Who are we, where did we come from and why are we here? Part 1

Part 1: Do we have an immaterial parent?

(This blog is part of a series. You can start the series by going back to the September 1, 2014 Introduction called A Case for Christianity: Why do we need one?)

 “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.”  -The Declaration of Independence

I was listening to a presentation by my favorite Apologist, Greg Koukle who was talking about a lawyer that had said he ‘did not believe in the supernatural and that it was impossible to think that humans were made of anything immaterial like souls.’ This lawyer worked from a naturalist’s perspective and said he based things only on material evidence and what could be physically measured. That’s interesting, because as a lawyer he must deal with people who have motives and intentions! How do you measure motives and intentions? Can you give me a pound of motive and five yards of intentionality please? Do things like the will, motives or intentionality have physical properties that we can measure? There is a great debate in science over the composition of humans. Are we just material physical beings that function based on chemical reactions, or are we made of something more? Do we have an immaterial component that we call a soul? If we are only living our life based on chemical reactions then we are just “dancing to our DNA” as atheist Richard Dawkins would say. Naturalists claim that we are just a product of the genes from our human parents and those before them. But, what if we are more than just material physical beings? Could it be that we have another parent who is immaterial and transcendent, and in whose image we might bear in our souls? If this is true are there things that are ‘self-evident’ in all humans that bear the mark of that common parent? I think so…

Evidence for an immaterial transcendent parent:

If we look closely there seems to be commonality in some basic human instincts that transcend families, cultures and geography. One example of this commonality would be a universal instinct we might call a moral law. Some people refer to this moral law as our conscious. Whether or not you believe in a universal moral law you have to admit every human has a conscious. It is that thing that is talking to you right now—you are probably saying I agree or I disagree and there is a little argument going on in your head—that’s your conscious or as theologians would say, it is your soul. It is that thing that makes you, you. Within that conscious or soul come feelings of right and wrong. You can go anywhere in the world and observe in humans a general sense that things are not the way they are suppose to be. There are killings, wars and injustices everywhere and we all sense that this is wrong, why do we know that? Could it be the image we bear of our immaterial transcendent parent whose perfect standards we fall short of, but whose standards or laws are imbedded in our souls? We all seem to instinctively know right from wrong.

In the next blog we will explore evidence for this moral law in more detail.

“God made us: invented us as a man invents an engine. A car is made to run on petrol, and it would not run properly on anything else. Now God designed the human machine to run on Himself. He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on.”  C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

God has placed a moral code in the conscious of all mankind:

Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know His law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thought either accuse them or tell them they are doing right.  Romans 2:14-15 (NLT)

Let me know what you think:  Do you believe there is more to humans than simply physical material elements? Do we have a soul that is evidenced by a conscious that tells us right from wrong? Why or why not?

Over the next several blogs I am going to continue to present logical reasoning and sound scientific evidence not found in the public school textbooks.

Join us next time for: Who are we, where did we come from and why are we here?  Part 2: Is there such a thing as a universal moral law?

Teri Dugan

TeriDugan@truthfaithandreason.com

Always be ready to give an answer for the hope that you have in Christ Jesus as Lord.

1 Peter 3:15