Part One: Why Don’t Christians “Practice What the Preach?”

It is no secret—even among non-Christians—that God wants His people to obey Him and to live according to the ethical standards described in the Bible. In Jesus’ most famous sermon, He tells His followers to “let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). Unfortunately, no Christian consistently measures up to this standard. In one way or another, and at one time or another, every Christian fails God’s standards. When unbelievers see this, regardless of the degree of the sin, they often respond with a critical admonishment that goes something like this: “I thought you were a Christian!” Or, ‘You call yourself a Christian?” Or, even more contemptuous, “You Christians are a bunch of hypocrites!” Non-Christians expect Christians to “practice what they preach.”

But does Christian sinning justify the charge of hypocrisy? Even more importantly, is it a valid reason for an unbeliever to reject Christianity? The answer to both questions is no.

In this new blog series, I will do two things. First, I will answer the above two questions—(1) does the fact that Christians sin justify the charge of hypocrisy, and (2) is it a valid reason to reject Christianity? Second, in the process of answering these two questions, I will provide an apologetic (and biblical) response to this highly charged and widespread attack against Christianity in general and individual Christians in particular.©

Next week we’ll explore whether or not Christians who sin are automatically hypocrites. We’ll see that answering this involves two considerations: what I call the “lesser” charge and then a more “serious” charge. ©

Part Seven:  “The Ultimate Evidence for Life After Death”

What I’ve shared in this seven-part series demonstrates the scientific evidence confirms our mind/soul survives physical death. However, there is another more compelling and persuasive evidence for life after physical death than scientific evidence—the Bible. In particular, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which guarantees our own resurrected bodies in the age to come (Phil. 3: 20-21).

Few historical facts from antiquity are corroborated as thoroughly as Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Eyewitnesses observed his death on the cross by crucifixion, which was certified by Roman authorities. Jesus was buried in a sealed tomb guarded by soldiers, which was discovered empty three days later. Hundreds of people saw Jesus’ post-resurrection appearances. Some of these eyewitnesses documented their observations in the pages of Scripture. Moreover, ancient non-Christian historians record evidence of Jesus’ life and ministry.

The accumulated evidence in this blog series—scientific, philosophical, psychological, and now especially biblical—leads to the inevitable conclusion that God has blessed the human race with immortal souls. In the age to come, our souls will reunite with our resurrected bodies. Then God’s people will live forever on the prophesied New Heaven and Earth (Isa. 65:17; Rev. 21:1-4), along with family, friends, and a countless multitude of other people who love God and saved through the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

I want to end with a personal experience to illustrate how readers can use the information in this series as an apologetic or evangelistic point of contact with non-Christians.

A while back, I had the following discussion with a retired lab technician. I started the conversation by asking him what he thought happens after a person dies. The conversation that followed went essentially like this:

“You just die,” he responded, “that’s it.”

“ Then let me ask you this,” I continued. “If you cracked open a skull and looked inside, what will you see?”

“Your brain,” he said, “you know, gray matter.”

“Have you ever wondered where our thoughts come from,” I pressed?

“Not really,” he replied.

I then pointed out that if you put a piece of brain tissue under a microscope, you only see brain cells. What you wouldn’t see are memories, feelings, and thoughts manifested in our minds.  Why? Because I explained, the mind cannot be reduced to the physical proprieties of the brain. This can only mean that our mind (thoughts, memories, etc.) exists independent of brain matter.

“I never thought about that before,” he admitted.

I went on to explain that if thoughts, emotions, and other mental activities originate in our immaterial minds and are distinct from our physical brains, it’s strong evidence that our minds can exist after death. In other words, since our minds are not physical matter, they are not susceptible to physical death. And if our minds survive physical death, it can mean that people have immortal souls—since our minds are an essential property of our souls. And, I concluded,

“Since everyone has an immortal soul, it’s vital for you to know where your soul will go after death. Eternity’s a long time!” ©

New week I begin a new series titled, “Are Christians Hypocrites Because They Sin?—an Apologegtic response.”

Part Six:  If Our Mind and Our Brain Are Distinct from Each Other, Why Does Brain Injury, Drugs, and Aging Affect Our Thoughts?

