the mind.
The spirit is able to control the mind and cannot be overruled by the mind, though sometimes it gives in to the wants of the mind or desires of the body.
Because the spirit is fully aware of the body / mind and fully able to control them, it becomes responsible for everything done. That responsibility includes things done according to the will of the spirit and those things the spirit allowed the mind / body to do.
Whether it is natural sleep or induced unconsciousness, we wonder what exactly is unconscious. Again, if we fall back to our cats, we know that they also sleep (and dream) and can be unconscious. Therefore there is no reason to believe the spirit is related to these states.
Dreaming is a curious matter. In the context of this study we wonder where dreaming happens, whether in the mind or the spirit. The Bible gives us no direction at all, saying only that God can choose to instruct people through dreams. Perhaps Job says that best.
Indeed God speaks once, or twice, yet no one notices it. 15 in a dream, a vision of the night, when sound sleep falls on men, while they slumber in their beds. 16 Then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction, 17 that He may turn man aside from his conduct, and keep man from pride; 18 He keeps back his soul from the pit, and his life from passing over into Sheol. (Job 33:14-18)
Scientists admit they do not understand dreaming and theories abound. It does seem to be part of the process of analyzing recent memories and forming heuristics (rules of thumb) from that. More than that can't be said with any certainty.
Unconsciousness, sleep, and dreams, like consciousness, must be aspects of body / mind.
Memory plays an interesting role in this discussion because it cannot work exactly the way we think and understanding how it must work helps us understand what we are.
Scientists believe that memory is contained in the brain and Christians follow along with that because they haven't really thought about it. That idea, however, presents problems for eternal judgment and justice. If memory is stored in the brain it would be lost at the death of the body. With no memory, how are people to be judged at the final judgment? The accused could only say he has no memory of doing the things his accusers credit to him. The accusers might be able to show "video" of him doing evil but that would mean nothing to him. He would have no memory of having been that person. In fact he would have no memory of having lived at all.
We know this situation is not the case from Luke 16:19-31 where the rich man is told to "remember that you have received your good things in your life and Lazar, his evil things." Also, the rich man remembers that he has brothers still alive.
Therefore we can say at least that memory is not only stored in the brain and that the spirit is connected to these memories as being the owner of them, in the way that we now know that our memories are ours. We may be able to take that a step further and ask whether memories are stored in the brain at all.
Scientists have shown that they can play with the brain and cause memories to be recalled, but they still have no idea where they are stored. Rupert Sheldrake, in his book "Science Set Free: 10 Paths to New Discovery", discusses the reasons why memories can't be stored in the brain.
Scientist Roger Penrose, on discussing the structure of the brain and the nanotubes he believed he saw there, said that the brain looked like it was meant to communicate with something.
Scientist Steven Hawking, on theorizing that the universe was like a black hole, said that everything that happened within it would be recorded on the surface of the universe. This is unproven but it opens up a possible location for memories.
Without a body, and therefore without eyes, ears, taste, touch and smell, what does a spirit experience and how? If any experience of the world outside the spirit is possible, it could only be through understanding. For example, instead of seeing where a person is, the spirit would know. Instead of hearing what another spirit wants to communicate, the spirit would know.
Without legs, mobility would not be possible. What would be the point of mobility any way? What would you want to do once you got to where you wanted to be? Would you want to experience something you had never experienced before?
This may be why angels must carry Lazarus to the comfort of Abraham and why Abraham says "there stands a great abyss between us and you, so that those who would pass from here to you are not able, neither is whoever is there able to pass over to us."
Whatever their experience and mobility, it seems likely the abilities of both Lazarus and the Rich man would be the same. There has been no judgment yet. Lazarus has been separated from the Rich man based on his having the water.
This could change very significantly after Judgment when the Rich man and others are sent into the Lake of Fire. They would likely find themselves separated from God and from every good thing God has given. This could mean an existence without dimension and time, the state before the first step of creation.
This study also shows us something about eternal punishment. Although it has been depicted as torture administered by others, perhaps by demons, eternal punishment is torment, self torment. The eternal punishment from God is only that they are separated from God for eternity, but the significance of that should not be missed. We can scarcely grasp how horrible that would be.
We now see that, without a body, those spirits would have no mobility and no world in which to be mobile. They would hear nothing, see nothing, have no personality, experience nothing new.
At death, the spirit has not only its own memories but access to all knowledge, including knowing what evil is and how truly evil it is. We see this in the previous verses about the rich man. He doesn't ask where he is or why he is there and he doesn't plead his own case. He knows the truth - the deceptions of the body are gone.
All the spirit has is the memories of a past life and they are always present. It experiences only regrets, sadness, shame, horror - as fire that always burns at it. Every evil deed done comes to it again and again, bringing another wave, like tongues of flame. In our current bodies, the memories of our failings are not always in the forefront of our minds though they come to mind occasionally. For them, their memories will always be in front of them.
It will be this way for eternity. There is no future, only the memories of a past that are ever present.
For some, the torment would be the result of having once known the goodness of God coupled with the realization that there was a way to avoid this torment, a gift. Some will have once accepted that gift and then turned away from it.
For it were better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than that when they knew, they would turn away afterward from the holy decree that was delivered to them. (2 Peter 2:21)
Referring to Luke 16:19-31 again, the rich man has not yet been judged and sent to the Lake of Fire. Even so he refers to his situation as "this place of torment" and seeks the water that Lazarus has.
This entire existence is what Jesus is referring to when he says:
But the children of the Kingdom will be cast out to outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 8:12)
Then the King said to the attendants, 'Bind his hands and his feet and cast him out into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' (Matthew 22:13)
And they cast the worthless servant into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing teeth. (Matthew 25:30)
Because of these verses and for other reasons, I believe the Lake of Fire is outside the universe … whatever that means. During the judgment all memory of them will be ripped from our universe and moved to their "location". The Heavens and the Earth will be remodeled as if by fire and there will be no trace that they ever existed.
In the end we return to our initial question - what are we - what is the most basic essential thing that each of is. We are spirit, yes; but what is that. It is:
So far we have mostly defined what we are by saying what we are not. Partly that's because it's the easier course to take but also because we have better information about what we are not.
I think we can fairly say a couple things:
The essence of what we are is something much less than what we are in these bodies we now wear. Yet that is the part of us that God wants.
The Bible sometimes uses a grape as a metaphor for man. God doesn't want the grape for it's skin, nor for the pulp inside, but for the juice inside of that.
We live in animal bodies. Just like other animal bodies they desire to do evil. In these bodies, we can function without any input from that spirit that we are. To please God though our spirit must be the decision maker in the body and it must submit itself to God's will, otherwise the body will do what it wants, which will be evil.
God said it to Cain at the start "if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it" (Genesis 4:7) We have the ability to control our bodies. If we allow our bodies to rule, we are responsible.
1 http://ourhope.site/2018-04-12%20YourFutureBody/YFB.html