Thanks for your eloquent reply with which you have neatly skipped around the central question i.e. when did the afterlife/soul business start.
RE: Be very careful, you're trying to think for yourself. The answer to almost all questions is - God moves in mysterious ways.
A quote: When God makes the laws, the laws become as mysterious as God is. Besides, I like to think for myself, nothing worse than a non-thinker.
If I was preacher, I would sell the idea of a soul for the higher ape on the basis that it was introduced at the time of Mitochondrial Eve, who graced this earth about 200,000 years ago. That way, as a preacher, I would add a little balance to all the hogwash preached.