If it is true that our immaterial minds are distinct from our physical brain—as demonstrated in previous posts in this series—why do people lose mental capabilities when their brains are injured by head trauma? Why is thinking impaired—sometimes to the point of hallucination—from alcohol or drug abuse? Along the same line, why does the mind seem to lose mental acuity as we age? These are valid questions but not hard to explain.

Head injury, substance abuse, and aging can cause the brain to malfunction, and this can affect mental processes. Likewise, electrical stimulation to different parts of the brain can result in various physical and mental responses. However, this only shows that while in our physical body, our mind is “housed” within our brain—not that brain and mind are the same. As Christian scholar Dinesh D’Souza put it, the brain is “a kind of gateway or receiver for the mind.” (Life After Death: The Evidence)

While our mind/soul is housed in our body, thoughts in our immaterial minds need a way to be expressed and to control physical behaviors. The brain serves that purpose. It’s the way by which our thoughts are converted into speech, action, and so on. An analogy might be radio waves. Although radio waves are material, they need a radio (our brain in this analogy) to receive and convert the waves (analogous to thoughts from our mind) into physical voices and music. But voices and music do not originate in the radio; neither do our thoughts originate in brain matter.

Injury to the brain, then, can impose certain limitations on how our thoughts are received and transmitted while our soul is confined to our physical body—like a damaged radio can distort the sounds they emit. But because the mind is distinct from the physical brain, damage to the brain may disrupt the transmission of our thoughts, but it would not affect our minds once they are disembodied from our brains within our souls after death. Again, D’Souze explains it well:

“When our brains die . . . consciousness goes on . . . because it never died in the first place. . . . The best evidence of contemporary neuroscience is that the mind cannot be equated with the brain. While deterioration of the brain might impede the operation of the mind, the two are separate, which makes it possible that our immaterial minds and consciousness might survive the termination of our physical frames.” (Life After Death: The Evidence)

In sum, while our souls reside in our physical bodies, our minds depend on a properly functioning brain as the vehicle through which our collective consciousness is expressed. However, these thoughts, feelings, emotions, perceptions, and other mental activities originate in our minds, not in brain cells. Once liberated from our physical body when death occurs, our minds continue to exist as a faculty of our immaterial souls, fully alert and functioning. This is compelling evidence for life after physical death. ©

Part Five:  Studies in Brain Science Demonstrate Our Thoughts Can Alter Our Brains Instead of Our Brains Controlling Our Thoughts

 As I pointed out in Part Two, philosophical (and evolutionary) materialists claim nothing exists but physical matter and natural laws. All human mental activities can be reduced to chemical and neurological processes operating strictly within our brains. There is no such thing as a mind or soul. There is no immaterial reality. Memory, tastes in music, political opinions, and feelings of fear, love, hate, and all other psychological states are just a product of brain chemistry—including belief in God. There is no afterlife.

Recent studies in brain science, however, have proven that changing one’s thought patterns can actually rewire the brain. Explains British physician and medical journalist, Dr. James Le Fanu: “There is abundant scientific evidence that the non-material mind can . . . directly influence the material body. . . . Just thinking about one’s thoughts physically alters the neuronal circuits of the brain.” (Why Us? How Science Rediscovered the Mystery of Ourselves, emphasis Le Fanu’s)

Using brain-imaging technology, this has been demonstrated through studies with people experiencing obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Renowned research physician Jeffery Schwartz explains:

The major scientific finding that was discovered using brain imaging was that when OCD sufferers used the power of their minds to redirect regularly their focus of attention in wholesome ways, they literally rewired their own brains in precisely the brain circuit that had been discovered to cause the problem. . . .

Once a solid scientific theory was in place to explain how the mind’s power to focus attention could systematically rewire the brain and that the language of our mental and spiritual life is necessary to empower the mind to do so, the materialist dogma was toppled. . . . [S]cience is no longer on the side of those who claim human beings are no different in principle than a machine. (“Mind Transcending Matter,” World,)

This data is supported by cognitive therapy, a counseling technique used by Dr. Schwartz and other therapists. The idea is for patients to “refocus their minds away from the compulsion and . . . redirect their thoughts and actions to some activity, ideally something more pleasant. . . . [This] had the effect of re-wiring the patient’s brain so that he no longer experienced the paranoid and destructive OCD urges.” (Life After Death: The Evidence) The outcome of such therapy can change the way patients feel about themselves and other people.

