"Not really, no."

About 3 hours ago a friend posed some questions on his Facebook status:

"Don't you believe we are more than just mammals - that we have soul and feeling and purpose? Don't you believe we were created for something more meaningful?"


A friend of his then stated:
 "Not really, no. Honestly. To be human is beautiful, but we don't need a soul, a creator, or a purpose for that to be true."

This really got me thinking. Those words, "Not really, no." struck a nerve in me.

I'm going to be honest, I have never in my life been faced with doubt of whether or not I had a soul, or a purpose. From diapers 'til present, I have been exposed to and taught about the concept of things like God, eternity, souls, heaven, and hell. I haven't always taken it seriously, but I could never bring myself to let go of these things as facts. They have always been true to me, and I could never fathom how anyone didn't find them as just that, facts. I can't imagine walking through life asking myself if I had a soul, and then honestly answering, "Not really, no." My perspective may be biased, but as I'm just now exploring the question of having a soul or not, I wanted to share my thoughts.

I think if we disbelieve that we have a soul, our opinion is discounted. To explain, I have to also say that it is my belief that while our brains are beyond phenomenal, and are much needed in order to have knowledge enough to form our opinion, it is a soul which creates the opinion. To me, you cannot explain things like art, beauty, philosophy, dreams, or opinions, with just a physical mind, but with the individual soul, which is created to be creative. The brain is the knowledge reservoir, the soul is what turns it to wisdom and life. (This thought is similar to the philosophy of the mind term, Dualism.)

I think my favorite thought on this is from one of my favorite people ever, C.S. Lewis:

"You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body."

To me, God gave me a soul, created in his image, so that I can have a relationship with him and love him. I couldn't do that with just my mind and my own understanding. He gives us our phenomenal human body to carry our soul while we're here, and it's because we're here that we know we have a purpose.

What is the point of having a soul and a relationship with God, and then also a body?
The body seems unimportant and useless from this view point; inhabiting time here on earth rather than skipping the whole process and being directly created for an eternity with God in heaven.

God didn't want to just create us there with him, he wants us to have a choice, and to choose it. Our soul is how his existence can reach us, our life is designed to bring glory to him, and our free will allows us to reject that or believe it. Our purpose is not just to choose Him, but to also tell the world about him once we have faith in Him, so that no one is left asking "What's next?". If it weren't for those things, we could have easily skipped a lot of this process of making our way back to our intended destination, eternity with God. We have a great responsibility with the short time God has given us. He could have made us as mere clones, or angelic beings constantly worshiping him forever without having a choice in the matter. But he didn't. Don't you think there's a reason for that? I believe that He did give us a soul, He did give us a body, He did give us a purpose, and He has also given us reasons to trust Him.

WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE?