The human body

The Book of Genesis tells us that “…the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground…” (NRSV, 2:7).  I wonder if you have ever thought how true that is?

Science tells us that the Earth was formed from rocky material that came from dust in space – from stardust. (1)(2)  We human beings, too, are formed from stardust.  For example, the carbon atoms in the cells of our body were made from hydrogen in the stars which were puffed out into space.  The iron atoms in our blood were forged in the cores of enormous stars which exploded. (3)

It’s easy to take our human bodies for granted.  But when you stop and think about them, they are absolute marvels of creation.  The human brain, for example, contains one hundred billion nerve cells.  Each cell can make contact with thousands or even tens of thousands of other nerve cells.  Our brains form a million new connections for every second of our lives. (4)  Then there’s the largest organ in the human body – our skin.  It’s waterproof, it contains nerve endings to warn us of dangers such as heat and if it gets cut it’s got its own built-in repair mechanisms.

The human soul

However, you don’t need me to remind you that you yourself are more than a wonderful collection of cells.  Other creatures on the Earth are also wonderful collections of cells but human beings are different in many important ways.

Your human body is not the whole of you, it is only a part of you.  Much more important is the spiritual part no one can see which we call your soul – the real you and the part that will live for ever.  Our soul is what makes us different from animals and, indeed, from all other creatures.  Here are some of the ways in which human beings are different:

Reason

You may not always get the right answers when you multiply two numbers using mental arithmetic.  But a dog couldn’t work out the problem however hard anyone tried to teach him.  This is because animals can’t reason things out like human beings can.

Conscience

Linked with this is the fact that, unlike humans, animals don’t have a sense of right and wrong.  For example, if a dog finds a bag of shopping in the kitchen that contains a packet of jam doughnuts he may very well eat the lot.  He may learn from his owner’s reaction that the behaviour is unacceptable but he won’t understand why.  In contrast if you ate the bag of doughnuts you would know that it was wrong; you would know that it was a mean thing to do and that you had deprived the rest of the family of a treat.  Our conscience tells us what is right and wrong.

Free will

Human beings also have free will which means they are free to choose to do right or wrong.  So if you saw that bag of doughnuts in the kitchen you might like to eat them all but you can choose not to.

Knowing and loving God

There’s another big difference between us and animals.  Animals are not able to come to know and to love God as we can. 

So we human beings are the only creatures on earth who:

• have the ability to think things out – the power of reason;
• know right from wrong – conscience;
• are free to choose right or wrong – free will
• have the ability to know and love God.

All these mean that we human beings are very special creatures.  It also means that we have very important responsibilities.  This wonderful planet, Earth, belongs to God; we human beings are stewards of God’s creation (5) which means we must do our best to look after it as well as we can.

Purpose of our creation

Imagine your next-door neighbour has made an amazing, complex machine and you ask what it’s for.  If your neighbour says, “It hasn’t got a purpose” you’d think that was very odd! 

Everything we make has a purpose and the more important its purpose, the more trouble we take over making it.  For example, you would take more trouble over making a parachute than an umbrella, for one is meant just to keep the rain off but the purpose of the other is to save someone’s life.

Likewise, because God made human beings to be very special, so he must have made us for a very special purpose – and that is nothing less than to love him and be loved by him and to be united with him for ever. 

For one day we must all die.  That is to say, our body will die – we shall not need it any more – and will go to dust, but our soul will go on living.  In other words, you and I will never stop thinking.  It is God’s wish that one day we should see him face to face and be united with him and be happy with him for ever in Heaven.

Union with God

In the Bible we read that “…God is light and in him there is no darkness at all“ (NRSV, 1.John 1:5).  In one of his letters to the early Christians, St Paul prays that they may be “filled with all the fullness of God” (NRSV, Ephesians 3:19). 

We can compare the union of the soul with God with that of a crystal and the sunlight.  The crystal is filled with the sunlight and you cannot separate one from the other, and yet each remains itself.  The complete union of the soul with God is as full as that.  Only one thing can prevent that, and that is sin, by which we mean any wrong thought, word or action.  The crystal and the sunlight can only be united if the crystal is completely pure, otherwise the sunlight cannot fill it.  If the crystal were just dark glass, then although it might be standing in the sunlight, it would be quite separate from it.

So just as a crystal has to be as clear as the light in order to share the light, so we have to be as pure as God in order to share his life in Heaven.  This means that our souls have first to be made clean and pure from all their sin before we can be united with God in Heaven – and Heaven is where God is seen.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (NRSV, Matthew 5:8).

SUMMARY

1. Our body and soul together make the complete person.  The body is made of material substances and will die.  The soul is spirit and will live for ever.

2. We have powers of reason, conscience and free will, and can choose to know, love and please God.

3. God made me to love him and to be loved by him; to see him and to live with him; and to be united with him and enjoy him for ever.

References

1. Potter, C. (2009) You are here. A portable history of the universe, London: Hutchinson.

2. Henbest, N. and Couper, H. (1982) The restless universe, London: George Philip.

3. Henbest, N. and Couper, H. (1982) op cit

4. Philips, H. (2006) Instant expert: the human brain. Available from: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9969-instant-expert-the-human-brain.html  (Accessed 09 August 2010

5. McGrath, A.E. (2007) Christian theology: an introduction (4th edition), Oxford: Blackwell