This is relevant to my present blog series on scientific evidence for life after death because it gives empirical confirmation that natural chemical and neurological processes in the brain do not automatically dictate all our subjective thoughts, our mental activities. Instead, our thoughts and feelings flowing from our immaterial minds can alter the physical functions of our brains—just the opposite of what materialists and evolutionists claim. This is tremendously compelling evidence for the existence of immaterial souls. Why? As J. P. Moreland points out, the mind “is that faculty of the soul that contains thoughts and beliefs along with relevant abilities to have them.” (The Soul) In short, if we have minds, we must have souls! And if God’s people have souls, we will enjoy the future new Heaven and new Earth promised in the Bible (e.g., Isa. 65:17; Rev. 21:1). ©

Note:  In next week’s blog post, I’ll explain that although brain injury and drugs can affect our thoughts, they do not affect our minds.

Part Four:  Anecdotal and Empirical Evidence Our Minds and Brains Are Distinct—Yet Function Together

 As we saw in previous blogs in this series, our minds (thoughts) and brains (matter) are distinct features of our being. Nevertheless, our brain and mind function together. For example, when I observe a fawn in the woods, the light reflecting off the animal passes into my retinas, stimulates nerve impulses that travel via the optic nerves to my brain, where a visual image is formed. At the same time, this physical activity is going on, I’m thinking to myself, “I wonder how soft its fur is?” “I hope it survives to adulthood,” and so on. In other words, as philosophy professor Chad Meister explains:

There is [a] distinction between physical events, on the one hand, and mental events on the other. . . . Thoughts do not seem to be the kinds of things which can be described in terms of physics, chemistry and biology. . . . Therefore, mental events and brain events are not identical; one is physical and the other is not. (“A Philosophical and Historical Case for Life after Death,“ Areopagus Journal)

Neurosurgeon and professor at Harvard Medical School, Doctor Eben Alexander, contracted bacterial meningitis and lay in a coma for seven days. During this time, he had no brain function in his entire cortex (the part of the brain that controls thoughts and emotions). While in that state, Dr. Alexander alleged to have had an out of body experience and observed things outside his physical surroundings. Here’s what the doctor concluded from this experience:

Today many believe that the living spiritual truths of religion have lost their power, and that science, not faith, is the road to truth. Before my experience I strongly suspected that this was the case myself.

But I now understand that such a view is far too simple. The plain fact is that the materialist picture of the body and brain as the producers, rather than the vehicles, of human consciousness, is doomed. In its place a new view of mind and body will emerge, and in fact is emerging already. (http://www.newsweek.com/proof-heaven-doctors-experience-afterlife-65327)

One can debate whether or not so-called near-death experiences are real or even plausible. If nothing else, however, Dr. Alexander’s experience does confirm that our mind can survive what amounts to the physical death of our bodies. His and thousands of similar documented accounts illustrate two facts. (A fascinating book on this subject is John Burke’s, Imagine Heaven,)

First, they confirm our immaterial minds are not identical to our material (physical) brains. Second, our immaterial minds, as a faculty of our souls, can exist independently of our physical bodies. This supports mounting scientific research that all mental states and events are not reducible to mere physical matter. To claim otherwise is a materialistic and philosophical assumption—not a statement of scientific fact. This is more compelling evidence that life will continue to exist following physical death—and for Christians in resurrected bodies in the best of all possible world (see my previous blog series).©

Next week we’ll see that studies in brain science demonstrate our thoughts can alter our brains instead of our brains controlling our thoughts. This is just the opposite of what evolutionary materialists claim!

Part Three:  Do Our Thoughts and Other Mental Activities Originate in Our Brains or Minds?

Last week’s blog post demonstrated that our thoughts could only be explained in terms of our immaterial minds existing independently of our physical brains (matter). I ended by saying I would give examples of how we can know this in this week’s blog post.

