Wafflehead, there is little agreement among the world’s religions as to exactly what happens after death. Yet, there is almost universal agreement on one fundamental assertion: the immortality of the human soul. Most teachings about life after death are simply variations of this basic theme. Just where does the idea that the soul is immortal come from? Is it taught in Scripture? If so, why do even non-Christian faiths teach it? Perhaps it would surprise you, then, to know that this cornerstone belief is derived from pagan philosophy. Long before the birth of Jesus, it was believed that the soul was something intangible that could exist apart from the body. It could thus survive the death of the body, living on in the form of a ghost, or spirit. The Greeks articulated this belief in philosophical terms. Socrates, the famous Greek philosopher, has been quoted as saying: “The soul, . . . if it departs pure, dragging with it nothing of the body, . . . goes away into that which is like itself, into the invisible, divine, immortal, and wise, and when it arrives there it is happy, freed from error and folly and fear . . . and all the other human ills, and . . . lives in truth through all after time with the gods.”—Phaedo, 80, D, E; 81, A.
The Hebrew word ne'phesh commonly translated “soul,” is often translated person when referring to a human and creature when referring to fish,birds or animals. These are valid translations as ne'phesh literally means "a breathing creature." The Greek word psy·khe' has the same meaning. That there is no distinction between the death of man and beast is made clear at Ecclesiastes 3:18,19. Both are mortal. The words 'immortal soul' are never found together in Scripture.
