The Oxford Language dictionary defines the word “soul” as the spiritual part of a human being that’s regarded as immortal. I was always fascinated as to why airline pilots, when making distress calls to the towers, refer to the people on board as souls. One reason is to let emergency crews know how many people to search for should the plane come down. It is also to distinguish between living passengers and any deceased bodies they may be carrying in the cargo area. By doing so, they are perhaps unknowingly confirming that souls depart from bodies at the point of death.
There are many who believe that when a person dies, that’s it-there is no more; ashes to ashes and dust to dust with nothing remaining except memories of their existence. I find that an incredibly sad way to live. Even Hollywood acknowledges life after death, from the famed Christmas Carol to Patrick Swayze’s Ghost. And songs from unlikely sources acknowledge life after death as well. Tupac wrote I Wonder if Heaven Got a Ghetto. There’s Don’t Fear the Reaper by Blue Oyster Cult, Tears in Heaven by Eric Clapton, Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door by Bob Dylan and scores more. Life surely doesn’t end at death.
I’ve enjoyed blogging for almost fifteen years now and I’ve tried my best to offer hope and encouragement to anyone who stumbles across In My Own Words on papaswords.com. But my ultimate objective is and has always been to point people to the hope and love and grace that is only found in having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. To quote Penn Jillette from Penn and Teller, who is a devout atheist, if you are truly convinced that there is a heaven and hell and a God, how much must you hate someone if you don’t share that conviction with others. I want to be on record with my readers and followers that I believe in Christ and am persuaded that he is the only way that leads to God. He made this clear when he said in the book of John that “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to my father except through me.”
We live in a world of subjective truths. Even professed Christians sometimes waiver when asked if there is more than one way to find salvation for your soul. I believe in the inerrancy of the Bible. Scripture clearly states there is but one way to save your soul:
There is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we can be saved-Acts 4:12
God loved the world so much he gave us his son so that whoever believes in him will be saved-John3:16
Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved-Acts 16:31
If you declare with your mouth “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved -Romans 10:9
The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord-Psalm 37:39
Whoever believes in the son has eternal life-John 3:36
So what is the status of your soul? Should unexpected calamity strike your life, where will you be tomorrow? The Apostle Paul said that to be absent or missing in this earthly life is to be in the presence of our Lord. If along the way of this blog I gave a word or two of hope, great. If I imparted any wisdom, cool. If I made you smile with a funny story, awesome. But more than anything else, I want to challenge you to consider the status of your soul and the reality of eternity, the existence of heaven and hell and a day when we will all have to give an account of our life before the very real Son of God. Jesus paid a heavy price that we may be called friends of God. If just one comes to know Jesus through this blog, it will have been worth the years or writing, the hundreds of posts and hundreds of thousands of keystrokes.
To all who believed in him and who accepted him, he gave the right to become sons and daughters, children of God! – John 1:12