HUMAN SOUL
ife on Earth is an important part of the great eternity of living and should
not be thought of as a mere stopping-place where the spirit enfolds in the
flesh only for its pleasures and gratification. The Earth life is a fleeting
shadow of the spirit life, but is the most important period of man's whole
existence, and the way that life is lived on Earth will determine its future
existence in the spirit world.
The physical part of humans is the result of the meeting of those forces that
are contained in the two sexes and, according to the laws of nature, are suited to
produce the one body fit to be the home of the soul that is destined for it. The body
that results from this meeting is intended only as a temporary vehicle for the growth
of the soul and does not in any way influence or limit its continuous existence. The
body, of itself, has neither consciousness nor sensation, and in its beginning has
only the borrowed life of its parent, and can exist only so long as the soul inhabits it.
The physical body was never created to live forever, and men were never created to live
on the Earth forever. A greater and larger world has been provided for their eternal
habitation, where things are real and only the spiritual exists. When the body's functions
have ceased, it is disintegrated back into the elements from which it was formed.
The Earth is a mere image of the realities of the spiritual world and exists only
as the nursery for the individualization of the soul. The human soul is a creation of God
and not an emanation or projection from God. It was created in the image and likeness
of its Creator (Genesis 1:27), though not of the Creator's essence or substance, but
of the matter that already existed as part of the spiritual universe. The creation of
the human soul took place long before the appearance of mortals in the flesh. Prior to
their appearance, the soul had its existence in the spirit world as a substantial
conscious entity without visible form or individuality, but with a distinct personality.
Every soul was different from all others and had a consciousness of its existence, and an
awareness of a relationship to its Creator.
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