Question 23 & 24

God made Adam and Eve in his own image. He gave them a body and a soul. The soul is sometimes called the spirit.*

 

When God created* Adam, God breathed life into him. Adam had a body. But God also gave Adam a soul.[1] This is one thing that makes a human being different than any other living thing that God made. God made nothing else in creation* this way.

 

All people have a body and a soul. God made both the soul and the body, so both the body and the soul are good. The body and the soul each had a beginning. They are not eternal* like God is. They only live as long as God decides to give them life. A body may die. But the scriptures* tell us that God will cause the soul to live somewhere for ever.

 

When the body dies, the soul leaves the body. A body can die and be buried. But the soul continues to live. The soul continues as it was before the body died.

 

One story in the scriptures speaks of the soul after death.[2] Two men died. But, after they died, the souls of both men were still alive. Both men had gone to a place that was different than where they had been with their bodies. Both men knew who they were. They knew other people about them. They remembered what they had done in the past. Their souls continued after their bodies had died.

 

But all souls do not go to the same place. The scripture also tells us that the souls of those who love God go to be with Jesus.*[3] Those who did not love God while their souls were with their bodies are kept in another place. They wait there until the day God brings them to be judged.

 

Both our bodies and our souls are important to God. Some day, God will bring the souls of all people to return to their bodies again. All people will be raised from the dead.[4] Then they will be alive again, body and soul, to stand before God.

 

GOD MADE BOTH THE SOUL AND THE BODY, SO BOTH THE BODY AND THE SOUL ARE GOOD.

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[1] Ecclesiastes 12:7
[2] Luke 16:19-31
[3] Philippians 1:23; 2 Corinthians 5:8
[4] Revelation 20:13