“Without committing to a clear plan of action, even the most focused and driven people often hesitate to call their peers on actions and behaviours that seem counterproductive to the good of the team.” Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable., 189.
“Without having aired their opinions in the course of passionate and open debate, team members rarely, if ever, buy in and commit to decisions, though they may feign agreement during meetings.” Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable., Kindle location 1954.
gift of life #6
what little boys are made of
The nursery rhyme asks “What are little boys made of?” — and answers “Snips & snails & puppy dogs tails and such are little boys made of.” Little girls fare slightly better. They are made of “sugar and spice and everything nice.” No one believes that these statements reflect the actual chemical makeup of boys and girls. But anyone who watches these little darlings play can understand what the original author was getting at.
The Bible gives us a much more scientifically accurate description of what little boys and girls are made of – and their parents too. In Genesis 2:7, Moses, describing the creation of Adam, says that God formed him “from the dust of the ground” or “of dust from the ground.” Our bodies are composed of the same elements found elsewhere in nature. In 1 Cor. 15:47, Paul tells us that our ancestor Adam was “a man of dust” and we share his nature.”
But what about the soul? Well, the Bible’s actual use of the word shows that it does not refer to a separate spiritual element. “When Moses first used the Hebrew term nephesh, he was referring to animals. In Gen. 1:20, Moses records “And God said, “Let the waters swarm with swarms of living souls, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” The phrase in Hebrew is nephesh chayah (souls of life). It is obvious from the context that Moses refers to fish and sea mammals, and birds, not people. This first use of nephesh highlights a contrast with the Greek philosopher Plato’s teaching that only human beings have souls.” Then, just a few verses later, that same Moses, describing the creation of Adam, says “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7)” He uses that exact same phrase nephesh chayah that he had used to describe the final product of the creation of animals. Just like the animals, human beings are made of the elements of nature, and given life from God. So, our souls are us, when we are alive. Our souls are bodies with breath in them.
The New Testament tells us something about our soul that does not fit the popular idea either. In Matthew 6:25, Jesus says “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Lot’s of Christians know that verse. What lots of Christians do not know is that the word for “life” in that verse is psuché, the New Testament Greek word that corresponds to the Old Testament Hebrew nephesh. So, Jesus is saying that bodies wear clothing (which seems logical) but he also says that souls eat and drink. Now, that does not fit our theology, so Bible translators are quick to rescue us from the embarrassment of having to recheck our theology, and simply translate the word psuché as life. But there is no reason to hold to two contradictory terms for translating the same word here. The soul is the life of a living breathing creature. If that is the only possible meaning in Matthew 6, it makes sense to interpret it that way elsewhere as well.
And the Bible does not teach that anyone’s soul is immortal. In fact, it implies that souls can die. For example, the psalms contain many pleas for deliverance, and 119:175 is one of them. It says “Let my soul live, that it may praise you…” The word nephesh has cognates in at least two other ancient near eastern languages that mean “throat.” That at least suggests that a soul may simply be the word for the body with breath in it. As such, it makes sense that animals have souls as well. They are living creatures, bodies with breath in them.
If you have any questions about this teaching, you can ask me at jeffersonvann@yahoo.com. Join me for this entire series as we search the scriptures to learn about the gift of life.
listen to the audio file at Afterlife.
“Teams that lack trust are incapable of engaging in unfiltered and passionate debate of ideas. Instead, they resort to veiled discussions and guarded comments.” Patrick Lencioni, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable., Kindle location 1952.
“Because they do not regard the works of the LORD Nor the deeds of His hands…” (Psalm 28:5 NASB).Embedded in this psalm, in verse 5, is a phrase I would like to draw your attention to. David is complaining about his enemies, and he says that they do not regard the Lord’s works. They do not understand the Lord’s actions. That is what struck me when I was reading this psalm a few days ago. I have to admit that the first thing that came to mind when I read those words about the Lord’s works was something totally outside of the context of Psalm 28. I thought about peek tramping: hiking to the top of a mountain, and looking out on the landscape, and seeing something terrific and unimaginable, and just knowing “This is what the LORD did.” It’s sort of like art appreciation, only the artist is God, and not humans. I know why we have to take classes in art appreciation, because there is so much art that I don’t automatically appreciate. But I always appreciate God’s amazing landscapes in nature.
Many of the interpreters of this passage in Psalm 28 think of it in those terms. But others are a bit closer to David’s idea when they interpret it not in terms of creation but in terms of providence. When you think about David, you think about the work that God did in preserving him, in rescuing him from his enemies. David, after all, is the one who fought the big, hairy, scary dude, Goliath. God’s work was preserving David and bringing him victory over his enemies. David was not always a skinny kid with rocks, he grew up a warrior, and fought battles, and God’s work was preserving him in those battles.
I want to invite you to regard another of the LORD’s works this morning. We do that on a regular basis here at Takanini Community Church. We come together regularly and think about the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ when we partake of the elements of what we call the communion meal, or the Lord’s Supper. Most of the world does not regard this. They don’t think about the fact that this is the Lord’s work. These symbols remind us of what the Lord did for us.
God has a long standing history of reminding his people of himself, and what he did for them. We think about the Passover, and how every year the people of Israel have a dinner and think about it. For us, nearly every week we get together and use this time to think about what the Lord did for us, and that is truly what it is. By virtue of our coming together and eating a bit of bread and drinking grape juice, we are not accomplishing anything. We are not carrying on any sacrifice, and there’s nothing magical happening on our end here. The emblems that we are taking do not become anything magical. But as we regard what God did for us, we are making a statement of faith.
jeffersonvann 