First, most cells in the human body are replaced every seven years. Physically we are different persons than we were seven years ago. Even brain cells (neurons), which do not regenerate in the same fashion as other cells in our bodies, still change at a molecular level. In an email correspondence with Dr. J. P. Moreland, I asked about the claim that brain cells are not replaced every seven years. His response is instructive: “The brain gains and loses atoms and molecules, and they are constantly changing relationships to each other, so the brain cannot sustain personal identity over time.” In other words, at a sub-cellular level, brain cells are “constantly changing,”—yet our memory and thoughts remain intact. This alone is compelling evidence that our mind—where memories remain our entire life—is not identical to the physical matter of brain cells, which do change.

Here’s an analogy to illustrate that our mind (thoughts) and physical brain (matter) are distinct features of our being.

All the books I’ve written contain thoughts I’ve generated from research and reflections on various topics. These thoughts are printed with ink on paper (or published electronically, if you read a Kindle or Nook). Initially, however, my thoughts were typed on a computer and backed up on USB storage devices. When completed, I emailed the manuscripts to publishers. Editors read the manuscripts and perhaps even printed hard copies to distribute to other editors and proofreaders. But notice that all these various mediums are physical: the computer files, USB devices, hard copies, electronic transfers, and final printed books. Yet my thoughts remained unchanged in all formats. If you examine a printed page with a magnifying glass, you would only see paper and ink. My thoughts existed in my mind before recorded in a physical form and apart from paper and ink.

One more illustration may help to make this even more clear. If you put a piece of brain tissue under a microscope, what would you see? Brain cells. What you wouldn’t see are memories, feelings, and thoughts manifested in our minds.  Why? Because the mind can’t be reduced to the physical proprieties of the brain. This can only mean that our mind (thoughts, memories, etc.) must exist independent of brain matter.

My thoughts about Rocky Road ice cream are not identical to the physical composition of Rocky Road ice cream; that is, they do not have weight, color, shape, and size. Likewise, belief in God, taste in music, and other mental activities cannot be identified as merely physical properties of our brain. Mind and matter are entirely different properties, altogether different dimensions of our being. ©

Next week we’ll see that even though our immaterial minds are distinct from brain matter, they nevertheless function together as long as our souls are housed in our bodies.

Part One:  What Is the Relationship of Our Mind, Soul, and Brain?

The watershed issue of whether or not humans will live on after physical death—and for Christians in a New Heaven and Earth (Rev. 21:1-4)—is whether or not we have souls. The fundamental feature of our soul is an immaterial (non-physical) mind that exists distinct from our physical brain. Since our mind is the seat of our intellect, emotions, and will, if our soul survives physical death, our minds will continue to live on as the primary feature of our soul once it leaves our bodies at death. Theologian and philosopher J.P. Moreland and Christian scholar Dinesh D’Souza explain:

Throughout history,” writes Moreland, “the vast majority of people, educated and uneducated alike, have been dualists (those who believe that the soul is an immaterial thing different from the body and brain), at least in the sense that they have taken a human to be the sort of thing that could enter life after death while his or her corpse was left behind.  (The Soul; How We Know It’s Real and Why It Matters.)

 D’Souza, puts it a little differently, and as we proceed through this seven-part series, I’ll explain what both are saying:

Consciousness [our thoughts and feelings collectively] lies beyond all known scientific laws and explanations. The startling conclusion is that the central feature of our identity and humanity operates outside the recognized physical laws of nature. One of these laws is, of course, mortality for all living consciousness “in” the body in the same way that nerves or neurons are. Consciousness merely comes with the body and operates through the body. The body serves as a kind of receiver and transmitter for consciousness, not its author or manufacturer. (Life After Death)

If there is no immaterial mind/soul that survives physical death, there would be no life after death, no resurrected bodies, and no hope of eternal life. So it’s worth carefully investigating the relationship between our mind/soul and our physical brain. Such an inquiry will demonstrate that people will survive physical death and, in particular for God’s people—Christ-followers—we will spend eternity in an Edenic-like paradise in His eternal Kingdom.

Although the Bible is unambiguous in its teaching that all humans have souls and will live on after physical death, demonstrating this scientifically can be a compelling apologetic point of contact with non-Christians—who typically elevate scientific materialism as the ultimate source of truth. As we saw in my previous blog series, people who willfully reject Jesus Christ—although they too have eternal souls and will survive physical death—will not spend eternity in the best of all possible worlds. Instead, their destiny will be eternal separation from God and His people in the worse of all possible worlds: Hell. ©

Next week we’ll see why our brain and mind/soul must be distinct—and what life and society would be like if they weren’t.

