Since North and South America are not mentioned in the Bible, one could just as well argue that they do not exist either. At least in the 15th century. And that was some of the immediate reaction to the discovery of New Spain. No ancient writers had anything to say about this.
A case for an immortal soul can be posited starting with Genesis chapter one. If an invisible God fashions man and woman in the image of himself (Gen 1:27), then a definition of what the soul is would depend on whether we define God as a universal wind or breath or something even more fundamental.
II Maccabees chapter 7 is a recounting of the martyrdom of a mother and her seven sons during the 2nd century BC rebellion against Greek ruler Antiochus V. Unlike I Maccabees, the text was orignially written in Greek (vs. Hebrew then translated into the extant Greek). Included in the New Jerusalem Bible as one of the Deutero-canonical OTbooks, it was probably written around 124 BC.
According to the introduction:
"It gives the first clear teaching on bodily resurrection (7:9), creation out of nothing ( 7:28); prayer for the dead and intercession of the saints (15:14).
In chapter 7:9, the second of seven brothers addresses the King (Antiochus V Epiphanes) before execution: "Cruel brute , you may discharge us from this present life, but the King of the world will raise rais us up, since we die for his laws, to live again for ever." Each of the successive brothers in their last words upholds their faith in a resurrection to new life. The mother (7:22-23) (in their ancestal tongue) :
"I do not know how you appeared iin my womb; it was not I who endowed you with breath and life, I had not the shaping of your every part. And hence the Creator of the world who made everyone and ordained the origin of all things will in his mercy give you back breath and life, since for the sake of his laws you have no concern for yourselves."
In Mark, chapter 12, as is evidently being discussed elsewhere, Jesus gives some further detail to the nature of resurrection when Sadducees posed a tricky question about marital status:
12:24 "Surely the resaon why you are wrong is that you neither understand the scriptures or the power of God. For when they rise from the dead, men and women do not marry; no, they are like the angels in heaven." Yet... "He is God, not of the dead but of the living..."
The matter of distinguishing "spirit" and "life breath" is not only difficult within the Bible, but in other ancient texts as well. For example, the Iliad.
The New World Translation makes mush of this line which differs significantly in the Septuagint and the Hebrew, Isaiah 38:10-11, the beginning of the canticle of Hezekiah. In sickness...
"I thought: In the noon of my life I am to depart at the gates of of Sheol I shall be held for the rest of my days.
I thought: I shall never se Yahweh again in the land of the living, I shall never see again a single one of those who live on the earth."
is Hezekiah saying that he will see the lord in the land of the dead or after life? Or is his reflection later in the poem of death's finality a closer reflection of his belief?
One could argue that Maccabees are not part of the canon of the Bible, but then one also has to look at the conundrums that that argument imposes as well. Those that constructed the canon appeared to believe in an immortal soul. If the Bible by itself does not address the matter sufficiently, then why would we not be forced to look farther afield for clarification?
Jude also introduces extraneous information about the after life when refers to the book of Enoch very similar to Zoroastrian texts about a final judgment. Is it Greeks or Persians that give us our notion of something more fundamental than the breath of life or the electric impulses of a brain.
I have little trouble distinguishing breath from spirit, but as I sit here typing, it is more difficult to imagine how my consciousness got into my head. If it is as simple as residency in a brain, then perhaps "I" could be easily transferred to the computer - if not this year then maybe next. But I can't fathom how I got into this body in the first place or what its criteria are for my release when it falls apart.
This is a serious packaging problem. If I cannot explain how I got in and how I will transfer out - or where I will go, then I am really out of my depth.
Had we received more post cards from the other side, we could all be more emphatic, but to me this seems an open question.
