In Genesis 2:7 we find three statements concerning mankind’s origin. First, God created or formed humans from the dust of the earth, hence material. Second, God breathed into him the breath of life. Third, man became a living soul. This verse is denied entirely by materialist philosophers and scientists. First they deny God’s existence, then that man was created by Him and for Him (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14), and finally that all human life has a soul.

The Hebrew word for soul is nepes. The term is defined as “soul, self, life, person, or heart.” The word occurs some 780 times in the Old Testament. In over 400 of the places, this word is translated “soul.” The KJV uses over 28 different English terms for the one Hebrew word. ¹

The closest English word for nepes is soul. The soul of Rachel departed from her resulting in death (Genesis 35:18). The dual nature of a human of possessing both a body and a soul, is noted in Job 14:22. In the New Testament James has a similar analysis in James 2:26.

The battleground for many years between materialist and non-materialist has been the nature of the soul. The physical part of mankind is definitely of a material nature (Genesis 2:7). The non-materialist contends that the soul is not material. The discussion has raged back and forth over the decades. The materialist wants empirical proof for the soul. Since the soul is non-material, it cannot be analyzed by normal scientific means (e.g., weight or chemical composition). Carl Sagan, a materialist, stated in regard to the brain that , “what we sometime call mind, is a consequence of its anatomy and physiology and nothing else.”²

Sagan and others of his conviction felt that the brain was hardwired and could not be altered. When they were challenged with new evidence such as neuroplasticity, they resorted to what is called promissory materialism. Promissory materialism is the concept proposed by the philosopher Karl Popper. He used the concept of promissory materialism to answer questions to evidence that supposedly would be found in the future against materialist beliefs. The materialists believe they are correct and future data will prove them so. They argue that contradictory evidence that now exists will be proven wrong in the near or distant future. Charles Darwin, when asked about the incompleteness of the fossil record in his day, used the same approach. Darwin stated future discoveries would provide proof. The proofs of materialism are not in accord with all the evidence from physical and biological sciences. Since these new findings can point to another conclusion, they close ranks and use promissory materialism. The destruction of promissory materialism lies with the evidence that can be shown to destroy it.

Nobel Prize winner John Eccles, a neurologist, states, “I maintain that the human mystery is incredibly demeaned by reductionism [the theory that complex phenomenon can be explained by analyzing the simplest, most basic mechanism or organelles, DLC] with its claims in promissory materialism to account eventually for all of the spiritual world in terms of patterns of neural activity. This belief must be classed as superstition.”³

The impact of promissory materialism has had far-reaching complications in our society. Richard Florey, a sociologist, in his essay Promoting a Secular Standard: Secularization and Modern Journalism, 1870 to 1930, states, “Journalists began to see themselves as the successors to traditional religion or spiritual leaders.”⁴ They were to provide the appropriate guidance for both individuals and society. They assumed Darwin, Freud, and other materialists were correct and it was here stay. The belief that religion had no authority was accepted by most journalists and they therefore  modeled future articles in the shadow of materialistic philosophy and science.

The progressive movement in the United States, with its investment in social Darwinism, began to alter education under the leadership of John Dewey.⁵ Educationists like the journalists believed in Darwinism at the expense of religion with its resulting effect on society. A government controlled by materialists will redefine good as a debunked philosophy of the past (Isaiah 59:13-15) even with evidence to the contrary, which will be suppressed or marginalized. The role of self-control and normal restraints used in the past will be downplayed. The materialist does not believe in the concept of self, hence, there is nothing to control.

The societal upheaval we see today is an unfolding calamity for the control of the minds of mankind. The materialist wants the thought process of a thinking individual to be robotically controlled. Their bankrupt philosophy is the driving force behind these calamitous events. How long will they wait for the “proof” when the evidence already exists—evidence that demonstrates man possesses a living soul.

 

References

1.      Vines, W.E., et al.: Complete Expository Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson).

2.      Sagan, Carl (1977), The Dragon of Eden (Random House).

3.      Eccles, John and Daniel Robinson (1984), The Wonder of Being Human (New York: Free Press).

4.      Florey, Richard (2003), The Secular Revolution: Power, Interests, and Conflict in the Secularization of American Public Life; Christian Smith ed. (University of California Press).

5.      Edmondson, Henry T. (2006), John Dewey and the Decline of American Education (ISI Books).