Part Six: The Promise:  What God Guarantees Those Who Choose Jesus Christ

 Let’s take a moment and recap the good news and bad news that are at the heart of this six-part blog series. First, the Bible reveals unambiguously that God does not want anyone to enter a Christless eternity—Hell—which will be a place of eternal separation from God and the love, goodness, peace,  joy, and bliss of Heaven. God offers all people the free give of salvation through Jesus Christ and an eternal home in the best of all possible worlds. The apostle Paul assures us, along with other inspired authors of Scripture, that everyone has the opportunity to find God because He is “not far from any one of us” (Acts 17:27).

Second, For people who never had the opportunity to meet Jesus Christ, God introduces Himself to the entire human family through His self-disclosures and revelations in and through Creation (see part three).  This can provide the impetus for sincere spiritual seekers to pursue His only path to eternal life revealed in the Bible. People without knowledge of Jesus or access to Scripture, but who respond to this “general revelation”—although we don’t know for sure how God will deal with them—can be assured He will treat them fairly.

Finally, the breathtaking good news is that at the end of this age, Jesus will return to gather His people—those who have accepted and received Him as their Lord and Savior. We will then spend eternity with Him in transformed resurrected bodies along with other believers in the everlasting “new heaven and earth” (Rev. 21:1). It will be a place immeasurably more wonderful than anything you or I can hope for, imagine, or experience in this world. This is the Christian story, and it ends with God’s people “living happily ever after.”

Here’s Why—God’s Promises:

If you decided to believe in and follow Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior (see part five), the Bible says you are born again. That is, you now belong to God’s family (John 3: 3; 1 Pet. 1:23) and empowered by His Spirit to live a life of faith, trust, obedience, peace, joy, and so much more (John 14:16-17; Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 1:13; 2 Pet. 1: 1-11). The sinful behaviors you did in the past are forgiven, your guilt removed, and you are empowered by God to resist future temptations to sin. As the Apostle Paul promised, you are a “new creation; the old things passed away . . . [and] new things have come” (2 Cor. 5:17).

As a born again follower of Jesus Christ, He promises you will have “eternal life and will not be judged [for sins] but has crossed over from death to life” (John 5: 24).  This means your spiritual journey of discovery has ended. You are guaranteed an eternal home in the new heaven and earth prophesied in both the old and New Testaments (Isa. 65:17; Rev. 21:1)—although, in reality, your eternal life begins the moment you accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior (John 5:24; 11:25-26). ©

Next week I’ll begin a new series on “Scientific Evidence for Life after Death.”

Part Five: The Choice: Heaven or Hell

 The entire human family is important to God. He created us in His image. He does not want anyone of us to perish, and He will make Himself known to any genuine spiritual seeker. The Bible teaches that anyone who wishes to begin a spiritual journey to encounter the only true and living God can do so. Here are a few examples:

King David: “The LORD searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.”

The prophet Isaiah: “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near.”

The prophet Jeremiah: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

The apostle Paul: God “made the world and everything in it. . . . God did this so that [all people] would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.”

The author of Hebrews: “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

Jesus Christ:  “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me” (1 Chron. 28:9; Isa 55: 6-7; Jer. 29: 13 Acts 17: 24-27; Heb. 11:6; Rev. 3: 20, respectively.)

How do you begin a spiritual journey to eternal life in Heaven? Start by seeing yourself as God sees you. No one can stand before the holy Creator of the universe and claim they deserve entrance into Heaven because they lived a seamless moral life. If you are honest with yourself, you’ll quickly admit you are a sinner estranged from God and in need of forgiveness (Rom. 3:23; 6:23). Once you admit this, confess and repent (turn from) your sins, and ask God for forgiveness. Thank Jesus for taking the punishment you deserve for your sins by His sacrificial death on the cross. Then invite Him (“receive” Him) on faith to be your personal Lord and Savior (John 1: 12; Rom. 10:9). If you do this, you are now a member of God’s eternal family. If you don’t and reject Jesus, you’ve chosen Hell.

Next week will be the last of this blog series. We’ll see the eternal promises God has given to those who accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior—those that choose Heaven over Hell. (C)