Do You Have an Immortal Soul?

Woody Allen once said, “I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve immortality through not dying.” Since not dying isn’t an option, Allen advised, “Don’t think of death as an end, but think of it more as a very effective way of cutting down on your expenses.” What (else) happens to you after you die? Nothing? Forever? Or is there life after death? Such questions can be considered both theologically and philosophically.

A theological way to answer the question about life after death is to consider another question: Is Jesus trustworthy? Jesus taught that this life is not the only life—that death destroys the body but does not destroy the soul. As they were both dying on Roman crosses, Jesus told the good thief, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Indeed, Jesus spoke of heaven and hell on many occasions. So, if Jesus is trustworthy, eternal life is a reality.

C.S. Lewis thought life after death was not just a matter of revelation but also of reason. Lewis wrote, “If we really are the product of a materialistic universe, why don’t you feel at home in a world where we die and disintegrate? Do fish complain of the sea for being wet? Or if they did, would that not strongly suggest that they were once not purely aquatic creatures? Why are we continually shocked and repulsed by death, unless indeed something in us is not temporal.” Lewis held that philosophy, not just theology, points to life after death.

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