| by James McBride (United Kingdom) |
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|  That thought crosses the mind of most of us sooner or later. The basic reply is ‘from mum and dad’. But where did that life force originate?  Almost universally it is believed that each of us has an ‘immortal soul’. It’s in us throughout life and persists in some form when we die. Few give thought as to where the ‘soul’ originated. In the Mormon faith all humans lived in a premortal state before coming to earth. The Hindu belief is that the soul continually recycles. For Catholics each human soul is ‘individual and immortal, immediately created by God’.  The Christian perspective—as presented in the Old and New Testaments—is that ‘…the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul [Heb.nephesh: creature]’ (Genesis 2:7). That ‘life’ generated in each of us ‘…the spirit in man’ (e.g., Job 32:8). It is the life force that activates all our in-built body processes.  Having created the material universe, some six millennia ago He created us –with purpose. Having created and animated the clay model (we are made from earth’s elements) He designed us, uniquely, to communicate with Him, to have His characteristics, to be rational beings and with the possibility of our becoming His Spirit children—a part of the divine family.  To that end the Creator gave us Earth as our training arena. We were to ‘…dress and keep’ it (look after its bountiful resources), to subdue its wild nature (Genesis 1:26-28)., to deploy our God-given intellect to further His purpose.  God’s proviso was that our freedoms would work only when in harmony with the ways He taught us. Adam chose his own contrary way; a way mankind has followed ever since—to our obvious detriment. International conferences will not restore that lost harmony!  Humanity Restored Having cast aside the Creator we lost sight of the divine purpose, and our perverted mindset spawned a plethora of belief systems that simply hid God’s plan. That plan remained intact, and the shining torch of the true way was passed to faithful believers down the ages who faithfully kept the torch of truth burning.  But what of man himself? He had severed his relationship with God and was now destined to oblivion. The ultimate step was a Redeemer, who in God’s time perfectly fulfilled God’s original purpose. That was Jesus of Nazareth, God’s Messiah, His anointed, (Gk Christ) and the only one in all history through whom fallen mankind can become a child of God, His heirs (Romans 8:17).  Jesus, the ‘lamb of God’ became the perfect sinless sacrifice who as ‘God with us’ (Immanuel –Matthew 1:23) qualified to carry away the sin of all mankind, thus restoring our filial relationship with the Father’.  The choice is ours. Face destruction—or fulfil the purpose for your life. |
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